We've previously written three looks at just how much money bands make on the road, but this is certainly the biggest, because we've got Metallica numbers. Metallica is far and away the biggest metal band of all time, financially speaking.
All numbers are courtesy of Billboard's ongoing Boxscore Report. Keep in mind these are gross profits, meaning this is before the venue takes a cut, promoters take a cut, manangers take a cut, production costs etc. This is just the total amount of money generated from ticket sales. The amount of money the bands actually take home is much less. This is just to give you an idea of what sort of numbers each band is working with. Let's get started:
Artist:Â Metallica
Venue: Estadio do Morumbi – Sao Paulo, BRA
Date:Â Mar. 22nd, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $5,701,630
Attendance/Capacity:Â 61,742/ 63,347
Ticket Prices:Â $257.68, $77.30Artist:Â Metallica
Venue: Estadio Unico Ciudad de La Plata – Buenos Aires, ARG
Date:Â Mar. 29th-30th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $4,719,390
Attendance/Capacity:Â 76,407 / 79,038
Ticket Prices:Â $124.87, $31.22Artist:Â Metallica
Venue: Parque Bicentenario – Quito, ECU
Date:Â Mar. 18th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $3,877,959
Attendance/Capacity:Â 32,257 / 32,257
Ticket Prices:Â $225, $30Artist:Â Metallica
Venue: Estadio Monumental – Santiago, CHL
Date:Â Mar. 27th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $3,508,790
Attendance/Capacity:Â 43,296 / 43,296
Ticket Prices:Â $170.18, $48.37Artist:Â Metallica
Venue: Parque Simon Bolivar – Bogota, COL
Date:Â Mar. 16th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $2,857,030
Attendance/Capacity:Â 30,974 / 34,137
Ticket Prices:Â $156.23, $73.23Artist:Â Metallica
Venue: Jockey Club – Asuncion, PAR
Date:Â Mar. 24th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $2,256,140
Attendance/Capacity:Â 28,277 / 32,200
Ticket Prices:Â $223.81, $40.29Artist:Â Metallica
Venue: Estadio Nacional – Lima, PER
Date:Â Mar. 20th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $1,925,090
Attendance/Capacity:Â 27,858 / 31,600
Ticket Prices:Â $164.23, $18.95
Holy crap. Metallica basically pulled in $24 million dollars with one week of work. And you wonder why the band has become very selective with how many shows they play? They clearly have decided they won't touch a stage unless the big money is paid forward.
Back to reality:
Artist: Tool & Failure
Venue: Bill Graham Civic Auditorium – San Francisco, CA
Date:Â Mar. 11-12th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $1,322,950
Attendance/Capacity:Â 17,626 / 17,626
Ticket Prices:Â $75
Tool are very much an arena rock band, and their returns show that off. It's interesting that the band almost grossed as much as Metallica without having to go out of the country. Then I looked at a few more Tool numbers and that was a particularly large venue, with most others being much smaller:
Artist: Tool, Failure
Venue: Las Vegas, NV – The Axis At Planet Hollywood
Date:Â Mar. 15th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $541,705
Attendance/Capacity:Â 6,373 / 6,373
Ticket Prices: $80Artist: Tool, Failure
Venue: Selland Arena – Fresno, CA
Date:Â Mar. 14th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $513,881
Attendance/Capacity:Â 7,031 / 7,031
Ticket Prices: $75, $49.50Artist: Tool, Failure
Venue: Reno Events Center – Reno, NV
Date:Â Mar. 09th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $482,067
Attendance/Capacity:Â 6,226 / 6,226
Ticket Prices:Â $79.50, $49.50
How did Avenged Sevenfold do on their Latin American tour? Very well:
Artist:Â Avenged Sevenfold
Venue: Espaco das Americas – Sao Paulo, BRA
Date:Â Mar. 12th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $569,142
Attendance/Capacity:Â 7,133 / 9,600
Ticket Prices:Â $127.48, $53.12Artist:Â Avenged Sevenfold
Venue: HSBC Arena – Rio de Janeiro, BRA
Date:Â Mar. 15th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $352,954
Attendance/Capacity:Â 4,866 / 7,000
Ticket Prices:Â $152.20, $46.51Artist:Â Avenged Sevenfold
Venue: Luna Park – Buenos Aires, ARG
Date:Â Mar. 09th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $291,619
Attendance/Capacity:Â 6,338 / 7,700
Ticket Prices:Â $63.58, $19.07Artist:Â Avenged Sevenfold
Venue: Pepsi On Stage – Porto Alegre, BRA
Date:Â Mar. 22nd, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $231,884
Attendance/Capacity:Â 4,277 / 4,488
Ticket Prices:Â $81.60, $21.47
Avenged Sevenfold, the relative new kids on the arena rock block are crushing legends like Soundgarden:
Artist:Â Soundgarden
Venue: Explanada del Estadio Monumental – Lima, PER
Date:Â Mar. 27th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $194,355
Attendance/Capacity:Â 3,376 / 14,000
Ticket Prices:Â $150.98, $23.17
Dream Theater aren't doing too bad themselves:
Artist:Â Dream Theater
Venue: Bell Centre – Montreal, QC
Date:Â Mar. 21st, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $190,626
Attendance/Capacity:Â 3,086 / 3,718
Ticket Prices:Â $70.66, $44
Shockingly, even Geoff Tate's Queensryche pulls in the bucks:
Artist: Geoff Tate’s Queensrÿche
Venue: Capitol Theatre – Clearwater, FL
Date:Â Jan. 16th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $26,264
Attendance/Capacity:Â 397 / 476
Ticket Prices:Â $76, $37
Halestorm are still establishing their place in the rock world, but they can still pull 1100 in Nashville, which is very impressive:
Artist: Halestorm, The Nearly Deads & The East Side Gamblers
Venue: The Cannery – Nashville, TN
Date:Â Mar. 28th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $18,150
Attendance/Capacity:Â 1,100 / 1,100
Ticket Prices:Â $16.50
Did you know Zakk Wylde and Between the Buried and Me have similar draws? Take a look:
Artist:Â Zakk Wylde
Venue: Virgin Mobile Corona Theatre – Montreal, QC
Date:Â Feb. 28th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $18,550
Attendance/Capacity:Â 589 / 589
Ticket Prices: $35.20, $31.43Artist: Between The Buried And Me, Deafheaven, Intronaut, The Kindred
Venue: Virgin Mobile Corona Theatre – Montreal, QC
Date:Â Feb. 26th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $15,553
Attendance/Capacity:Â 574 / 574
Ticket Prices:Â $27.10
Zakk took home a bit more thanks to higher ticket prices, but both shows had sellouts at the same venue. ICP doesn't do too band for themselves either:
Artist:Â Insane Clown Posse
Venue: Newport Music Hall – Columbus, OH
Date:Â Feb. 17th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $33,750
Attendance/Capacity:Â 1,500 / 1,500
Ticket Prices:Â $25, $22.50
Here are some more shows from working class bands:
Artist: Red Fang, The Shrine, Radkey
Venue: Triple Rock Social Club – Minneapolis, MN
Date:Â Dec. 17th, 2013
Gross Sales:Â $5,107
Attendance/Capacity:Â 385 / 385
Ticket Prices: $15, $13Artist: Russian Circles, KEN mode, Helms Alee
Venue: El Rey Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
Date:Â Mar. 10th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $11,080
Attendance/Capacity:Â 554 / 771
Ticket Prices:Â $20Artist:Â 311
Venue: Smoothie King Center – New Orleans, LA
Date:Â Mar. 11th, 2014
Gross Sales:Â $748,059
Attendance/Capacity:Â 11,000 / 11,000
Ticket Prices:Â $99.50, $35
I can't believe 311 charges $100 for (I'm assuming) VIP tickets and gets away with it! It pays to have active rock radio play.
That concludes this report. Thanks to ThePRP for the help.