Westlife gross €27m from farewell tour

Westlife’s farewell tour was in the top 50 grossing tours in the world last year, according to new figures.

Pollstar, the concert industry’s trade magazine, estimates that Westlife earned $35.2 million (€27 million) last year, ranking them 34th in the year’s top grossing tours.

Their farewell tour consisted of eight dates in China and 33 in the UK and Ireland culminating in two nights at Croke Park in June.

In total the band sold 489,694 tickets at an average price of $71.85 (€55) each.

According to Pollstar, the top grossing act last year was Madonna, who brought her MDNA tour to the Aviva Stadium in July. She earned $296.1 million last year (€227 million) from 88 dates across the world.

The second highest grossing tour was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band with $210 million (€170 million). A regular visitor to Ireland, Springsteen played two shows at the RDS last summer and is due to play four more in Cork, Limerick and Belfast this year.

Former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters’ The Wall tour was third with a concert gross of $186.4 million (€142.9 million). He is bringing his scaled-up Wall tour to the Aviva this year.

The Rolling Stones appeared on the top 50 despite only playing five shows last year to mark the band’s 50th anniversary.

Their three shows at the O2 in London and two in New Jersey grossed $35.5 (€27.2 million), giving an average gross for each show of €5.44 million.

They also had, by some distance, the most expensive tickets. The average price for a ticket to their shows, which attracted a great deal of flack for the band, was $529.51 (€405.50) each.

A surprising edition to the list is English comedian Michael McIntyre who earned $33.9 (€26 million) from his UK and Ireland tour last year.