Guns N’ Roses + Metallica Land in Top Five of Pollstar’s Top 20 Worldwide Tours of 2017
It almost feels like 1992 all over again. Some 25 years after the two of the most popular acts in the land launched what would turn out to be a disastrous co-headlining trek, both are back at the top of the list - separately this time around - of the hottest tours of the year.
According to Pollstar's Top 20 Worldwide Tours of 2017, Guns N' Roses have checked in at No. 2 while Metallica landed at No. 5 on the trade publication's annual list of hottest tours. U2 took the top spot with a staggering $316 million for a 50-date jaunt which saw the Irish rockers perform their landmark 1987 effort The Joshua Tree in its entirety. The bulk of the tour took place in football stadiums across North America.
Next year, Guns N' Roses will kick off the ninth leg of their wildly successful "Not in This Lifetime" tour in Europe. The trek began back in April of 2016. Featuring classic lineup members Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan reunited onstage for the first time since 1993, the 81 shows in 2017 grossed $262.5 million with 2.68 million tickets sold. That's actually really close to U2's 2.71 million tickets, but Bono and company were charging an average of more than $40 more per ticket than GNR.
Metallica celebrated the release of their latest album, last November's chart topping Hardwired...To Self-Destruct, with the "WorldWired" tour. Spending the early part of the year in Asia, Europe and Latin America, the band brought the gigs to North America for their first extensive run here since 2009. Taking on stadiums for the most part, the group sold 1.5 million tickets over 49 shows.
Other rock acts rounding out the Top 20 were The Rolling Stones, who came in at No. 9, selling more than 755,000 tickets for just 14 shows and Red Hot Chili Peppers who squeezed in at No. 19 on the list, selling 882,000 tickets.
Pollstar's preview chart can be seen here, with the list featuring complete data available to subscribers next Friday (Jan. 5).
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