U2 played the first-ever concert at the ‘Sphere’ in Las Vegas on Sept. 29. They wrapped the first leg of their two-part residency on Nov. 4.
17 shows took place at the world’s most viral entertainment venue during that stretch. According to Billboard Boxscore, they broke records as the fastest-grossing residency in history!
U2 played two shows in September, 12 shows in October and three shows during the first week of November. An average of 16,500 tickets were sold per show, which grossed about $6.5 million.
That comes out to a total of 281,000 tickets sold and just shy of $110 million in revenue. SHEESH.
Let’s put those numbers in perspective!
The only Las Vegas residencies that made more money ran for multiple years. For example:
- Elton John grossed $131.2 million with The Million Dollar Piano.
- He played 189 shows from 2011 to 2018.
- Celine Dion grossed $385.1 million with A New Day from 2003-2007.
- She played 714 shows.
U2 nearly clipped Elton John’s total in far less than two full months and they are not done yet!
Eight shows are scheduled for December. 11 shows are scheduled from Jan. 26 through Feb. 18.
If the current pace continues in terms of finances, U2 will gross about $330 million with 36 shows in less than five months. That would make their residency at the Sphere the second-highest grossing residency of all-time.
Las Vegas residencies typically charge high prices for tickets because the artists play at smaller theaters. Even though the Sphere holds a capacity of 16,000, the average ticket price across U2’s first 17 shows was $390.97. That cost was $100 higher than the cost of a single ticket to see Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars during their recent high-ticket theater runs earlier this year.
That’s big money!