Police tour was US biggest seller

VETERAN performers The Police produced the biggest-selling concert tour in the US last year.

The band, with Sting as lead singer, led the list of top-grossing acts, ahead of stars including Justin Timberlake, Celine Dion and Bruce Springsteen.

According to figures released by music industry magazine Pollstar, The Police, who reunited to tour last year for the first time in more than two decades, generated $133.2m (€90m) in gross ticket sales.

The band also sold the most tickets, 1.2 million, at an average price of $111.99 (€75), said Pollstar.

Successful concert tours helped drive ticket revenue industry-wide to a record $3.9 billion (€2.64bn).

The figures represent about an 8% increase over 2006, when North American concert ticket sales totalled $3.6bn (€2.4bn) and the ninth consecutive year the industry had posted record gross revenues, the magazine said.

The top 20 tours combined saw a 15% decline in ticket revenues compared to the top 20 tours from 2006, which included outings by the Rolling Stones, Madonna and Barbra Streisand.

The total number of tickets sold for the top 20 tours combined also slipped, declining 18%.

Overall concert receipts were up because smaller tours did better business than last year, said Gary Bongiovanni, Pollstar’s editor-in-chief.

“If you look at the top 20 touring acts, business was off, substantially,” said Mr Bongiovanni.

“The strength for the industry is coming from the bottom up.”