U2's Rose Bowl Show Breaks Attendance Record October 30, 2009
- Touring
By Bob Allen, Nashville
It took 22 years, but U2 has broken its own attendance record for the best-attended single concert performance at a U.S. venue by one headliner.
The band's 360 Tour played Pasadena, Calif.’s Rose Bowl on Oct. 25 to a sellout crowd of 97,014 -- the highest attendance on record for one U.S. show by a single headliner based on box office totals reported to Billboard.
The old record was set on Sept. 25, 1987, at the now-demolished John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, with a crowd of 86,145 in attendance for the band's Joshua Tree Tour. This year's Rose Bowl performance grossed more than $9.9 million, considerably more than the 1987 Philly show, which brought in $1.5 million in ticket sales.
Among the top five single-concert attendances on record in the United States, the top three are all U2 performances. The third-highest attendance is also from the band's current tour at its Sept. 29 sellout at the FedExField in Landover, Md., with 84,754. Pink Floyd's May 29, 1994, show at the Ohio State University football stadium is in fourth place with 75,250. The Backstreet Boys round out the top five with a sold-out show at the Georgia Dome on Feb. 19, 2000. More than 73,000 fans filled the Atlanta stadium to see the pop group's Into the Millennium Tour.
U2's Rose Bowl show also excelled in gross ticket sales. With $9.96 million grossed, it is the second highest-grossing single U.S. concert by a solo headliner. The concert is second only to the Three Tenors' July 20, 1996, sold-out show at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The Rolling Stones make up the rest of this top five list with a Giants Stadium concert of its own on Sept. 15, 2005; a sold-out benefit concert at Radio City Music Hall on March 14, 2006; and an outdoor show at Chicago's Soldier Field on Sept. 10, 2005.
Top Attendance at a U.S. concert by a single headliner:
1. U2 -- Rose Bowl; Pasadena, Calif. (Oct. 25, 2009) Attendance: 97,014 Gross: $9,960,036
2. U2 -- John F. Kennedy Stadium, Philadelphia (Sept. 25, 1987) Attendance: 86,145 Gross: $1,593,683
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