With 300,000 Tickets Sold for 2009 Already Rieu is on his way to Become a Fixture in the Touring Charts  

                        

NEW YORK, January 5 /PRNewswire/ -- With an incredible number of 714,617 tickets sold and a gross revenue of US$76.9 mln Andre Rieu clinched the 8th position in Pollstar's top 10 of worldwide touring acts. At 59, Rieu is still burning from ambition and his next goal is to definitively conquer the USA.

Pollstar, the organization that keeps track of the concert industry just published their annual ranking of the top 10 worldwide concert tours. The list is topped by Madonna with a gross of US$281.6 mln. The top three is completed by Celine Dion, with a gross revenue of US$236.6 mln and Bon Jovi, with US$176.3 mln.

                    

After almost making the top 10 in the past few years, Rieu debuts at number 8, with a gross revenue of US$76.9 mln. For his 71 shows, Rieu sold 714,617 tickets in 2008. The average of 10,065 tickets is without a doubt the highest a classical artist has ever seen.

With over 300,000 tickets already sold for concerts in 2009, Rieu is on its way to become a fixture in the worldwide touring charts. Andre Rieu has scheduled 35 concerts throughout the USA and Canada in April, May and June. He also rolled out plans to tour Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and of course his home country the Netherlands.

                    

The success of Rieu was driven by strong ticket sales in Europe and Australia for his World Stadium Tour - Rieu's extravagant tour with a full size reproduction of Empress Sisi's Castle, the biggest stage ever to go on tour. The top 10 accomplishment is only firing up Rieu's ambitions. He is hunting for more success and bigger things. "The USA is next on the list. It's my goal to tour the States with the Schonbrunn Castle. The success there hasn't kept up with the success in Europe, Asia and Australia, and we're going to do everything possible to conquer the USA and sell out football stadiums," according to Rieu.

Rieu's benchmark for success lies in Australia, where he virtually owns the charts. Rieu has positions one to six in the Music DVD Top 50 and a total of 21 records in the top 50. Rieu recently reached 100x platinum sales in Australia for his CD's and DVD's.

    Top 10 worldwide concert tours

    -------------------------------------------------------

                         Gross

    Rank                 Millions (US$)          Artist

    -------------------------------------------------------

    1                    $281.6                  Madonna

    2                    $236.6                  Celine Dion

    3                    $176.3                  Bon Jovi

    4                    $165.8                  Bruce Springsteen

                                                 & The E Street Band

    5                    $120.6                  The Police

    6                    $94.8                   Neil Diamond

    7                    $86.6                   Eagles

    8                    $76.9                   Andre Rieu

    9                    $72.2                   Kenny Chesney

    10                   $71.9                   Coldplay

    (source:http://www.pollstarpro.com)

    Tour dates Rieu - USA/Canada 2009

    Date               City                            Venue

    4-17-2009 Toronto            Air Canada Centre

    4-18-2009 Ottawa             Scotiabank Centre

    4-19-2009 Montreal           Bell Centre

    4-20-2009 Syracuse, NY       War Memorial At Oncenter

    4-21-2009 Manchester, NH     Verizon Wireless Arena

    4-23-2009 New York City, NY  Hammerstein Ballroom

    4-24-2009 Bridgeport, CT     Arena at Harbor Yard

    4-25-2009 Uniondale, NY      Nassau Coliseum

    4-26-2009 Newark, NJ         Prudential Center

    4-27-2009 Reading, PA        Sovereign Center

    4-28-2009 Camden, NJ         Susquehanna Bank Center

    5-14-2009 Baltimore, MD      1st Mariner Arena

    5-15-2009 Wilkes-Barre, PA   Wachovia Arena

    5-16-2009 Cleveland, OH      Quicken Loans Arena

    5-17-2009 Pittsburgh, PA     Mellon Arena

    5-18-2009 Columbus, OH       Nationwide Arena

    5-19-2009 Detroit, MI        Fox Theatre

    5-21-2009 Chicago, IL        Allstate Arena

    5-22-2009 Milwaukee, WI      Milwaukee Theatre

    5-23-2009 Minneapolis, MN    Target Center

    5-24-2009 Des Moines, IA     Wells Fargo Arena

    5-25-2009 Omaha, NE          Qwest Center

    5-26-2009 Denver, CO         Pepsi Center

    6-12-2009 Vancouver          General Motors Place

    6-13-2009 Tacoma, WA         Tacoma Dome

    6-14-2009 Portland, OR       Rose Garden Arena

    6-16-2009 Oakland, CA        Oracle Arena

    6-17-2009 Sacramento, CA     Arco Arena

    6-18-2009 Fresno, CA         SaveMart Center

    6-19-2009 Los Angeles, CA    Nokia Theatre L.A. Live

    6-20-2009 Ontario, CA        Citizens Business Bank Arena

    6-22-2009 San Diego, CA      Cricket Wireless Pavilion

    6-23-2009 Phoenix, AZ        Jobing.com Arena

    6-24-2009 Las vegas, NV      Orleans Arena

    6-25-2009 Salt Lake City, UT Usana Amphitheatre