Concerts
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Was 2022 the worst “best year ever?” By some measures, the concert business had its most successful year. From Nov. 1, 2021, to Oct. 31, 2022, the top 10 tours grossed a combined $2.2 billion in ticket sales, according to Billboard Boxscore, 36% more than they did in 2019, the previous full year of touring, and more than four times the $519 million they took in during the pandemic-limited 2021.
Some of this growth follows an existing trend. Since 2013, the live business has grown steadily between 5% and 10% a year, thanks to international expansion and an increasing number of megatours. In 2013, eight acts took in over $100 million at the box office — Bon Jovi, P!nk, Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, The Rolling Stones and the Cirque du Soleil Michael Jackson show.
But the business also experienced a sharp uptick this year, driven by a combination of pent-up demand, a number of big tours and inflation. Sixteen tours crossed the $100 million mark, and the number of concert tickets sold in the first three quarters of 2022 was up 37% over 2019, according to Live Nation’s most recent quarterly report.
The bad news, however, is twofold: More work for fewer employees in the wake of pandemic layoffs, plus rising costs for staffing, production and travel, threaten to erode profits. “We are working harder than ever just to try and make sure we don’t lose any ground,” says Jim Cressman, founder and owner of Canadian independent promoter Invictus Entertainment.
Cressman and Live Nation executives say that fans also seem to be changing their concertgoing habits by waiting longer to buy tickets. About 30% of tickets for this year’s Lollapalooza festival in Chicago were purchased five days or fewer before the event, according to Live Nation. It’s a concerning trend for promoters and tour organizers who have become accustomed to scaling event costs up and down based on projections from early sales. Fans are also getting wise to the fact that ticket prices, especially on the secondary market, tend to drop over time.
The names of the top 10 tours won’t surprise anyone who follows the industry. No. 1 is Bad Bunny, who did two tours during this time frame: El Último Tour del Mundo, which ran from February to April and grossed $116 million, and World’s Hottest Tour, which brought in $246 million from August to the end of the Billboard Boxscore touring year; it will run until Dec. 10. The tour dates within this time frame, as well as isolated hometown shows in Puerto Rico, grossed a combined $373.5 million, the third-highest year-end total in Boxscore history after Ed Sheeran’s $429.5 million in 2018 and The Rolling Stones’ $425 million in 2006.
This is the first year that each tour in the top 10 grossed over $100 million and the top five each took in more than $200 million. Some of that is due to higher ticket prices: Bad Bunny tickets cost an average of $201, while tickets to Sheeran’s No. 1 2019 ÷ (Divide) shows cost an average of $86; the average ticket price of a top 10 tour was $130.76, up from $114.29 in 2019. Some of that growth comes from inflation, of course, while some is from a shift to higher ticket prices in order to capture revenue that once went to the secondary market. “The spending levels are really the same,” says Live Nation Global Touring chairman Arthur Fogel. “It’s just that artists are capturing more of it than ever before.”
Farther down the Top Tours chart, the growth also stays consistent. The top 40 tours grossed a total of $4.6 billion, up from a total of $3.5 billion in 2019, a difference of 32%
The New Scorecard
This year, Billboard Boxscore created a new chart to rank tours by number of tickets sold, not just revenue, although that information had already been included. And although promoters were concerned earlier in 2022 that touring market oversaturation would mean concerts drew fewer fans, the chart actually shows the opposite — major concerts attracted larger audiences without cannibalizing other shows. In 2022, a combined 17.1 million people saw the top 10 attended tours, up 21% from a combined 2019 attendance of 14.1 million. This year also marked the first time that 19 of the top 20 attended tours drew over 900,000 fans.
The top 10 tours also represent one of the youngest lists in recent years, with an average headliner age of 49.3, as opposed to 51.2 in 2019 and 54.6 in 2021. The oldest act was The Rolling Stones — Mick Jagger and Keith Richards will both be 79 by the end of the year, and Ron Wood is 75. The youngest acts were Harry Styles and Bad Bunny, both of whom turned 28 this year.
As in years past, Live Nation dominated the business, exclusively promoting half of the top 20 — which grossed a combined $1.5 billion — as well as Bad Bunny’s stadium shows, in collaboration with Cárdenas Marketing Network, and some shows for My Chemical Romance and Paul McCartney. AEG Presents follows with a handful of global tours, including Elton John, that combined accounted for $843 million. CMN powered Bad Bunny at No. 1 and Daddy Yankee at No. 13, while Mercury Concerts led the Latin American dates for Guns N’ Roses. Sheeran, at No. 3, was promoted by a mix of buyers throughout Europe.
On the agency front, the leader is Creative Artists Agency, with eight acts in the top 20: Styles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Weeknd, Lady Gaga, the Eagles, Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber and My Chemical Romance. Wasserman Music had four clients in the top 20 — Sheeran, Coldplay, Kenny Chesney and Billie Eilish — while UTA had two: Bad Bunny and Guns N’ Roses.
Three of the top tours — John, McCartney and The Rolling Stones — have global touring deals with AEG but don’t have a traditional booking agency deal. WME had only one artist in the top 20 with Daddy Yankee. So did the Neal Agency, started in February by Austin Neal, son of longtime WME agent Kevin Neal. Austin formed the agency to represent Morgan Wallen, who took a hiatus from touring after his use of a racial slur was caught on video in 2021. Wallen grossed $128 million in 2022 from 66 shows.
Axl Rose has addressed recent reports that a woman was hurt at a Guns N’ Roses concert in Australia when she was hit by a microphone thrown by the singer.
In a post on Twitter Friday night (Dec. 2), the Guns N’ Roses frontman announced that he would no longer toss his mic into the crowd, something he says he’s done to close the show “for over 30 years.”
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“It’s come to my attention that a fan may have been hurt at r show in Adelaide Australia possibly being hit by the microphone at the end of the show when I traditionally toss the mic to the fans,” Rose wrote. An article published by the Adelaide Advertiser earlier in the week reported a concertgoer named Rebecca Howe claims she was left with two black eyes and a bruised nose after being hit in the face with Rose’s mic in Adelaide on Tuesday (Nov. 29).
“If true obviously we don’t want anyone getting hurt or to somehow in anyway hurt anyone at any of r shows anywhere,” Rose’s statement continued. “Having tossed the mic at the end of r show for over 30 years we always felt it was a known part of the very end of r performance that fans wanted and were aware of to have an opportunity to catch the mic.”
He noted, “Regardless in the interest of public safety from now on we’ll refrain from tossing the mic or anything to the fans during or at r performances.”
“Unfortunately there r those that for their own reasons chose to frame their reporting regarding this subject in a more negative n’ irresponsible out of nowhere light which couldn’t b farther from reality,” added Rose. “We hope the public and of course r fans get that sometimes happens. A BIG THANKS to everyone for understanding.”
See his note below.
BLACKPINK in your area! After launching their hotly anticipated Born Pink World Tour in Seoul, the girl group headed to North America for a run of 14 concerts that ended Nov. 19 and 20 with back-to-back shows in Los Angeles.
Taking over Banc of California Stadium, Jisoo, Rosé, Lisa and Jennie shut it down time and time again over the course of their two-hour set, electrifying the stadium full of ecstatic Blinks with hits like “Kill This Love,” “How You Like That,” “Whistle” and “Pink Venom.”
Whether they were running through fan favorites like “Savage Love” and “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” or live-debuting Born Pink album cuts like “Typa Girl” and “Tally,” the idols demonstrated that their live show has only gotten better and more refined since the release of their debut LP The Album in 2020 and their 2021 online concert BLACKPINK: The Show.
Each of the members also shone during their own solo sets, with Jisoo bringing out Camila Cabello to duet on the latter’s 2019 single “Liar,” Jennie teasing a yet-to-be-released track with a shadowy dance number, Rosé delivering a one-two punch with “On the Ground” and Born Pink solo cut “Hard to Love,” and Lisa combining her pole-dancing prowess and undeniable star power on “Lalisa” and “Money.”
Below, Billboard was on the ground for BLACKPINK’s two L.A. shows. Click through for some of the best photos from the concerts.
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Las Vegas entertainment is back in full swing, with some of today’s biggest stars — from Adele and Miranda Lambert to Katy Perry and Usher — taking the stage for their own residencies.
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However, because there are so many shows available, finding the perfect one can be a bit overwhelming. To make things easier, we’ve compiled a list of all the currently announced Las Vegas residencies, where they’ll be taking place and, of course, where to buy tickets.
See below.
December 2022:
Dec. 2 – 31: Adele at Caesars Palace (Buy tickets here or here)
Dec. 2 – 10: Luke Bryan at Resorts World Theatre (Buy tickets here)
Dec. 2 – 11: Aerosmith at Park MGM (Buy tickets here or here)
Dec. 3 – 11: Miranda Lambert at Zappos Theater, Planet Hollywood (Buy tickets here or here)
Dec. 16 – 17: Ray Romano & David Spade at Terry Fator Theatre, Mirage (Buy tickets here or here)
January 2022:
Jan. 20 – 28: Adele at Caesars Palace (Buy tickets here or here)
February 2022:
Feb. 3 – 25: Adele at Caesars Palace (Buy tickets here or here)
March 2023:
March 3 – 25: Adele at Caesars Palace (Buy tickets here or here)
March 24 – 30: Miranda Lambert at Zappos Theater, Planet Hollywood (Buy tickets here or here)
March 24 – 31: Maroon 5 at Dolby Live, Park MGM (Buy tickets here or here)
April 2023:
April 1 – 9: Miranda Lambert at Zappos Theater, Planet Hollywood (Buy tickets here or here)
April 1 – 8: Maroon 5 at Dolby Live, Park MGM (Buy tickets here or here)
May 2023:
May 18 – 28: Garth Brooks at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace (Buy tickets here or here)
June 2023:
June 1 – 23: Garth Brooks at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace (Buy tickets here or here)
July 2023:
July 28 – 29: Maroon 5 at Dolby Live, Park MGM (Buy tickets here or here)
August 2023:
August 2 – 12: Maroon 5 at Dolby Live, Park MGM (Buy tickets here or here)
Miranda Lambert has extended her Miranda Lambert: Velvet Rodeo The Las Vegas Residency through the end of 2023, with the addition of 16 new shows that will take place in July, November and December 2023.
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The residency, held at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, highlights Lambert’s catalog of chart-topping songs as well as deep album cuts, bringing in music from her self-titled 2001 debut, through her current album Palomino, which is nominated for a Grammy for best country album (she has previously won the best country album Grammy for her projects Wildcard and Platinum).
Lambert previously told Billboard about taking inspiration from residencies from Brooks & Dunn, Shania Twain and George Strait.
“What I learned from those shows alone was that you’re in Vegas because you built a catalog, so play the songs that people know and love from you. That’s really what I’m sticking with. Sometimes on the road or with new record cycles, we get all wrapped up in our new songs, but there’s a certain amount of trust the fans put in this catalog.”
Tickets for the new slate of shows goes on sale Friday, Dec. 9 at 10 a.m. PT, while fan club members will have access to a presale beginning Monday, Dec. 5 at 10 a.m. PT.
See the additional 16 shows for the Miranda Lambert: Velvet Rodeo The Las Vegas Residency below:
July 2023: 7, 8, 12, 14, 15, 19, 21, 22
November 2023: 30
December 2023: 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 14, 16
With over 20 year of being in a band, The 1975 has nothing but love and admiration for one another. So much so, they sometimes share and showcase their love for each other through public displays of affection.
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During The 1975’s San Francisco show at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Tuesday (Nov. 29), love was in the air by the time fan favorite track “Robbers” rolled around in the band’s set, which saw frontman and lead singer Matty Healy stealing a brief, yet passionate smooch from bassist Ross MacDonald during the famous pause in the song’s dramatic outro.
“And I’ll shoot him if it’s what you ask / But if you’d just take off your mask/ You’d find out everything’s gone wrong,” Healy sings, before pulling in MacDonald for the kiss and playfully pushing him away to belt, “Now everybody’s dead/ And they’re driving past my old school.”
MacDonald seemed to enjoy Healy’s affections, taking to Instagram later on Tuesday to share a cinematic snap of the moment to his account, captioning it, “The luckiest girl in the world.” Fans were understandably in awe of the moment, with one user commenting they “don’t know if I’m jealous of you or matty” and another fan stating they “wish i was matty healy for once in my life.”
Healy and MacDonald’s kiss is just one of many antics that have occurred during the band’s At Their Very Best tour — last week, the vocalist kissed a fan onstage, also during “Robbers,” and in previous stops during the North American trek made waves for eating raw meat onstage.
The 1975 has a total of seven dates left in the North American leg of its At Their Very Best tour, with stops in Portland, Seattle, Toronto and more before concluding on Dec. 17 at Pittsburgh’s UPMC Events Center.
See MacDonald’s photo and fan captured moments of the kiss below.
Metallica‘s Helping Hands benefit concert will spread the good cheer farther and wider this year with a deal to air the show on Paramount+, Pluto TV and MTV’s YouTube channel. “We’re looking forward to celebrating the achievements of All Within My Hands at this year’s Helping Hands Concert & Auction and we’re psyched to tell you that it will be streamed live, thanks to our friends at @paramountplus!” the band wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday (Nov. 22).
The sold out Dec. 16 show at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles will be hosted by late night’s Jimmy Kimmel and feature an opening set from Greta Van Fleet. The event will kick off at 8:30 p.m. ET and stream live on Paramount+, with simulcasts on Pluto and YouTube. It will also feature an auction that kicks off on Dec. 5 to benefit the foundation, with 100% of the ticket and auction proceeds earmarked for those in need via a number of national and local charities.
Among the organizations that All Within My Hands has partnered with over the years are: the American Association of Community Colleges, Feeding America, Direct Relief and World Central Kitchen. This year alone the foundation has handed out $100,000 to Direct Relief and World Central Kitchen to help those hit hardest by Hurricanes Ian and Fiona in Florida and Puerto Rico in October, as well as $20,000 to the Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh in August and $100,000 to World Central Kitchen’s efforts to feed Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia’s unprovoked war on their country.
Check out the announcement below.
SEVENTEEN will soon return to Los Angeles as one of the top-billed superstars performing at Penske Media Corporation’s first-ever culture and creativity festival LA3C, and Billboard has exclusive details on the K-pop superstar’s set.
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LA3C is excited to host SEVENTEEN for an hourlong performance at the forthcoming festival that includes Megan Thee Stallion and Maluma as headliners. The group describes the hour as a “mini concert” and that it will be perfect for anyone who couldn’t catch the guys this summer on their Be the Sun Tour, including a stop at LA’s Kia Forum.
While fans did get the chance to see performances from SEVENTEEN’s famous hip-hop, vocal and performance units during the Be the Sun Tour, SEVENTEEN also share that LA3C attendees will get another beloved unit from the band not seen on tour. The only hint they can share about the unit is that fans have been hoping to see the group back onstage all year, and next month’s LA3C will finally mark their return.
Overall, the “_WORLD” singers promise that their LA3C set will be a chance to see the diversity and collective concert experience that the noted K-pop powerhouses bring to the stage, both as their full 13 members and in units.
LA3C will take over Los Angeles State Historic Park on Dec. 10-11. Tickets for LA3C are available to purchase here. For up-to-date news on LA3C, follow the festival on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Penske Media Corporation is the parent company of Billboard.
“I wish you health and love, prosperity. Be kind to each other, ok, and farewell.” With those words, Elton John concluded the final show of his last U.S. tour Sunday night (Nov. 20) at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium, leaving behind the thousands of fans paying homage by wearing bejeweled eyeglasses, the hundreds wrapped in multi-colored feather boas, the dozens in sequined Dodgers outfits and one JoJo Siwa in John’s famous orange-plumed devil’s suit with horns, as the singer ascended to the top of the stage in an elevator — and disappeared for good.
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To say it’s the end of an era doesn’t begin to do justice to John and what his live shows have meant over the last six decades. Starting with his now-fabled run at Los Angeles Troubadour in 1970 to 52 years later, few solo artists have left as much of a mark on playing live.
Sunday’s show was his seventh at Dodger Stadium, dating back to his now iconic performances in October 1975 when the sparkly Dodger uniform made its first appearance, and his 103rd in the Los Angeles area. He also remarked it was the 271st show of the Farewell Yellow Brick Show outing, which began in 2018.
The sun may have gone down on the last U.S. show, but the tour will continue through July 2023 stopping in Australia, New Zealand and Europe. By October, the show had already grossed more than $660 million from over 250 U.S. shows. By the time the tour ends, it will undoubtedly surpass U2’s 360 Tour to be the second highest grossing tour in Billboard Boxscore history. The only question is if it can capture Ed Sheeran’s The Divide Tour, which earned $776.4 million.
Billboard Boxscore doesn’t span John’s entire touring life, but in the three decades it has been collecting data, John has grossed more than $1.7 billion to make him the highest grossing solo act in the chart’s history.
But the numbers are only part of the story. He has been a consistently magnificent live performer, not ever slowed by drug addiction, health issues, and now, at 75, age. And his final show of his last American tour at Dodger Stadium, showed why we’re unlikely to ever see an artist like him again in our lifetime.
Here are the top highlights from the show:
The extended takes on classics: They’ve been doing it for years, but it’s still striking to hear John and his band stretch out with bold muscularity on such tunes as “Rocket Man,” “Levon” and “Take Me to the Pilot,” lifting them far beyond the radio versions. They’ve been playing together for decades and have retained a razor sharpness, led by John’s pounding piano playing, Nigel Olsson’s precision drumming and Davey Johnstone’s blazing guitar work that is still stunning to hear without ever appearing superfluous. Somehow, the expanded version of “Levon” turned the song from the pristine, delicate studio take into a bop that had the 50-something, sparkly sweater-wearing man in front of me devising a solo dance worthy of “So You Think You Can Dance” and John dramatically collapsing over his piano by the time it was done.
John’s voice: It’s deeper now and not as sweet and clear as it was during the ‘70s, but the crystal tone has been replaced with a richness that shows off John’s love for the blues. That affinity always informed his playing, but not necessarily his vocals in the early years.
His BFF Brandi Carlile: Carlile was one of three special guests for the show that aired live on Disney + and while it was easy to guess that Kiki Dee and Dua Lipa would be singing their hits with John, Carlile’s song was a surprise. She joined him for “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me,” so famously first turned into a duet by George Michael and John at 1985’s Live Aid. Walking out in a glittery suit of her own (with Rocket and 1 emblazoned on the back), Carlile’s lilting-yet-powerhouse vocals perfectly captured the song’s desperation. However, she couldn’t hide her joy in singing with one of her musical heroes, even giving an adorable fist pump when she left the stage. John came out from the piano to deliver a nostalgic rendition of his and Dee’s 1976 classic, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” that finished strong after a timid start, and Lipa and John’s first performance ever together of their 2021 global mashup, “Cold Heart.”
The material: John’s songs have held up beautifully. With a few exceptions (we’re looking at you, 1979’s disco album, Victim of Love), John’s songs have always had a timeless quality to them whether it’s the simple, elegant beauty of “Your Song” or the raucous, barreling “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” or the utter despair of “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word.” They sound as good and relevant today as they did when they first came out decades ago. John and lyricist Bernie Taupin, who came out to a warm ovation, are simply one of the greatest partnerships in musical history. They’ve been creating together since 1967 and though John will no longer tour, he’s given no indication that he plans to stop making music.
John’s gratitude: He’s always made a point of making sure that audience knows how appreciative he is of their support that has enabled him to have such a remarkable career and life. He made sure to thank the fans one more time in a speech that was also a reminder of just how long he has been part of our lives (and through how many formats). “I became successful first in America, and you bought the singles and the albums and the 8 tracks and cassettes, the CDs, and more importantly you bought the tickets to the shows which I love more than anything, which is to play live,” he said. “So, I want to thank you because you made me. Without America, I wouldn’t be here. So, thank you for all the years of love and generosity and loyalty.” The feeling was clearly mutual. To be clichéd and obvious, how wonderful life has been while Elton John has been in the world.
Elton John Nov. 20 set list:
“Bennie and the Jets”
“Philadephia Freedom”
“I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues”
“Border Song”
“Tiny Dancer”
“Have Mercy”
“Rocketman”
“Take Me To The Pilot”
“Someone Saved My Life Tonight”
“Levon”
“Candle In The Wind”
“Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding”
“Burn Down The Mission”
“Sad Songs Say So Much”
“Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word”
“Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”
“The Bitch Is Back”
“I’m Still Standing”
“Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”
“Crocodile Rock”
“Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting”
“Cold Heart”
“Your Song”
“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”
Jisoo shared the stage with special guest Camila Cabello at BLACKPINK‘s concert in Los Angeles Saturday night (Nov. 19).
Jisoo and Camila sang “Liar,” a song off of Cabello’s Romance album that peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart in 2019. Cabello wore a custom BLACKPINK outfit for the occasion at Banc of California Stadium.
On BLACKPINK’s Born Pink World Tour, Jisoo has been performing “Liar” for her part of the solo act of the show.
Jisoo shared a snapshot of the two together on Saturday in an Instagram Story, tagging Cabello and writing, “Love youuuuuu.”
Watch a fan-filmed clip of the pair singing “Liar” below.