Irish gig promoters clock up big revenues through post-Covid bounce

Croke Park ranked 13th in the world following the success of the Garth Brooks concerts

Fans cheer as Becky Hill performs on the main stage at Electric Picnic in September. The festival helped promoter MCD rank 11 in the world last year. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

Electric Picnic promoters MCD Productions last year clocked up box office revenues of $165m (€155.6m) after selling 2.5m tickets for gigs across Ireland last year.

Figures released by trade industry journal Pollstar show MCD Productions' performance had the firm ranked 11th overall in the world’s top 200 promoters for 2022.

In a bumper year for the industry here after Covid-19 shut down, the live entertainment business for 2020 and most of 2021, Pollstar figures show Aiken Promotions (Ireland) generated $87.98m at the box office after selling 1.15m tickets.

The figures show the country's two top promoters generated a combined box office of $252.98m by selling 3.6m tickets.

Managing director of MCD Productions Denis Desmond on Friday described the company's 2.45m tickets sold as “a great result".

Mr Desmond said it was “great to see demand is bigger than ever for live shows”.

The $165m box office performance at MCD Production from 2.45m tickets sold compares to MCD's pre-Covid 2019 box office revenues of $159.29m from 2.3m tickets sold.

The largest player in live music, Live Nation, which part-owns MCD Productions, generated $4.6bn in global box office receipts, from 52.4m tickets sold in 2022.

Mr Desmond said 2023 “is shaping up to be just as busy as 2022, with a lot of sold-out shows already, including Harry Styles at Slane Castle, Depeche Mode, Arctic Monkeys and The Weeknd”.

Mr Desmond said Dermot Kennedy will play to 155,000 people this summer over five shows, with three taking place at Thomond Park in Limerick and two shows at Marlay Park in Dublin.

The main driver behind the Aiken Promotions performance was the five sell-out Garth Brooks gigs at Croke Park in September.

The Pollstar figures rank Garth Brooks as the fourth highest top-grossing series of gigs worldwide last year, generating $28.65m at the box office after selling 401,000 tickets. Only Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles and Bad Bunny featured ahead of Garth Brooks' Croke Park gigs in box office rankings.

The Garth Brooks concerts, along with Ed Sheeran’s Croke Park gigs, catapulted Croke Park to be ranked number 13 in the world’s top 100 stadiums, after the stadium generated $41.2m in box office receipts from 541,487 attendees.

Garth Brooks performs at Croke Park in September. The success of the concert saw the venue listed as the 13th in the world top 100 stadiums.

The Pollstar rankings place Croke Park’s box office performance ahead of well-known stadiums including Yankee Stadium in New York City, the Etihad Stadium in Manchester and Hampden Park in Glasgow.

The Aviva Stadium in Dublin generated $18.05m in box office receipts from selling 185,539 tickets, while Malahide Castle generated $10.76m in box office revenues from 174,260 tickets sold.

The figures separately show that Aiken Promotions' Ed Sheeran’s two Croke Park gigs made $12.76m at the box office after selling 140,487 tickets, while the performer’s two concerts at Thomond Park last year generated $5.19m after selling 61,780 tickets.

The Pollstar figures show two MCD-promoted Westlife gigs at the Aviva Stadium last year clocked up $6.79m at the box office after selling 87,367 tickets.

The sold-out Harry Styles gig at the Aviva Stadium last June generated $5.09m after selling 50,422 tickets.

The Aiken-promoted ‘All Together Now’ for Curraghmore House and Gardens in Waterford generated $4.75m at the box offices — names who performed at the event included Groove Armada and Underworld.