Many people around this website were going off. They couldn't believe it was in the round, and they thought Prince was crazy to think that many people would show up. Question: How does did the Musicology tour compare in numbers to Prince tours of the past?
[Edited 12/16/04 10:04am]

Yep...I remember it and remember thinking that he would prove them wrong.

Prince's U.S. tours have been mega-successful since JOTY haven't they?

man, lemme take it a step or two further...i remember hearin the title track at a paisley party the year before last and tellin folks about it here...cats were up in arms about it, too.

I wish we had a list of all the posts saying that P had "blown it again", that this was gonna be "another 'Rave'". I did notice a great deal of folks shutting the %$#@ up after the L.A. simulcast, though.

NouveauDance said:

Not necessarily. The 2nd wind of the JOTY tour that he did in 98 to promote NPS had a ton of empty seats in Cleveland. And some of his tours have been in much smaller venues lately.

OdysseyMiles said:

yeah there were threads and threads on it, actually, the people in question don't even post on the prince forum anymore, they only come on to post bad news! how weird is that. the only one i can remember, and i don't want to start any fights, cos i can't be arsed to be honest, but i know thegoldexperience went hammer and tongs with anyone who thought it was gonna do well, the arguments between him and alandail are particularly memorable!

Musicogy still sucks. I mean, where's Glam Slam 2004?

Tom said:

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Well JOTY made 30 million in 97 -98 this was a top ten grossing tour and I never saw a empty seat in Washington D.C.

softandwet said:

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I knew that the negative naysayers will go away once the tour took off. You have a few people who only come here to put P down.

glamslamkid said:

It's sitting right there next to Let's Pretend We're Married 2001. They both got stuck in the 80's, so Prince left them there, knowing they would create a disastrous time warp.

I remember before I joined there was someone (I think GoldExperience???)
Well anyway somebody who swore that the tour would fail and Prince
Could never sell out stadiums


...Well where ever you are man, your words are warmed and ready to be eaten

OdysseyMiles said:

no it ain't, it's right behind Sexy Dancer 2001.



it's just a jump to the left...

Tom said:

Exhibit A

Wasn't EWM one of them?

Tom said:

Speakin' of the devil.

OdysseyMiles said:

Okay. How about a Glam Slam 2005?

Why? Did anyone think that would be a bust for him i do not know. It made sense for him to do a tour about that time. He was due to have a huge year. Being inducted, his appearances on shows, & his method of selling the cd were sure signs of a big comeback on the charts.

Tom said:

Wow! When has P ever had a concert and not sell out? That’s real scary. He’s always sold out here in Los Angeles. LA loves P. When P comes 2 LA it’s on and crackin. JOTY tickets were practically sold out b4 tickets even went on sale. The Hollywood Bowl was full 2 capacity. P’s name along sells his tickets. P’s past performances were in smaller venues. I would like 2 know why. I know on the ONA tour he did 2 shows at the Kodak theater. That place was much 2 small 4 him same as the Hit and Run concert at the Hollywood Palladium. When P was on the Chris Rock show (97’) and performed the song JOTY Chris Rock told him his reputation as being one of the greatest live entertainers EVER will carry him over when all else fails.
[Edited 12/18/04 15:05pm]

thekidsgirl said:

Prince didn't sell out stadiums on the Musicology tour this past year, he sold out half of his arena shows - there's a big difference. And while I was wrong with my predictions for roughly 12 markets (LA, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Toronto, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Dallas, Atlanta) that he performed in, I was fairly accurate with my predictions for the other markets when I stated earlier in the year that he wouldn't sell out more than 25% of his shows.

Here's a roundup of the Billboard attendance boxscore #s from many of the shows on the Musicology tour:

March

27 Reno, NV – Lawlor Events Center (11,777/Sold Out)
29 Los Angeles, CA – Staples Center (17,367/Sold Out)
31 Glendale, AZ (Phoenix area) – Arena (17,500/16,094*)

April

2 Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center (18,483/Sold Out)
6 Oklahoma City, OK – Ford Center (18,000/13,651*)
8 Ames, IA – Hilton Coliseum (12,700/10,345)
14 Pittsburgh, PA – Mellon Arena (17,000/14,092*)
16 Columbus, OH – Value City Arena (17,500/16,381*)
17 Cleveland, OH – Gund Arena (20,500/18,558*)
23 Raleigh, NC – RBC Center (18,494/Sold Out)
25 Sunrise, FL (Miami area) – Office Depot Center (19,500/18,231*)
26 St. Petersburg, FL – Times Forum (20,000/17,079*)

May

6 Nashville, TN – Gaylord Entertainment Center (17,500/16,680*)
26, 28 Los Angeles, CA – Staples Center (34,644/Sold Out)

June

1, 2 San Jose, CA – HP Pavilion (35,269/Sold Out)
3, 5 Los Angeles, CA – Staples Center (34,643/Sold Out)
11 Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center (18,093/Sold Out)
14 Memphis, TN – Pyramid Arena (20,000/17,202*)
16, 17, 18 St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center (60,044/Sold Out)
20, 21 Auburn Hills, MI (Detroit area) – The Palace (39,009/Sold Out)
24 Milwaukee, WI – Marcus Amphitheater (SummerFest - Multiple Acts) (25,000/21,475*)
25 Chicago, IL – Allstate Arena (17,642/Sold Out)

July

12, 13, 14 New York City, NY – Madison Square Garden (57,023/Sold Out)
16, 18 E. Rutherford, NJ (New York City area) – Continental Airlines Arena (40,502/Sold Out)
22, 23, 24 Rosemont, IL (Chicago area) – Allstate Arena (53,700/50,089*)
27, 28 Toronto, ON – Air Canada Centre (36,069/Sold Out)
30 Detroit, MI – Joe Louis Arena (19,677/Sold Out)

August

3 Rosemont, IL (Chicago area) – Allstate Arena (17,875/Sold Out)
6, 7 Houston, TX – Toyota Center (35,600/31,504*)
9, 10 Atlanta, GA – Philips Arena (36,000/33,214*)
12, 13, 14 Washington, DC – MCI Center (59,000/54,927*)
17, 18, 19 Boston, MA – Fleet Center (49,085/Sold Out)
22, 23, 24 Philadelphia, PA – Wachovia Center (56,624/Sold Out)
27, 28 Denver, CO – Pepsi Center (36,000/34,348*)
30, 31 Seattle, WA – Key Arena (34,000/30,382*)


September


10, 11 San Jose, CA – HP Pavilion (35,534/33,300*)



43 shows sold out & about 20 shows were reported as sellouts but in actual fact, venue capacity was reduced to fit attendance (* = reported sellout but not actual sellout). And even some cities like Seattle (2nd show) and Salt Lake City sold tickets for $10 on the show day because of slow sales.

All in all Prince sold 1.47 million tickets in North America this year, mainly because of the 12 major markets mentioned earlier.

That list is innaccurate, P sold out all three DC shows.

Just stop the hate- the brotha had a good year in '04-just be happy for him damn!!! Sometimes you people trip me out how you thrive on the negative.....

TheGoldExperience said:

This is hilarious. Prince had THE highest attendance and was 2nd in terms of money made (he didn't jakc his prices way up like a certain Material Girl) and this guy is STILL trying to paint Prince as a failure. Give it up man. 2004 rocked. Prince is back in the spotlight of the mainstream.

GoldExperience u do not have 2 sell out every seat in order 4 a concert or venue 2 be considered SOLED OUT. Sold out means u soled x amount of tickets that r required. Prince soled even more tickets due 2 the stage setup with floor seating all around. Oh! By the way u left out:

San Diego, CA - Sold Out
Portland, OR. - Sold Out
Don’t hate….. Congratulate!!!

larksanders said:

I'm not hating, my friend. Just pointing out that Prince wasn't as successful as one might think this year on tour, that's all.

I orginially thought that all three shows at the MCI Center were sold out too...but when you take a closer look at the 360 degrees in the round configuration capacity of the venue that allows just about every seat to be sold with minimal "production kills" if any, it clearly wasn't.

But I tell ya, I am pissed that Prince didn't hit Vancouver this year.

skywalker said:

The ONLY reason why Prince had the highest attended tour this year was because he saturated just about every market in the US and played nearly 100 shows. If Madonna had played the same amount of markets and shows, she would've blown Prince out of the water. Madonna charged an average of about $140 per ticket, because she can get away with selling out her shows at those prices. Prince couldn't sell out arenas (apart from the 12 top markets I mentioned) at Madonna's prices if his life depended on it.

Also, if Prince hadn't played a strictly "hits" oriented show, we all know he would've been playing theaters.

I'm not saying he wasn't successful this year, just not nearly as much as one might think.

pennylover said:

Look, with the configuration of his stage set, Prince could've been able to sell just about every seat in each arena, but didn't for the reasons stated in an above post.

And I agree San Diego was, but not Portland.

Question: How does did the Musicology tour compare in numbers to Prince tours of the past?

Well, I do feel a bit like an authority on this, cuz I've seen him in performances much more than yer average fan.

My feeling is that, as compared to Hit N Run 2001, the ending was a little watered down, and with an almost too-short encore, it fizzled just a little bit, whereas in 2001, at the San Diego show, the final # was Kiss, and that was da bomb. He was making the show last like he didn't wanna stop. Overall, though, I'd say that Musicology was a way-above-par show. Not his best, but I don't think he was striving for that.

For some reason, though, I think even he enjoyed the One Nite Alone tour more than this one - he got to bring people in to hear the sound checks, and he let folks play his instruments on stage. There was a level of intimacy between the fans and he that almost wasn't there this time around. It's hard to do that when you're playing dozens of shows in a six-month period, but still...

On another note: If he really does retire the songs he played this time around, and brings other good tunes in and make some new music, the next tour is gonna be a dream.

TheGoldExperience said:

Translation: Prince would've had a more successful tour had he lipsanc half his songs and had such diversions as MTV style video montages and backup dancers in flashy costumes.

poetbear68 said:

Purple Rain tour: 1.75 Million (North America)
Musicology tour: 1.47 Million (North America)
Lovesexy tour: 1.3 Million (600,000 in North America; 500,000 in Europe; 200,000 in Japan)
Nude tour: 1.1 Million (900,000 in Europe; 175,000 in Japan)
Diamonds & Pearls tour: 775,000 (450,000 in Europe; 200,000 in Australia; 125,000 in Japan)
Jam Of The Year tour: 750,000 (North America)
Act II tour: 750,000 (Europe...but it was really more like 500,000 because Prince appeared at several festival shows where not everyone who attended came to see him)


With most of the rest of his tours, he's performed to 200-350,000 people each time out. As for this year's Musicology tour: Prince would've had virtually identical attendance to the JOTY tour if the top 12 markets didn't explode like they did.

Prince has sold over 10 million concert tickets since the late 1970s.

CynicKill said: