How Much Do GUNS N ROSES, VOLBEAT, MASTODON & more Make From Playing Shows?

Check out our previous Earnings & Attendance Reports.

How much money does a band make on the road? Billboard hopes to answer that question, somewhat, by providing gross sale reports in their weekly Boxscore report. We like to check in every once in a while to see how metal bands are doing. Keep in mind, these are gross sales, meaning this is before the venue, promoter, etc. get the cut. This doesn't mean the band gets the entire piece of the pie and their profits vary based on the deals they make.

Let's get to it!

In case you're wondering why Axl still does it, the answer is millions of dollars:

Artist: Guns N’ Roses
Venue: Arena Anhembi – Sao Paulo, BRA
Date: Mar. 28th, 2014
Gross Sales: $2,090,395
Attendance/Capacity: 18,000 / 35,000
Ticket Prices: $266.06, $123.85

Artist: Guns N’ Roses
Venue: Esplanada do Mineirao – Belo Horizonte, BRA
Date: Mar. 22nd, 2014
Gross Sales: $1,404,427
Attendance/Capacity: 16,342 / 25,000
Ticket Prices: $183.49, $50.46

Artist: Guns N’ Roses
Venue: Estadio Durival Britto e Silva – Curitiba, BRA
Date: Mar. 30th, 2014
Gross Sales: $1,271,180
Attendance/Capacity: 11,180 / 20,000
Ticket Prices: $275.23, $100.92

Artist: Guns N’ Roses
Venue: Centro de Eventos do Ceara – Fortaleza, BRA
Date: Apr. 17th, 2014
Gross Sales: $1,264,417
Attendance/Capacity: 14,570 / 15,000
Ticket Prices: $458.72, $41.28

Artist: Guns N’ Roses
Venue: Pavilhao da FIERGS – Porto Alegre, BRA
Date: Apr. 03rd, 2014
Gross Sales: $1,198,083
Attendance/Capacity: 12,197 / 12,197
Ticket Prices: $220.18, $59.63

Artist: Guns N’ Roses
Venue: Chevrolet Hall – Recife, Brazil
Date: Apr. 15th, 2014
Gross Sales: $1,180,640
Attendance/Capacity: 10,630 / 12,000
Ticket Prices: $642.20, $55.05

Artist: Queens Of The Stone Age & Warpaint
Venue: Bill Graham Civic Auditorium – San Francisco, CA
Date: Apr. 17th, 2014
Gross Sales: $382,500
Attendance/Capacity: 8,500 / 8,500
Ticket Prices: $45

Artist: Avenged Sevenfold, HELLYEAH & Adrenaline Mob
Venue: Colisee Pepsi – Quebec City, QC
Date: May 12th, 2014
Gross Sales: $331,124
Attendance/Capacity: 6,469 / 7,667
Ticket Prices: $59.15, $36.22

Queens of the Stone Age charge less than Aveneged Sevenfold and in the end both shows break even based on venue capacity. Meanwhile, Alice in Chains played a much smaller venue than normal and charged way more than I would expect:

Artist: Alice In Chains & Monster Truck
Venue: Landmark Theatre – Syracuse, NY
Date: May 12th, 2014
Gross Sales: $120,645
Attendance/Capacity: 2,450 / 2,693
Ticket Prices: $69.50, $39.50

Let's compare Sevendust to Black Label Society:

Artist: Sevendust
Venue: Orpheum Theatre – Madison, WI
Date: Apr. 26th, 2014
Gross Sales: $25,702
Attendance/Capacity: 880 / 1,000
Ticket Prices: $35, $27.50

Artist: Black Label Society
Venue: The Ritz Ybor – Tampa, FL
Date: Apr. 29th, 2014
Gross Sales: $19,139
Attendance/Capacity: 602 / 1,500
Ticket Prices: $50, $35, $29.50

With similar ticket prices, who would've thought that Sevendust would out-draw and out-gross BLS?

Artist: Volbeat, Trivium & Digital Summer
Venue: Stage AE – Pittsburgh, PA
Date: Apr. 30th, 2014
Gross Sales: $70,121
Attendance/Capacity: 2,182 / 2,300
Ticket Prices: $35, $32

Artist: Mastodon, Gojira & Kvelertak
Venue: Fox Theater – Oakland, CA
Date: May 01st, 2014
Gross Sales: $67,940
Attendance/Capacity: 2,464 / 2,800
Ticket Prices: $30, $27.50

Who would've thought that Mastodon and Volbeat basically draw the same about of people and cash?

Artist: Ghost & King Dude
Venue: Stage AE – Pittsburgh, PA
Date: Apr. 18th, 2014
Gross Sales: $21,620
Attendance/Capacity: 932 / 1,250
Ticket Prices: $25, $23

Artist: Carcass, The Black Dahlia Murder, Gorguts & Noisem
Venue: Newport Music Hall – Columbus, OH
Date: Apr. 06th, 2014
Gross Sales: $17,515
Attendance/Capacity: 745 / 1,000
Ticket Prices: $25, $23

Artist: Godflesh, Cut Hands, House Of Low Culture & La Fin Absolute
Venue: The Fonda Theater – Los Angeles, CA
Date: Apr. 22nd, 2014
Gross Sales: $17,190
Attendance/Capacity: 573 / 1,200
Ticket Prices: $30

New kid on the block Ghost crushes legacy acts Carcass and Godflesh.

Artist: The Devil Wears Prada
Venue: Newport Music Hall – Columbus, OH
Date: Apr. 02nd, 2014
Gross Sales: $12,522
Attendance/Capacity: 653 / 1,000
Ticket Prices: $23, $8.18

Artist: Iced Earth, Sabtaon & ReVamp
Venue: Newport Music Hall – Columbus, OH
Date: Apr. 10th, 2014
Gross Sales: $8,470
Attendance/Capacity: 404 / 1,000
Ticket Prices: $25, $20

Artist: Whitechapel, Carnifex, Within The Ruins & Cruel Hand
Venue: Basement – Columbus, OH
Date: Apr. 16th, 2014
Gross Sales: $5,426
Attendance/Capacity: 300 / 300
Ticket Prices: $20, $18

If you would've told me Devil Wears Prada outdraws both Whitechapel and Iced Earth I would not believe you.

Artist: Megadeth
Venue: Palacio de los Deportes – Mexico City, Mexico
Date: May 08th, 2014
Gross Sales: $319,716
Attendance/Capacity: 8,987 / 12,832
Ticket Prices: $35.58

Artist: Megadeth
Venue: Auditorio Banamex – Monterrey, MEX
Date: May 10th, 2014
Gross Sales: $159,969
Attendance/Capacity: 4,934 / 7,860
Ticket Prices: $32.42

Artist: Megadeth
Venue: Auditorio Telmex – Guadalajara, MEX
Date: May 11th, 2014
Gross Sales: $77,944
Attendance/Capacity: 2,337 / 6,000
Ticket Prices: $33.35

Mexico certainly loves Megadeth, although oddly, not enough to sell out the venues.

Artist: Motörhead, Graveyard & Unlocking The Truth
Venue: Club Nokia – Los Angeles, CA
Date: April 11th, 2014
Gross Sales: $90,928
Attendance/Capacity: 2,352 / 2,352
Ticket Prices: $46.50, $36.50

Of course Motorhead is going to draw a sellout in their (adopted) hometown.

Artist: Rob Zombie
Venue: Iron City – Birmingham, AL
Date: May 01st, 2014
Gross Sales: $70,200
Attendance/Capacity: 1,300 / 1,300
Ticket Prices: $54

Artist: Primus
Venue: Iron City – Birmingham, AL
Date: May 12th, 2014
Gross Sales: $45,570
Attendance/Capacity: 1,300 / 1,300
Ticket Prices: $35

Rob Zombie and Primus are two acts who made their name in the 90s with one clearly doing much better than the other.

Artist: Behemoth
Venue: El Plaza Condesa – Mexico City, MEX
Date: May 05th, 2014
Gross Sales: $38,489
Attendance/Capacity: 1,131 / 2,100
Ticket Prices: $34.03

Artist: Killswitch Engage, Nothing More & Battlecross
Venue: Iron City – Birmingham, AL
Date: May 20th, 2014
Gross Sales: $23,119
Attendance/Capacity: 904 / 1,300
Ticket Prices: $26.50

Artist: HELLYEAH & Adrenaline Mob
Venue: Iron City – Birmingham, AL
Date: April 25th, 2014
Gross Sales: $3,881
Attendance/Capacity: 231 / 500
Ticket Prices: $17

Interesting to see how different the draw is for these three bands.

[Special thanks to ThePRP]