
Coldplay clocks in at No. 1 on our latest ranking of top-grossing tours with a hefty box office total ($99.7 million) reported from the 2012 North American and European legs of the world tour supporting the album “Mylo Xyloto,” the band’s fifth studio set released last October. The tour launched that same month in Europe and continued through the end of the year, but did not resume in 2012 until mid-April with the kick off of the first North American leg.
Edmonton hosted the British rock band for its first tour date of the year with a performance on April 17 at the 16,000-seat arena, Rexall Place. Five more dates followed at arenas in Canada and the western U.S. before the tour leg wrapped in early May with a three-show stint at the Hollywood Bowl. All three performances at the Southern California amphitheater were sellouts with almost 50,000 tickets sold for concerts on May 1, 2 and 4.
Two weeks later the band headed back to Europe to begin a three-week sweep through six countries to play stadium shows in nine cities. The first event was on May 18 in Porto, Portugal with a sellout crowd of 52,457 in attendance at the city’s football stadium, Estádio do Dragão. The band played sold out concerts at stadiums in Spain, France, Italy and Switzerland before returning to its home country on May 29 with a performance at Ricoh Arena in Coventry, England.
Next on the schedule was a three-show run in London at Emirates Stadium on June 1, 2 and 4 with sellout crowds on each night. With attendance totaling 173,596 for the trip of dates, and an overall gross of £9.3 million ($14.4 million US$), Coldplay joins Roger Waters, The Stone Roses, Lady Gaga and Bruce Springsteen as 2012 touring artists that have scored a gross of $10 million (US$) or more in a multi-show concert engagement at one venue.
The European trek wrapped following U.K. stadium concerts in Sunderland and Manchester as well as a headlining slot at the 95.8 Capital FM Summertime Ball at London’s Wembley Stadium on June 9.
The North American summer leg began with two shows in Dallas at American Airlines Center on June 22 and 23 and wrapped with a two-show run at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center on August 10 and 11. During the seven-week tour leg through the U.S. and Canada, Coldplay played 15 arenas selling more than 413,000 tickets at 25 performances.
So far this year, in two North American legs and the first European leg, more than 1.2 million fans have attended the Mylo Xyloto Tour, generating the $99.7 million in worldwide ticket sales. The band is currently on the road in Europe through late-September and is set to play stadiums in New Zealand and Australia in November.