Shows by Elton John, Shania Twain, Westlife, Lizzo, Arctic Monkeys, Ed Sheeran and a Katie Taylor bout last year helped the 3Arena in Dublin to increase box office revenues by 50 per cent to €74.02 million.
Figures by trade industry journal, Pollstar, show that Ed Sheeran’s gig generated €1.36 million at the box office where ticket prices started at €105.85.
The €74.02 million figure is an €24.8 million increase on the €49.2 million generated by the 3Arena in 2022. The venue is now the 21st highest-grossing arena worldwide in 2023, according to Pollstar rankings.
Pollstar figures for the year from November 17th, 2022 to November 11th last, show that a total of 985,341 fans attended the venue during the 12-month period.
The Pollstar figures – based on returns made by 3Arena – show that bumper box offices were not only confined to music artists.
Pundits and former footballers, Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher appeared at the 3Arena in March as part of their The Overlap Live tour and the sell-out show generated €488,600 at the box office.
However, the 3Arena’s most lucrative night of the year under review was the first Katie Taylor bout in May 2023 with Chantelle Cameron where the Bray boxer lost to Cameron but won at the box office with the night generating €2.08m at the 3Arena box office.
The largest box office for the year at the 3Arena belongs to the Arctic Monkeys which totalled €3.63m for three nights in October.
Elton John’s two gigs at the Dublin venue generated one of the year’s biggest box offices with 17,024 fans paying out €2.98 million.
The highest-earning Irish act in the year under review at the 3Arena was Westlife which generated €2.95 million at the box office for three gigs in December 2022.
Other Irish acts to feature prominently include Picture This which had a combined box office of €1.38 million for two gigs in October while Inhaler with frontman, Elijah Hewson, enjoyed a box office of €447,198 last November.
Comedy continued to be a big draw with comedian Peter Kay’s three nights last April generating €1.98 million at the box office. Michael McIntyre’s three-night stint in November made €1.76 million while Ricky Gervais’s two nights in July made €806,000.
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