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Elevation Tour

Elevation: leg one [north america].

• 2001-03-24: National Car Rental Center, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
• 2001-03-26: National Car Rental Center, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
• 2001-03-29: Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, NC, USA
• 2001-03-30: Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA, USA
• 2001-04-02: Compaq Center, Houston, TX, USA
• 2001-04-03: Reunion Arena, Dallas, TX, USA
• 2001-04-06: Pepsi Center, Denver, CO, USA
• 2001-04-09: Pengrowth Saddledome, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• 2001-04-10: Pengrowth Saddledome, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• 2001-04-12: Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, WA, USA
• 2001-04-13: General Motors Place, Vancouver, BC, Canada
• 2001-04-15: Rose Garden, Portland, OR, USA
• 2001-04-17: San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, CA, USA
• 2001-04-19: San Jose Arena, San Jose, California
• 2001-04-20: San Jose Arena, San Jose, CA, USA
• 2001-04-23: Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim, CA, USA
• 2001-04-24: Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim, California
• 2001-04-26: Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim, CA, USA
• 2001-04-28: America West Arena, Phoenix, AZ, USA
• 2001-05-01: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA
• 2001-05-03: Gund Arena, Cleveland, OH, USA
• 2001-05-04: Rupp Arena, Lexington, KY, USA
• 2001-05-06: Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
• 2001-05-07: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH, USA
• 2001-05-09: Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI, USA
• 2001-05-10: Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN, USA
• 2001-05-12: United Center, Chicago, IL, USA
• 2001-05-13: United Center, Chicago, IL, USA
• 2001-05-15: United Center, Chicago, IL, USA
• 2001-05-16: United Center, Chicago, IL, USA
• 2001-05-24: Air Canada Center, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2001-05-25: Air Canada Center, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2001-05-27: Molson Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• 2001-05-28: Molson Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• 2001-05-30: Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, MI, USA
• 2001-05-31: HSBC Arena, Buffalo, NY, USA
• 2001-06-02: Pepsi Arena, Albany, NY, USA
• 2001-06-03: Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT, USA
• 2001-06-05: Fleet Center, Boston, MA, USA
• 2001-06-06: Fleet Center, Boston, MA, USA
• 2001-06-08: Fleet Center, Boston, MA, USA
• 2001-06-09: Fleet Center, Boston, MA, USA
• 2001-06-11: First Union Center, Philadelphia, PA
• 2001-06-12: First Union Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
• 2001-06-14: MCI Center, Washington, DC, USA
• 2001-06-15: MCI Center, Washington, DC, USA
• 2001-06-17: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA
• 2001-06-19: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA
• 2001-06-21: Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, NJ, USA
• 2001-06-22: Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, NJ, USA

Elevation: Leg Two [Europe]

• 2001-07-06: Forum, Copenhagen, Denmark
• 2001-07-07: Forum, Copenhagen, Denmark
• 2001-07-09: Globe Arena, Stockholm, Sweden
• 2001-07-10: Globe Arena, Stockholm, Sweden
• 2001-07-12: Kölnarena, Cologne, Germany
• 2001-07-13: Kölnarena, Cologne, Germany
• 2001-07-15: Olympiahalle, Munich, Germany
• 2001-07-17: Bercy Arena, Paris, France
• 2001-07-18: Bercy Arena, Paris, France
• 2001-07-21: Stadio Delle Alpi, Turin, Italy
• 2001-07-23: Hallenstadion, Zurich, Switzerland
• 2001-07-24: Hallenstadion, Zurich, Switzerland
• 2001-07-26: Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna, Austria
• 2001-07-27: Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna, Austria
• 2001-07-29: Waldbühne, Berlin, Germany
• 2001-07-31: Gelredome, Arnhem, Netherlands
• 2001-08-01: Gelredome, Arnhem, Netherlands
• 2001-08-03: Gelredome, Arnhem, Netherlands
• 2001-08-05: Sportpaleis, Antwerp, Belgium
• 2001-08-06: Sportpaleis, Antwerp, Belgium
• 2001-08-08: Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, Spain
• 2001-08-11: MEN Arena, Manchester, England
• 2001-08-12: MEN Arena, Manchester, England
• 2001-08-14: National Exhibition Centre Arena, Birmingham, England
• 2001-08-15: National Exhibition Centre Arena, Birmingham, England
• 2001-08-18: Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, England
• 2001-08-19: Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, England
• 2001-08-21: Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, England
• 2001-08-22: Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, England
• 2001-08-25: Slane Castle, Slane, Ireland
• 2001-08-27: SECC, Glasgow, Scotland
• 2001-08-28: SECC, Glasgow, Scotland
• 2001-09-01: Slane Castle, Slane, Ireland

Elevation: Leg Three [North America]

• 2001-10-10: Joyce Center, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, USA
• 2001-10-12: Molson Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• 2001-10-13: Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, ON, Canada
• 2001-10-15: United Center, Chicago, IL, USA
• 2001-10-16: United Center, Chicago, IL, USA
• 2001-10-19: Baltimore Arena, Baltimore, MD, USA
• 2001-10-24: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA
• 2001-10-25: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA
• 2001-10-27: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA
• 2001-10-28: Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, NJ, USA
• 2001-10-30: Dunkin Donuts Center, Providence, RI, USA
• 2001-10-31: Dunkin Donuts Center, Providence, RI, USA
• 2001-11-02: First Union Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
• 2001-11-05: Frank Erwin Center, Austin, TX
• 2001-11-07: Pepsi Center, Denver, CO, USA
• 2001-11-09: Delta Center, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
• 2001-11-12: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• 2001-11-13: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• 2001-11-15: Arena in Oakland, Oakland, CA, USA
• 2001-11-16: Arena in Oakland, Oakland, CA, USA
• 2001-11-18: Thomas & Mack Center , Las Vegas, NV, USA
• 2001-11-19: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• 2001-11-20: Arco Arena, Sacramento, CA, USA
• 2001-11-23: America West Arena, Phoenix, AZ, USA
• 2001-11-25: Reunion Arena, Dallas, TX, USA
• 2001-11-27: Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO, USA
• 2001-11-28: Savvis Center, St. Louis, MO, USA
• 2001-11-30: Philips Arena, Atlanta, GA, USA
• 2001-12-01: Ice Palace, Tampa, FL, USA
• 2001-12-02: American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL, USA

Related News: Elevation Tour

• "Edge Chat Transcript" (2001-06-15)
• "U2 On Career High With Elevation Tour" (2001-06-23)
• "The Edge’s T-Shirts on Elevation" (2001-07-01)
• "“Fans Want the Shirt On Straight Away”" (2001-08-17)
• "U2 to Return to North America for Tour’s Second Leg" (2001-09-15)
• "Elevation Tour Songs: Lifting You Higher" (2001-12-25)
• "The Virtual Road: Slane Castle" (2021-03-18)

The Annotated Gilmore Girls

Footnotes to the TV series

No Doubt and U2

DEAN: What do you have to be sorry for? RORY: That . . . that I didn’t tell you about the rehearsal. And that No Doubt is touring with U2. I know you’re extremely disappointed in Bono.

No Doubt is an American rock band formed in 1986, consisting of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Their 1992 eponymous debut album made little impact, but their 1995 follow-up, The Beacon Street Collection , sold more than 100 000 copies after they changed to a ska-punk sound. Their 1995 album, Tragic Kingdom , was certified diamond, with singles Don’t Speak , and Just a Girl becoming hits – the first spending 16 weeks at #1 in the US. Their most recent album at this point was Return of Saturn in 2000, although Rock Steady was just about to be released, in early December 2001.

No Doubt were one of the openers for U2 on the third leg of their Elevation Tour – the same one PJ Harvey had opened for earlier. No Doubt were one of the support acts at Madison Square Garden in late October 2001, then the only support act from November 5 th to 25 th , in California, Texas, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona.

As Tristan invited Rory to the Elevation Tour when they were performing in Hartford, it feels somewhat tactless for her to bring it up while trying to placate Dean. But it may also be reminding Dean that he shares her musical tastes more than Tristan, as both Dean and Rory appear to be U2 fans. He wasn’t before going out with Rory, so perhaps she has influenced him in this regard.

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2 thoughts on “ No Doubt and U2 ”

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Last 5 shows.

March 2 : Las Vegas

March 1 : Las Vegas

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On This Date

June 5, 1980 : Brannigans , Leeds , England

June 5, 1982 : Iveagh House , Dublin , Ireland

June 5, 1983 : Red Rocks Amphitheater , Morrison , CO

June 5, 1992 : Westfalenhalle , Dortmund , Germany

June 5, 2001 : Fleet Center , Boston , MA

June 5, 2003 : Fonda Theatre , Los Angeles , CA

June 5, 2013 : United Nations Delegates Dining Room , New York , NY

June 5, 2018 : Bell Centre , Montreal , Canada

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U2 Concerts with Opening Act: No Doubt

No Doubt has opened at 13 U2 concerts.

No Doubt Website

Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont, Adrian Young

Anaheim, CA rock-ska band No Doubt saw immense success in 1995 with their album "Tragic Kingdom," which was released in 1995. The diamond-certified album also spawned the single "Don't Speak," which spent 16 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Their addictive pop-rock sound can be heard on their follow-up albums, "Return To Saturn" and "Rock Steady." The band took a break in 2004 while lead singer Gwen Stefani released two solo records during the hiatus. No Doubt reunited to release "Push and Shove" in September 2012. The band is currently working on new music.

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No Doubt, Garbage Walk On Too

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U2gigs.com - U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at the Sphere 2023/2024

U2 Elevation Tour

Elevation tour 3rd leg: north america, 2001-11-15 : oakland arena - oakland, california, usa, u2, no doubt.

U2 acted like a band with something to prove. From Bono's judo kick as drummer Larry Mullen crashed into the opening of "Elevation" to the rousing finale of "Walk On," the four-man rock band stayed close to basics Thursday in the first of two sold-out shows at the Compaq Center in San Jose (formerly the San Jose Arena). After the technological overkill of the 1997 PopMart tour, which surpassed even the extravagant staging and multimedia manipulation of the band's previous football-stadium juggernaut, "Zoo TV," there was some question whether U2 could stand in front of an audience and just play. The answer is yes. From the opening chord, it was a towering performance by a monumental band -- emotional, painfully earnest and authentically inspirational. -- Joel Selvin

U2 brings swagger, iconic songs to Sphere Las Vegas in jaw-dropping concert spectacle

LAS VEGAS – Believe the hype.

Regardless of what happens at the multibillion-dollar Las Vegas behemoth following U2’s opening rush of shows over the next three months , the band’s “ U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere ” performance is a marvel.

To call Sphere a spectacle doesn’t do justice to the structure that, at 516-feet wide and 366 feet tall, takes up about two city blocks and is taller than a football field is long. It's the world’s largest spherical shaped venue according to designers and its walls of video screens envelop the audience in a visual embrace and pristine, isolated sound.

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It’s IMAX meets the Death Star – with a lot of swagger, a head trip of artsy graphics and a trove of heartfelt songs.

When the lights dropped at 8:30 p.m. Sept. 29 for the inaugural Sphere event, U2 entered from the back of the clean, airy stage designed to look like a turntable in homage to a Brian Eno art project. Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Bram van den Berg, who was announced from the first rumblings of this 25-date run as the fill-in drummer for health-sidelined Larry Mullen Jr. , strolled onstage.

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Bono, strutting and waving his microphone, quickly donned the trademark eye wear of his alter ego The Fly for “Zoo Station,” the first track from the band’s “ Achtung Baby” album and the anchor for these Vegas shows, the band’s first live performances in four years.

That 1991 classic was played in its entirety as advertised, but U2 shuffled the track listing, diving into “The Fly” as words such as “Patience,” “Destiny” and “Truth” flashed on towering screens in neon and hundreds of colored numbers and letters zipped to the pinnacle of the dome of the Sphere.

With so many memorable visual stunners, it’s tough to pinpoint the cleverest, but the mega-sized video of Elvis Presley meshed with scenes of old Las Vegas and close-ups of U2 floating in bubbles during “Even Better Than the Real Thing” is a front-runner.

Bono and the boys have always been vocal about their affection for the classics, and their show includes several nods – some more subtle than others – to their Vegas forebears.

“Look at all this stuff,” Bono said, scanning the 17,000-plus crowd and the graphics surrounding the band. “Elvis has definitely NOT left this building. It’s an Elvis cathedral and tonight there is a password to enter: flirtation.”

That introduction led to the slinky guitar lines of “Mysterious Ways,” with Clayton holding down the sexy low end of the song on bass and the Edge, knit cap firmly in place, looming over the crowd on screen.

Elsewhere in the two-hour show – which included a celebrity squad including Sir Paul McCartney , Dr. Dre , Snoop Dogg , Connie Britton, Jon Hamm and Bryan Cranston – Bono detoured into a stripped version of Presley's “Love Me Tender” at the close of “One,” nodded to Van Morrison with some of “Into the Mystic” tucked into “Angel of Harlem” and unveiled Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” as a prelude to “Atomic City,” their swinging new rock song inspired by Las Vegas.

Dedications were rife as well, as Bono, in fine, muscular voice, bowed to McCartney with “Desire” (“Just know that we love you and we’ve stolen a lot of your songs,” Bono teased) and saluted the late Jimmy Buffett, whose family was also in attendance, with a sweet rendition of the rarely played “Love Rescue Me.”

“It’s so hard to say goodbye to someone,” Bono said, choking up while speaking.

He also noted that these were the first shows U2 has played without Mullen since 1978 and added a dedication of “All I Want is You” to the band’s drummer and founder. The steady van den Berg isn’t as light a touch on the snare as Mullen, who is recovering from various neck, knee and elbow issues, but the Dutchman proved a proficient substitute.

Several times during the night, Bono, a man with a band that has played the biggest crowds and venues in the world, appeared overcome with emotion and in awe of the surroundings, but much joy emanated from the stage.

While not every song from “Achtung” is normally worth a set list appearance, to hear album cuts “Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around the World” – last played live in 1993 – and “So Cruel” was a windfall for diehard fans.

Meanwhile, the more casual U2 follower was rewarded with a 30-minute feast of favorites following “Love is Blindness,” the last song on “Achtung” played as images of bugs and butterflies crept into focus on the surrounding screens.

The vibrant “Elevation” kickstarted the final sprint and, while not as kinetic as the houselights-up opening from 2001’s tour of the same name, was nonetheless an explosive roar of sound and illuminations.

Helicopters hovered overhead on screen for the slashing “Vertigo,” the band projected in spotlights blasting from the bottom of the digital aircraft, while a crystal-clear desertscape and sunburst stretched the entire width of the building for the ringing anthem, “Where the Streets Have No Name.”

It’s fair to wonder if such a gargantuan production eclipses a band. Not this one. Especially since some of the most moving moments were in the small details and the inherent earnestness of U2’s music.

The Sphere is a mighty structure, no doubt. But U2 turns it into an experience.

More: U2 shocks Vegas fans with pop-up concert on Fremont Street ahead of MSG Sphere residency

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: U2 brings swagger, iconic songs to Sphere Las Vegas in jaw-dropping concert spectacle

U2’s Experience + Innocence Tour: 10 Stunning Live Rarities

By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

U2 wrapped up their Experience + Innocence tour on Tuesday with a makeup show in Berlin, Germany. Like every other night of the tour, they didn’t play a single song from The Joshua Tree and instead focused on material from Songs of Experience and lesser-known cuts from the Nineties along with a tiny smattering of Eighties hits. “This is for the fans of our more recent work, the more committed fans who really listen to everything and go to everything,” The Edge told Rolling Stone shortly after the tour began. “We feel OK about that.”

Now that it’s done, here’s a look back at 10 great moments from the tour where they delighted the faithful by playing an unexpected song.

“Acrobat.” U2 set the tone for the entire tour at the opening show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, when they broke out the Achtung Baby deep cut “Acrobat,” a song they’d never done live before despite years of pleading by the fans. They went on to play it every single night of the tour, always preceded by a speech by Bono ‘s devilish alter-ego Mr. Macphisto. “It is a difficult song to play,” Adam Clayton told Rolling Stone . “It’s an even more difficult song to move to. I think it’s a 6/8 time. There’s a couple of different options for how you count it. I think that sort of, intuitively, we’ve switched between those time signatures a bit, but because we’re not schooled musicians we manage to get away with that. It is unusual, but it really, really works and there’s some great guitar playing by Edge.”

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“Staring at the Sun” Pop may have not generated great reviews when it came out in 1997 and the tour may have played to a few empty seats at stadiums in America, but the album has gained an enormous cult following in recent years even though the band rarely plays the songs in concert. That changed on the American leg of the Experience + Innocence tour when they played a stripped-down “Staring at the Sun” along with images of white supremacists marching in Charlottesville, Virginia. “‘Staring at the Sun’ was always a bit of a personal favorite,” Clayton told Rolling Stone . “It fits into this somewhat dark cloud that is sitting over the world at the moment. Again, in that context it’s less of a hopeful pop song and more of a commentary on where we are.”

“Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” On the opening night of the tour, U2 broke out “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” for the first time in 12 years and then promptly put it away (discounting the special Apollo Theater gig ) until the tour landed in Europe four months later. It’s a shame that so few Americans got to hear it since, like every single song from Achtung Baby , it works incredibly well in a live context. The problem seemed to be that they tried it as an encore song in Tulsa, when they discovered later that it makes a bigger impact much better earlier in the show.

“Stay (Faraway, So Close!)” The most dramatic change to the Experience + Innocence set list came on September 30th at a show in Copenhagen when they suddenly dropped the long Songs of Innocenc e segment, freeing them up to play a wide cross-section of older material in that slot. That night, they stunned fans by breaking out the Zooropa favorite “Stay (Faraway, So Close!).” Bono and the Edge had played the song acoustically as recently as 2011, but the full band hadn’t touched it since Zoo TV ended in 1993.

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“Zoo Station” By the final shows of the Experience + Innocence tour, it wasn’t uncommon to see U2 play six songs a night from Achtung Baby . That’s half the album. “Zoo Station” was such a pivotal part of the Zoo TV tour that for years it felt like they’d never do it again, but it returned to the mix in 2005 and then came back again this year when the tour came to Germany, the birthplace of Achtung Baby . It worked so well they gave it a permanent spot in the set.

“Dirty Day” When they ruled out many of their Eighties hits and everything from The Joshua Tree , U2 had to reach deep to find new songs to sprinkle into the show. They found one with “Dirty Day,” a random Zooropa song they did 10 times at the end of Zoo TV and then never touched again. They played it during two Dublin shows and then again at the grand finale in Berlin. Hopefully we’ll see it again at a big Zooropa 30th-anniversary tour in 2023.

“The Unforgettable Fire” The title track to 1984’s The Unforgettable Fire made a lone appearance on the tour. It was the first show after they dropped the Songs of Innocence material and they were trying to figure out what could plug the hole. As you can see here, “The Unforgettable Fire” worked pretty well, but they quickly decided to devote the entire segment to songs from Achtung Baby and Zooropa .

“The Electric Co.” Adam Clayton promised Rolling Stone that their SiriusXM show at New York’s Apollo Theater would be a “proper old-school theater show.” That meant breaking out Boy -era tunes like “The Electric Co.” To prep for that, they played the song at Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum days before the Apollo gig and then never did it again. Their instincts seemed to tell them to cut back on the Eighties stuff whenever possible.

“The Fly” “The Fly” was the least successful single off Achtung Baby , probably because it was the first one and people weren’t quite ready for a change that dramatic. They were still thinking they’d get a song like “With or Without You.” But it’s become a mainstay of their live show, making a very welcome return on the European leg of Experience + Innocence . We were joking earlier about a Zooropa 30 tour, but an Achtung Baby 30 tour in 2021 sorta feels like something that might actually happen and then we can finally hear “Love Is Blindness,” “So Cruel” and “Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World” again. They’re the three holdouts they haven’t done since Zoo TV .

“Spanish Eyes” The closest that U2 came to breaking their “No Joshua Tree in 2018″ pledge came on September 21st when they broke out the Joshua Tree B side “Spanish Eyes” at a show in Madrid. It was just the fifth time they’d done it since the Joshua Tree tour in 1987. Four of them came in Spain and one came in Mexico City just last year. Bono seemed a little unsure about doing it this time. “The Edge says he thinks we can pull it off,” Bono said. “We haven’t played it in a very, very long time. [Note: It had actually just been 11 months.] We rehearsed it in the dressing room. The Edge says we can do this. I think. Maybe. OK.”

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U2 & Sphere Dominate Billboard Boxscore’s Midyear Recap as Top 10 Tours Gross a Staggering $1.5B

Grosses for the top 10 tours at midyear were up 83% from last year's combined tally.

By Dave Brooks

Dave Brooks

Concert industry experts generally thought 2024 would be a down year — or at least less busy than 2023, when Taylor Swift and Beyoncé catapulted the sector to new heights and challenged the personnel within it to keep pace amid its explosive growth.

But so far, 2024 hasn’t brought much rest for the weary. The touring business is entering the summer fueled by huge concert grosses that are unprecedented for the midyear mark, according to Billboard Boxscore.

Bad Bunny & Karol G Take the Lead on Billboard’s Monthly Touring Report

At midyear, grosses for the top 10 entries on the Top Tours chart total a collective $1.5 billion, up a staggering 83% from last year’s figure of $814.9 million. That marks the first time the combined gross of the top 10 tours has crossed $1 billion by the halfway point. Last year, only two tours — Elton John and Harry Styles — had generated more than $100 million at midyear. This year, eight of them have.

Leading the chart period, which spanned from Oct. 1, 2023, to March 30, 2024, is U2 , which opened the new Sphere venue in Las Vegas with a residency that grossed $231.6 million from 38 shows during that time. (U2’s full 40-date Sphere run grossed $244.5 million, though the first two shows, which took place Sept. 29 and Sept. 30, occurred just before the chart period began.)

On the strength of her fall North American tour along with February and March dates in Oceania, P!nk ranks second on the midyear tally with $196 million grossed from 42 shows. At No. 3, Madonna logged 67 of her Celebration Tour’s 80 dates during the period and grossed $190.6 million for a No. 3 rank (the trek wrapped in early May). Rounding out the chart’s top 10 are three Latin tours ( Luis Miguel ; RBD ; and Enrique Iglesias , Pitbull and Ricky Martin ), three pop and rock acts ( Coldplay , Depeche Mode and the Eagles ) and Travis Scott , the sole hip-hop artist in the ranking’s upper tier, who brought in $96 million from 44 North American arena shows on his Circus Maximus Tour — marking the rapper's first outing since the deadly 2021 Astroworld festival.

The big revenue gain for the chart period’s top-earning tours, during what is normally the slower half of the year, is further evidence that — driven largely by international growth in Asia, South America and Australia — the concert business has become an increasingly year-round business.

Leading the Top Promoters midyear chart with $2.8 billion grossed is Live Nation, which has long advocated for steady, incremental international growth. Its main competitor, AEG — No. 2 on Top Promoters with $976.8 million grossed — produced Taylor Swift ’s ongoing The Eras Tour through its partnership with Messina Touring Group and has also continued to expand its footprint globally. Swift did not report her The Eras Tour data to Billboard during the chart period, when she played 26 shows across South America, Australia and Asia.

SPHERE IS HERE

Individual music venues rarely change the entire touring landscape, but few facilities have captured the public’s imagination quite like Las Vegas’ Sphere. With its ground-breaking interior sound and video display — not to mention its light-up, skyline-dominating exterior — the venue has effectively created a new tier of high-end concert experience.

U2’s No. 1 ranking on Top Tours was driven solely by the 38 U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere shows from Oct. 1, 2023, through the residency’s conclusion on March 2, 2024. Those concerts grossed $231.6 million from 630,000 tickets sold, with U2 averaging a $6.1 million gross per show from an average ticket price of $368. While a few megastars have earned more from Vegas residencies, none have ever earned so much from so few shows.

While those in the industry largely view fans’ willingness to increasingly shell out for premium concert experiences as a net positive, some live executives predict that other parts of the sector — festivals, namely — may begin to feel a competitive pinch.

“It’s already getting difficult for festivals to find headliners,” says Wasserman Music agent Sam Hunt , who represents major acts such as Diplo , Run the Jewels and The xx , noting that artists used to make substantially more money headlining festivals than they did headlining arenas. But new ticket-pricing tools have significantly increased what artists can make playing the latter.

That shift in financial posture for the touring business comes amid increasingly frequent festival cancellations, and those woes have extended to the top of the market: This year, Coachella was slow to sell after its initial on-sale and ended up down about 20% in attendance compared with 2023.

Given the choice between festivals and headlining concerts at arenas and stadiums, fans are increasingly choosing the latter. “There is no more comfortable way to enjoy a show than an arena — especially the newer facilities,” says Mark Shulman , senior vp of programming at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y., just outside of Queens, which opened in late 2021. “The modern arena is a concert palace, with incredible acoustics, comfortable seats and tons of bathrooms, plus all kinds of food and beverage options.”

DOJ LAWSUIT LOOMS

The sector’s momentum may be hindered by the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in late May seeking to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster 14 years after the government approved the merger of the two companies. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia joined the lawsuit, which alleges an illegal monopoly in the live entertainment industry. “It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement announcing the suit.

For the government to prove that Live Nation is a monopoly, it must demonstrate that the company has a dominant market share. Though Billboard ’s midyear report only measures the top line of the concert market — during the slowest two quarters of the year — it does offer context about the mega-promoter’s clout.

Take the Top Promoters chart. Live Nation and AEG rank first and second, respectively, followed at No. 3 by OCESA — the Mexican promotion company Live Nation purchased in December 2021 — with $403 million in sales. Of the $5.4 billion spent globally on concert tickets to events promoted by the top 20 promoters during the midyear period, according to Boxscore, Live Nation and OCESA accounted for $3.2 billion in sales — about 60% of the total.

That tracks closely to the Top Tours chart, where 31 tours — nearly two-thirds of the overall list of 50 — were produced by Live Nation. Of the top 10 tours, only one, Luis Miguel, was produced by another company. (If Swift had reported data for her AEG-produced The Eras Tour, she undoubtedly would have swelled the number of non-Live Nation productions in the top 10 to two. However, Billboard ’s analysis is based only on global data that is voluntarily reported to Billboard Boxscore by promoters, venues and artists.)

A large part of the DOJ’s inquiry into Live Nation will revolve around the company's ownership of Ticketmaster, which it acquired in 2010, along with the platform’s current market share of the concert ticketing business. On that front, Billboard found that 69 of the top 100 venues across Boxscore’s five highest-capacity charts at midyear were Ticketmaster clients.

This story will appear in the June 1, 2024, issue of Billboard.

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U2 is out, No Doubt is in for the second night…

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U2 is out, no doubt is in for the second night of kroq’s almost acoustic christmas.

Bono, right, and the Edge, right, are seen here in concert when U2 played Angel Stadium in Anaheim in June 2011. They’d been scheduled to make their debut at KROQ’s annual Almost Acoustic Christmas this month but announced this week they had canceled due to injuries Bono suffered in a bicycle accident last month.

Guitarist Tom Dumont and bassist Tony Kanal of No Doubt performs at KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas in 2012. With U2 dropping out of the show this year No Doubt will fill in on the second night.

Singer Gwen Stefani of No Doubt performs at KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas in 2012. With U2 dropping out of the show this year No Doubt will fill in on the second night.

Instead, U2 fans will have to wait until the end of May when the band’s just-announced 2015 tour swings by the Forum for four nights.

And filling in for the band second night of Almost Acoustic Christmas? Local heroes No Doubt, making their sixth appearance at the radio station’s holiday show.

The news that U2 wouldn’t be stay on the bill seemed inevitable after reports on the nasty accident surfaced in November. Bono’s crash in Central Park left him with multiple fractures, from the orbital bone by one eye to a fractured shoulder and compound fractures in one arm.

“He’s so upset about the fact that unfortunately as we’re about to announce, we’re not going to be able to do the Acoustic Christmas,” said U2 guitarist the Edge during a phone call to the Kevin & Bean Show on KROQ on Wednesday. “He’s been told by his doctors to stay put. He’s back in Dublin right now and he basically can’t move for the next couple of months.

“The poor guy, basically his left elbow was shattered, so a lot of the work was reconstructing the joints and putting in wires and plates,” the Edge said. “He actually showed us some X-rays a couple days later, it looked like a miniature Eiffel Tower.”

U2’s Innocence + Experience Tour will take the band out of the stadiums its played in recent years and put it back inside arenas for the first time in a decade, the Edge also announced on KROQ. By playing at least two shows in each venue, the band plans to mix up its set dramatically from night to night, giving fans who catch a pair of concerts a mostly different show on each night.

The Forum shows are scheduled for May 26-27 and May 30-31. Tickets are priced at $35-$280 and go on sale to the general public on Monday, Dec. 8. Some pre-sale opportunities are available until noon Saturday, with information on that available at U2.com/tour.

A day after the Edge broke the bad news to KROQ on the air, No Doubt bass player Tony Kanal called into the Kevin & Bean Show to offer up the good word that No Doubt would be replacing U2 on the second night of the show.

“We were talking about how important KROQ has been to us over the years and honestly if it wasn’t for you guys we wouldn’t be where we are today,” Kanal said. “You guys helped break us, you guys have been so supportive of us and we heard you have a big party coming up, the 25th anniversary of the (Almost) Acoustic Christmas.

“Honestly, I was going to call you and say ‘Can we get some tickets?’ because we saw the lineup and we were like ‘Wow, we have to come see this show,’” he said. “Then we were talking and we’re like ‘What better way to see the show than be on stage and play, so I’m actually calling to see if it’s cool if we come and rock out with you guys.”

Any fans who bought tickets for the second night of Almost Acoustic Christmas primarily to see U2 have until Friday, Dec. 12 to request a refund through Ticketmaster.com .

Contact the writer: 714-796-7787 or [email protected]

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