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Unprecedented Ticket Demand - Australia
Tickets went on sale for the mighty DC's Australian 5 shows earlier today. Well, it was 5 shows. It is now 11. The Melbourne concert at Etihad stadium (formerly Telstra Dome) sold out (60,000) in 10 mins. So they quickly added another show, which then sold out in another 45 mins. 120,000 tickets in 1 hour ain't bad. So they then added another concert - not sure if this has sold out yet. Sydney was the same story. Not sure how many ANZ Stadium (that was used for the 2000 Olympics opening/closing ceremonies) holds for concerts - probably around 70-80,000. Well, they sold out the scheduled concert in under hour, then added another, and that also sold out. A third is now on sale as well. Brisbane also sold out this morning, not sure about QSAC - probably 40,000. So they added another. Perth's Subi sold out in 10 mins. So they've also added another there. probably 40-50,000 for Subi. Here in Adelaide, haven't heard if it's a sell out yet. At 3pm, it's probably not far off (started at 12:30pm). There were 200 people queued up at 1:30pm at one of the largest ticketet outlets here in the CBD. I was lucky enough to get one online a few minutes after they went on sale. What's happened today I think has shocked many people, for them to sell that many tickets in a few hours. It currently stands at around 400,000 - 500,000 tickets in the first 1-2 hours. It is the fastest selling concerts in Australian concert history - for any band. Has even surpassed the amount sold for U2 and Robbie Williams on their tours here a few years ago. Great to see that there are so many people out there with great tsaste in music.
Adelaide Sold Out at 2:30pm - 2 hours after it went on sale - 40,000 tickets. They reckon its unlikely another concert will be added, unlike all other cities. So my prediction that it would be the slowest delling concert was spot on. However, I was more than little off the mark with my prediction that the concert would sell only about 20,000 tickets. Well, less than 7,000 went in 2001, and about 8,000 in 1996. So I'm not sure why the interest in the band is about 10 times as much this time round. Still, great to see. Looks like the promoters should have gone for AAMI Stadium - holds 60,000 for concerts.
Not really a surprise. Aussies are crazy for AC/DC.
Yep, fair comment. The things that gets me, is why it's taken this many years, and this many concert tours, for this mass hysteria to eventually happen. Around 500,000 tickets sold for the 11 concerts (5 at the start of the day) on Monday. Not bad for a country of 20m. So 1 out of every 40 Aussies will be heading to a show in Feb/March. Perhaps not quite as many as that, because some will go to multiple shows. 500,000 tickets in one day - the previous 3 tours here in 91, 96 and 2001 sold about 150,000-200,000 each. Black Ice is the reason? Probably not. The band are kick arse legends? Sure, but not in 91, 96 or 01?
bottom line,AC/DC are the only rock band in the world that matter today and this coupled with a 5 yr sabbatical from gigs was always going to create an unprecedented demand for tickets,not to mention the is it the last time thought that we all have. Black Ice is the reason? definately not,its growing on me but its still not a classic in the DC catalogue. Ticketschiester and the like musta been rubbing their hands with glee when the tour was announced
Yea, that and a whole new generation is being introdused to the worlds greatest rock band. Like me, Im 14, I wasn't around for bib or ftatr OR who made who OR the razors edge OR any other acdc album. So many like me are excited to finally get to see them play live.
Yep, fair points. The new generation that has been introduced to the band over the past 10 years must be massive in numbers. In Australia, AC/DC have always had a fairly sizable fan base, but this latest ticket selling frenzy has really shown that to be enormous. And like daclarob said, there has been the 5 year absence - which will actually be over 9 years between the last time they toured here in early 2001, and the Feb/March 2010 concerts. I guess for me, selling around 7,000 tickets for the 96 and 01 concerts in Adelaide, in about a 4-6 monthe period, when compared with selling 40,000 tickets in a 2 hour period 2 weeks ago, is a massive jump in popularity. It took me, and probably many others by surprise, including the promoter. Unfortunately many genuine fans have missed out on tickets, and the scalpers have bought thousands. A second concert for Adelaide has been denied, which I can't blame the promoter for as it would be very unlikley to sell out.
It's only selling out because very few of the buyers are genuine fans. I'd say 30% scalpers, 60% robots, and 10% fans.
I don't reckon you're too far off with those estimates. I'd reckon there'd be a few more hardcore fans than that though. Seeings as though people could buy up to 20 tickets each, it was apparent that the scalpers got 10's of thousands of the 600,000 that have been sold for the 11 shows. My take is 20% scaplers, 20% hardcore fans, 20% average fans, 40% bandwagon jumpers.