The Mötley Crüe Reunion Tour is Asking for $3.25 Million Per Show

The metalverse was aflutter with talk of Mötley Crüe last week as the legendary band announced they’d come back for a stadium tour with Def Leppard and Poison in 2020 despite years ago insisting they’d never tour again, making a huge deal of it at the time. Opinions varied wildly from “fuck yeah” to “fuck them” to “Mick Mars owes everyone free tickets,” but this much is certain: the tour’s gonna make insane money. Maybe not Guns N’ Roses money, but huge money nonetheless.

Just how much money, exactly? A concert promoter in Iowa who claims to have been offered the opportunity to bid for a show says the tour’s agent quoted him as follows:

Mötley Crüe: $2 million
Def Leppard: $1 million
Poison: $250,000

Some quick math: at an average of $70 per tickets, that’d take 46,000 paid just to break even.

Before we get carried away, know that the price a tour’s agent initially quotes is rarely what the promoter ends up paying. It’s a starting point, then a negotiation ensues. The two sides typically agree at a price less than the initial quote, although in some cases prices can be driven up if there are multiple promoters competing for a show in the same market.

That said, holy shit, that’s a helluva starting point. What’s more, it’s Iowa, meaning the tour could be quoting even more in big cities. And those numbers, of course, do not include revenue from merch sales: that’s just the guarantee the band gets. On the other side, all of these bands will have large expenses to pay out of those guarantees to put on what will surely be a massive show with dozens of touring personnel.

Still, at those prices it’s hard to imagine any promoter making much money. Maybe my math is off, but I’d have to think the final agreed-upon price will be less, on average, per show… although who knows, playing stadiums it’s certainly possible this thing draws 50,000+ fans per night. But shit, even at HALF those rates Mötley will be laughing at the haters all summer long.