Phil Collins - Aviva Stadium - June 25th

Decided to go myself. didn't want to waste all that money!

Glad I did, good concert, my seats were far better than I had thought. Half way through the night myself and my wife chanced our arm and managed to be allowed into the Golden Circle area!

Phil was great, although I did feel he sang a few songs that were only Meh, and not enough of his hits. Seen him a few years back at the Three or Point as it was then and I think every song he sang was a hit.

Felt Phil`s set was a bit short, but still he sang very well and his 16 year old son is hugely talented. Nice touch by the son wearing the Irish Jersey.

Mike and the Mechanics were good, only knew a handful of songs. Blondie equally good, especially for a woman nearly 72, Fair play to her!

Overall a decent night, Stadium was mostly full with most of the seats empty at the back.

Was there for Robbie last week, if he had 55,000 I would say Phil must have had 40,000.

Weather was mostly ok, got a little cool as the night came but it didn't rain!

CPTM

Thought it was great overall. The sound for Blondie could have been better, the guitar kind of took over. But for Phil Collins and Mike and the Mechanics it sounded great.

Anyone else find it strange that he didn't sing Against All Odds?

I found it a bit sad seeing him hobbling off stage with the walking stick at the end. But his voice was still strong, still hitting those notes and really connected with the crowd despite not being able to stand up from the seat for the night.

His son really won the crowd over with the Irish Jersey.

delbertgrady

They dropped Against All Odds, which has been the opener for throughout the tour. I thought they may have done so to start with a "full band" song in the stadium, and half-expected them to do it later, but no. Of the songs they ditched, that was the most surprising.

blue5000

DrumSteve wrote: »

Was quite a good set. Loads of empty seats where I was but tbh it wasn't overly noticeable.

And sure, if anyone fancies an aul drum before bed heres a video I got of In The Air Tonight.

Thanks for this DrumSteve, just in the door now. Definitely not dead yet anyway, great voice, great show and 16 yr old Nick was an inspiration to my 11 year old son who is struggling to play a piano.
Blondie was great too, got the crowd warmed up. Mike and the mechanics though was a bit Meh IMO.

I wonder would they have sold more tickets if they weren't so expensive, heard they were £45 for the London gigs.

MisterAnarchy

delbertgrady wrote: »

They dropped Against All Odds, which has been the opener for throughout the tour. I thought they may have done so to start with a "full band" song in the stadium, and half-expected them to do it later, but no. Of the songs they ditched, that was the most surprising.

Looks like Phil only sang 15 songs last night ,compared to 21-22 on the rest of his tour.
Not sure why he decided to cut almost a third of the songs for Dublin especially considering the high prices.
I was going to go but glad I didn't now,I'd have been very angry at only getting 15 songs.

I wonder would they have sold more tickets if they weren't so expensive, heard they were £45 for the London gigs.

Albert Hall ticket prices were £45-175

rubadub

blue5000 wrote: »

I wonder would they have sold more tickets if they weren't so expensive

Of course they would. I just wonder what price it would have sold out at.

In another thread someone was saying if a gig sells out in minutes -then it's a pretty bad failure, its an odd way to think of it but true, since it means they could have charged a lot more. I reckon U2 would have sold out croke park at 200 a ticket -but there would be media backlash saying they are fleecing people.

I was suggesting some sort of auction system -but where everyone ends up paying the same (for the same area). i.e. imagine an all standing gig, you "bid" €60, if the next guy goes 50 and the next guy bids 70 then the tickets are set at €60, as its the average, like on ebay the guy who bid 70 only pays 60. The sale of tickets could take place over a month or so. If you are outbid they could give you a day or 2 to up the minimum price you are willing to pay. I would rather see the artist get more money than touts & seatwave.

I would have been annoyed with the 15 vs 21/22 songs. Tenner a song.

Hector Savage

How long was Phil on for ?
I remember he was known for really short sets ...

SnipSnop

Hector Savage wrote: »

How long was Phil on for ?
I remember he was known for really short sets ...

Started at 9 on the dot and stopped around 10:40 or so. No matter what, imo was worth every cent. Doubt he will ever tour again so was just happy to see him one last time.

Mrs Shuttleworth

SnipSnop wrote: »

Started at 9 on the dot and stopped around 10:40 or so. No matter what, imo was worth every cent. Doubt he will ever tour again so was just happy to see him one last time.

Robbie Williams came on at 8.45 last week and finished at 10.30, so only five minutes longer than Phil, and got the audience to sing about half the songs.

delbertgrady

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Looks like Phil only sang 15 songs last night, compared to 21-22 on the rest of his tour. Not sure why he decided to cut almost a third of the songs for Dublin especially considering the high prices.

Probably because every other show on the tour to date has been indoors and/or fully seated. The normal practice has been to do a set, take an intermission, and come back for the second set, but they must have decided it would be a bit tricky to have an interval in an outdoor stadium, and so they played straight through. As such, some songs got ditched, as Phil probably felt he couldn't do the full show without a break. Yes, the set was reduced, but I don't think anyone felt short changed yesterday.

Mars Bar

delbertgrady wrote: »

Probably because every other show on the tour to date has been indoors and/or fully seated. The normal practice has been to do a set, take an intermission, and come back for the second set, but they must have decided it would be a bit tricky to have an interval in an outdoor stadium, and so they played straight through. As such, some songs got ditched, as Phil probably felt he couldn't do the full show without a break. Yes, the set was reduced, but I don't think anyone felt short changed yesterday.

My sister was a bit miffed that he dropped Take A Look At Me Now!

What a concert! I reckon if "Take Me Home" went on for another four bars I would have broken down in to an emotional mess.

The woman and her partner in front of us left after the third song. She was in tears midway through the Blondie set.

Mrs Shuttleworth

Mars Bar wrote: »

My sister was a bit miffed that he dropped Take A Look At Me Now!

What a concert! I reckon if "Take Me Home" went on for another four bars I would have broken down in to an emotional mess.

The woman and her partner in front of us left after the third song. She was in tears midway through the Blondie set.

It's great that it worked out so well. The constant pimping of the tickets and Phil's health problems the whole venture at times nearer the date seemed ill-thought out.

Phil's trademark sound worked brilliantly in the stadium. I can't imagine that show being as good indoors. Hyde Park should be a great show Friday.

CPTM

rubadub wrote:

In another thread someone was saying if a gig sells out in minutes -then it's a pretty bad failure, its an odd way to think of it but true, since it means they could have charged a lot more. I reckon U2 would have sold out croke park at 200 a ticket -but there would be media backlash saying they are fleecing people.

Remember the seatwave drama?! They pretty much did sell it out for 200 plus euros, but that's for another thread I suppose

rubadub wrote:

I would have been annoyed with the 15 vs 21/22 songs. Tenner a song.

Mrs Shuttleworth wrote:

Robbie Williams came on at 8.45 last week and finished at 10.30, so only five minutes longer than Phil, and got the audience to sing about half the songs.

My theory is time constraints in the outdoor arena. I reckon 10:30 is lights out time and he was just delayed by 10 min (he was supposed to start at 8:50, didn't come on till 9.

If he started any sooner, the two warm ups would've had to come on way earlier. The fact he had two warm ups probably filled the gaps another artist would have filled themselves. I wonder if there's a max start time before which you can't fill the stadium.

Either way, Phil was the main event, fair enough, but the warm ups were excellent in fairness and surely deserve to be part of the ticket value.

prinzeugen

lambayire wrote: »

Any guesses on an attendance figure?

Circa 43,000.

Don't have the exact attendance for the pitch which holds 15,000 max, but the stands had around 30,000 at 9pm.

There was more there than at Robbie Williams anyway. Sound was a million times better as well.

So much for the struggling ticket sales!

horseburger

prinzeugen wrote: »

Circa 43,000.

Don't have the exact attendance for the pitch which holds 15,000 max, but the stands had around 30,000 at 9pm.

There was more there than at Robbie Williams anyway. Sound was a million times better as well.

So much for the struggling ticket sales!

Indeed, this video shows the crowd on the pitch and stands.

Even if the pitch standing area may not have been full to capacity, the size of the crowd on the pitch and stands, suggests that there were more in attendance, than would fit in any large indoor venue, for example the 3 Arena.

Mrs Shuttleworth

I see Prince's New Power Generation (from the Diamonds and Pearls era) are supporting in Hyde Park Friday along with Blondie and Mike.

rednik

I thought overall it was a very good gig with good support from Blondie and Mike & the Mechanics. We are probably very lucky to see Phil get up on stage at all.

Pinkman

A mate of mine who worked at the event said he was told there was 32,000 paid ticket holders with 20,000 tickets given away from free but only 10,000 of those showed up. Total = 42,000. He said there was over 49,000 for Robbie Williams, with very few free/comp tickets.

prinzeugen

Pinkman wrote: »

A mate of mine who worked at the event said he was told there was 32,000 paid ticket holders with 20,000 tickets given away from free but only 10,000 of those showed up. Total = 42,000. He said there was over 49,000 for Robbie Williams, with very few free/comp tickets.

That's rubbish. I work there and had access to figures on the night. I did not see one complimentary ticket and there was more at Phil than at Robbie Williams. Way more.

Robbie did not have 49,000. Not even close.

I believe some in the south stand got free bands to access the pitch from the stands but that was it.

They never give away free tickets for entry. Someone pays for them at some point but people may get free "upgrades".

Mrs Shuttleworth

Those pics posted above have me cut up. It's heartbreaking to see him so fragile yet pull off a stormer of a gig.

I was at both Robbie and Phil. The pitch seemed more full for Robbie but the stands definitely weren't.

prinzeugen

prinzeugen wrote: »

That's rubbish. I work there and had access to figures on the night. I did not see one complimentary ticket and there was more at Phil than at Robbie Williams. Way more.

Robbie did not have 49,000. Not even close.

I believe some in the south stand got free bands to access the pitch from the stands but that was it.

They never give away free tickets for entry. Someone pays for them at some point but people may get free "upgrades".

Simply not true. I was at both concerts. Robbie was almost full, phil didnt even fill the back seating of the stadium.

prinzeugen

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Simply not true. I was at both concerts. Robbie was almost full, phil didnt even fill the back seating of the stadium.

Bollox.

As I said. I had the figures.

A crowd in one part looks like a empty part in another..

Been in the stadium for a very, very long time so know what I am talking about.

There was parts of the stands at 50% capacity for Robbie that were at 95% for Phil.

XxMCRxBabyxX

prinzeugen wrote: »

That's rubbish. I work there and had access to figures on the night. I did not see one complimentary ticket and there was more at Phil than at Robbie Williams. Way more.

Robbie did not have 49,000. Not even close.

I believe some in the south stand got free bands to access the pitch from the stands but that was it.

They never give away free tickets for entry. Someone pays for them at some point but people may get free "upgrades".

I work there too and also had access to figures. Robbie definitely had more attending than Phil. Can't remember actual numbers for Robbie but it was closer to 50,000 than Phil which was an expected 43,000. There was entire stands empty at Phil. Even just going by activity on the floors Robbie was far busier than Phil was. One of the busiest events I've seen.

Mrs Shuttleworth

Not sure why you're all bickering over this. Whatever the numbers Phil got a much bigger crowd than was expected to show up.

Robbie on the other hand has burnt his bridges now with a very lazy and generic show this year and will be lucky to command Aviva sized audiences going forward.

prinzeugen

prinzeugen wrote: »

Bollox.

As I said. I had the figures.

A crowd in one part looks like a empty part in another..

Been in the stadium for a very, very long time so know what I am talking about.

There was parts of the stands at 50% capacity for Robbie that were at 95% for Phil.

Not true, I sat in 2 different places for both concerts, At Robbie's I was sat near the back of the main stand, every stand was full as well as the pitch.

At Phil's I was sat at the front, the golden circle was no where full, I even managed to get in! The back stands were empty and the main stands had loads of empty seats. Even where I was sat the back rows were empty and I was in the first row of seats!

I even have pics somewhere, ill dig them up from my phone and put them up.

XxMCRxBabyxX wrote: »

I work there too and also had access to figures. Robbie definitely had more attending than Phil. Can't remember actual numbers for Robbie but it was closer to 50,000 than Phil which was an expected 43,000. There was entire stands empty at Phil. Even just going by activity on the floors Robbie was far busier than Phil was. One of the busiest events I've seen.

Exactly!

jack presley

Bit of a Donald Trump 'my inauguration crowd was bigger than your inauguration crowd' thing going on here.

This is the back of the stadium for Phil.



This was still taken from my video which can be seen here

Now this is Robbies



Taken from my video can be seen here

argentum

I'll throw my hat into the ring on this one.I also work there and have the actual figures for each gig.
The main point should be that everyone was told that 8000 customers less were in the stadium for Phil as against Robbie and that both shows were good . everyone got home safely after the shows which was great after all the fears about gigs here

lambayire

I was in the pit for Robbie and I couldn't believe how full the stadium looked when looking backwards.
The pit was also rammers compared to the previous Aviva gig back in 2013.
The only empty seats seemed to be those where the view would have been blocked by the lighting towers,
merchandise and sound areas.

Sad to see the pics of Phil walking with the aid of a stick.

I'm missing the radio ads this week. I wonder what will be replacing them now (gig-wise).

Pinkman

Why do people think MCD would spend hundreds of thousands on endless radio ads for Phil Collins if it was anything close to a sell out? There were no ads for Robbie.

According to official box score figures from billboard Robbie's 2013 gig did 36,000. There was significantly more at this gig, hence the 49,000 making sense.

The figures for both should be released by billboard in the coming months anyway.