We (meaning USA TODAY's expert statistical analyst, Tony DeBarros) just got a big data dump (unpleasant term) of attendance reports for the Idol tour, so I thought I'd share the results of the check-up.
The tour is in superb health. We've got reports from promoters, courtesy Billboard Boxscore, from 19 concerts so far, from the opener to Aug. 2 in Columbia, S.C. Thirteen of those were sellouts. (Actually, I misread the file -- there's info on 23 concerts so far, and 17 were sellouts. Even stronger!) Five others were in the high 90s (95% or better). The one straggler so far was the Charlotte show, where a mere 88.5% capacity was achieved.
But let's put that in perspective. Since the 2004 tour (the first year we have figures for), the Idol tour franchise has accomplished an amazing turnaround. That 88.5% number in Charlotte would have easily been the second-best turnout percentage on the whole 2004 tour (or at least the 47 dates we have numbers for; not all dates are reported). There was exactly one sellout in 2004 -- a Honolulu date toward the end of the tour, during year in which there were two Hawaiian finalists (Jasmine Trias and Camile Velasco).
The rest of that year's tour generally scored turnouts in the 40-50-60% range, with a secondary high of 82.1% (in Long Island, N.Y.) and a low of 27.4% (Indianapolis). It was not what you'd call a stunning success.
The 2005 tour did far better -- 11 sellouts out of 29 dates, and eight more in the 90s, but there were still a few stragglers, including a 62.2% turnout in San Antonio. Clearly, the 2006 tour is the biggest box-office hit among the three.
And it's huge compared to the competition this year, too. Only Kenny Chesney, in the same July-August period, has a higher average attendance percentage (100%) and a larger total audience.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/idolchatter/
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