I am using my positron hope-foreshadowing prognosticator to state unequivocal support for the cities of New York.....Montreal....Miami...LA......and VANCOUVER!!!!!
I am using the Queen + Paul Rodgers 2005 tour box office figures to prognosticate.
First of all, they will give more than the 6 concerts they did in 2012, since Brain wants to do enough to get really good. So: anywhere from 8-20. I am picking 12 but really in the dark on this one.
For financial viability they need to anchor the tour with some sure bets. We don't have the box office for all of the Q+PR tour BUT, for the ones that we do, there are only 4 that approximate 10,000 sized audiences:
-Toronto (100% sell-out and biggest box office $$$)
- Auburn Hills, a suburb of Detroit (also 100% sell-out.) FYI, they probably got a lot of the box-office from Queen fans in southeastern Ontario, Canada, but it is central enough to draw US fans from a several states.
- Anaheim, near LA, posted a 63% sell-out but that is a big venue and they sold 9,085 tickets. Replacing Paul Rodgers with Adam will spike that box office big time. So I predict an LA or surrounding area performance.
- Washington DC sold 9,475 tickets for a 75% sell-through, so that would be a good bet, too.
That's four. If it's more:
FYI Q+PR did well with a few cities like San Diego (7, 856). When you add Adam to the mix, they could be big.
I can't find the box office for the second leg of the tour but I think the Philadelphia box office was big, so it could be on the list. Vancouver drew 79% box office but I can't find their figures, either.
Given where Queen and Adam's strength lies I could see a couple of Canadian dates plus a west coast run that includes LA, SF and Seattle/Vancouver (one or the other but not both.)
The north-eastern seaboard is a crap shoot because neither are strong there. They could do New York for the press coverage but Philly has a bigger rock-sensibility. (There is a reason why WWRY never made it to Broadway.)
If Pittsburgh had a good run with the Queen Extravaganza last summer, they could be a candidate. Quebec City also ran QE for 60 odd concerts last summer, which makes Montreal a good bet if the tour is 12-20 dates.
Start date: July.
I am putting the 2005 tour info here for examination but it isn't definitive because they performed over 100 dates over 2 tours:
Venue / City Tickets Sold / Available Gross Revenue
American Airlines Arena, Miami 5,897 / 6,000 (98%) $573,453
Veterans Memorial, Jacksonville 3,769 / 5,000 (75%) $321,135
Arena at Gwinnett Center Duluth 5,909 / 9,258 (64%) $437,087
Verizon Center Washington, DC 9,475 / 12,571 (75%) $844,090
Nassau Coliseum Uniondale 7,697 / 11,000 (70%) $609,915
Air Canada Centre Toronto 11,279 / 11,279 (100%) $1,066,519
Q Loans Arena Cleveland 6,218 / 9,096 (68%) $421,942
Allstate Arena Rosemont (IL) 7,441 / 9,500 (78%) $756,870
The Palace Auburn Hills (Detroit) 10,296 / 10,296 (100%) $707,235
Bradley Center Milwaukee 6,282 / 9,000 (70%) $484,394
Cox Arena San Diego 6,030 / 7,586 (79%) $508,060
Honda Center Anaheim 9,085 / 14,373 (63% $666,735
MGM Grand Las Vegas 6,359 / 7,800 (82%) $626,355
KeyArena Seattle 4,592 / 12,500 (37%) $463,195
Rose Garden Portland 4,234 / 12,600 (34%) $395,380
TOTAL 104,563 / 147,859 (71%) $8,882,365
Don't have a clue but it's a start.
ETA: just realized Rosemont arena is Chicago area. At 7,441 they could be a candidate.) It might depend on how Adam's concerts have done there. Also, look at the $$$ in that venue compared to the $$$$ in Detroit, which sold many more tickets. They didn't have to discount tickets.
