Pollstar, the concert trade publication, reports that the U.S. live events industry lost $30 billion this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Without the Covid intervention, the industry would have been expected to establish a record of $12.2 billion in 2020. Instead it lost $9.7 billion. The projected $30 billion includes a variety of losses, included unreported events and such things as concession losses and ancillary losses not directly attributable to live events, but driven by them.
A tiny few performers have found ways to make money, through drive-in concerts or digital concerts, but the great majority have sat most of the year out.
With that in mind, the top Worldwide Tour was Elton John’s “Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour” which grossed $87.1 million between November 39 and March 7.
The hope of an effective vaccine, plus more testing, safety measures and many other ways that show business has learned to live with Covid is building hope for a revival of the live industry next year.
