The Ledge - new tour dates added for 2015

Forbes 10/10/2014 @ 11:09

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jesselaw...-through-2015/

Just Two Shows In, Ticket Demand Drives Fleetwood Mac On Tour Through 2015

Fleetwood Mac’s On With the Show tour has only played two shows, but it’s already being dubbed a massive success. It’s not the reviewers who are saying that the band has regained it’s form with the return of Christine McVie. Instead, it’s the ticket market. By announcing that they’d add 28 additional dates to the tour, it’s clear that demand for Fleetwood Mac tickets during the initial on sale was strong enough to support a second leg and a run well into 2015.

While it’s too early for much critical feedback on the full bands first tour in 16 years, in the modern age of the concert business, critical reception may be the least important element needed for success. Whether Christine McVie can still deliver night in and night out for six months matters little when a band like Fleetwood Mac has a catalog as deep as they do and fans as passionate as they are. According to TiqIQ, the average price across the remaining dates on the current leg of the tour is $373, which makes it the most expensive tour for the rest of 2014. That’s $50 more expensive than the average price for Bob Dylan tickets, despite the fact that he has basically been touring non-stop for the last 25 years, having played an astounding 3,000 shows over that period.

The first leg of On With The Show is mostly comprised of big arena stages in major market, including Madison Square Garden in New York, TD Garden in Boston and The Verizon Center in DC. Dylan, on the other hand, has played much smaller venues over the years, which is part of what has allowed him to maintain as long as he had. For the second leg of their tour which was announced today, Fleetwood Mac will visit mostly smaller market venues, like the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas and the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT before wrapping up at the Intrust Bank Arena in Witchita, Kansas.

For a band that’s now sold out three shows at Madison Square Garden in the last year, it’s a fair question to ask why Wichita. Even for a band as legendary as Fleetwood Mac, though, a 100-show tour is not a sure thing, and what plays on Broadway may not always play in Peoria. This is especially true given the fact that they just wrapped their last tour earlier this year, and played 49 shows in North America during the run. The first leg of On With The Show went on sale in May, which means that the concerts promoters have had five months to see what sales looked like across all the stops on the first leg. Two shows in, the answer is clear: On with the tour.