Where can I go on the web or how can I find a consistent and updated
history of which acts/bands have sold out in which cities?  I am
looking for a comprehensive view on popular bands in the US that
regulary sell out their shows and when and where they do the best. 
Possibly in chart form or something to that effect.

Hi!

Thinking of the best way to find sistematic information on sold-out
shows and  concert box office data, I figured out two interestings
ways to research.

First of all, you have what it seems to be the leading source in this
kind of records: Pollstar magazine. “A comprehensive and up-to-date
concert venue database”:
Http://www.pollstaronline.com
Http://www.pollstar.com

They sell an interesting book for your research:
Directories Pollstar Year End Special
Top Box Office Grosses. The Top 200 Concerts are listed with date,
artist / facility / promoter, tickets sold / capacity and gross.
Top 100 Tours featuring grosses, average ticket price, average ticket
sales, total tickets sold, number of cities / shows and agency
listing.
Top Ticket Sales List with total tickets sold by promoter and venue
including Arenas, Amphitheatres, Theatres and Clubs.
http://store.pollstar.com/cgi-bin/store/YE1_000000.html

They also have an award, the Pollstar Concert Industry Awards Winners,
from 1984 till 2001. This information is access free.
http://www.pollstaronline.com/CIC2002/Awards/2000winners.htm

Since you have to pay to access to Pollstar information about concerts
ticket selling, I choosed some links for you where you can find some
quoted data. For example:

MUSIC NOTES, The Rock ‘n’ Roll Capital of the World?, By Mark T. Gould
“A few weeks ago, I was purusing the list of the most popular concert
areas in the country, as compiled by the good folks at Pollstar, who
track concert schedules, grosses and the like.
The list was fairly predictable. There was New York.. Los Angeles.
Chicago. Miami. Dallas. Norwich-New London”.
http://www.swaves.com/Back_Issues/Aug00/Music_Notes.html

Philips Arena Named No. 1 U.S. Concert Arena Ranked By Pollstar
Magazine
Here you will find a chart extracted from Pollstar, ranking the top 20
concert arenas with capacities of 15,000 or more, with location and
attendant numbers.
http://www.philipsarena.com/st0300/pressKit/newsArt12.shtml
 

The second way I  think might be useful for your research comes from
common sense. Why not checking in the sold out tickets auctions and
offers? There are plenty of places offering sold-out and hard-to-get
tickets. Information is organized in wide databases, you can choose to
collect the information by band or by city. I’ve been checking
arround, and the following seem to be serious:

A ticket auction site where users can bid on and sell tickets for
sold-out sporting and concert events nationwide
http://www.allsoldout.com/

Extensive list to buy and sell sold out tickets. Organized by city or
band.
http://www.buysoldouttickets.com

“Are you tired of finding out that the concert tickets you want are
all sold out? Then search through our database and get the perfect
tickets to those sold out concerts”
http://www.tunetickets.com

E bay 80 items found for sold out tickets
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&query=sold+out+tickets&ht=1&itemtimedisp=1&st=2&SortProperty=MetaEndSort&BasicSearch=

Good luck with your research!

Runix-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by runix-ga on 18 Jun 2002 22:52 PDT

Sorry, I forgot to tell you about the searching strategy I used.
Keywords:
"Sold out"
"Most sold out"
"Most popular concert"
Show OR concert
Top list
Record
Box office

---

Clarification of Answer by runix-ga on 23 Jun 2002 11:39 PDT

Hi smokeymischief, 

I did not know that you were looking for free information. You are
asking for really wide and specific information. As you said in the
comment, maybe this is unrealistic to find for free.

I also told you in the answer to check sites where you can buy
soldouts tickets. Not because I though you might want to buy tickets,
but because you can find there some information about which shows are
sold out now, organized by city or band. It might be an original
source.

Then, I also gave you some links where you will find quoted data from
the Pollstar report. Obviously  there are few numbers mentioned, but
it is free info and it can give you an idea of the whole report.

I hope this helps you a bit more!

smokeymischief-

Billboard Magazine publishes a weekly "Boxscore" of the top weekly
concert grosses (and sellout info).  For a full list of all concert
grosses and sellouts for the week you have to be a Billboard
subscriber.  :(

http://www.billboard.com/billboard/charts/boxscore.jsp

You know, these are very good suggestions but i am looking for
something pretty straight forward.  The Billboard suggestion is
actually a lot closer to what I am looking for but no exactly.  I am
not looking to buy or sell tickets either, just doing some research.

Dear smokeymischief, 

You were asking for "consistent and updated history of which
acts/bands have sold out in which cities", you will find that
information in the Pollstar report (
http://store.pollstar.com/cgi-bin/store/YE1_000000.html ) there you
will find "A comprehensive and up-to-date concert venue database",
including:
 
Top Box Office Grosses. 
The Top 200 Concerts listed with date, artist 
Tickets sold 
Top 100 Tours featuring grosses
Average ticket sales 
Total tickets sold 
and much more. 

I'll appreciate if you can clarify why this doesn't satisfy your
question.

Regards,

Runix-ga

Thank you again, but I should have been more clear.  The link (
http://store.pollstar.com/cgi-bin/store/YE1_000000.html ) guides me to
a book that I really would rather try to avoid buying, though I am
trying to find it on-line for cheap eg. Half.com, and the Pollstar
site is a bit spendy, the $150.00 a year subscription service is out
of my limit.  What I need is the info that the book and the site
provide but free or cheap, maybe this is unrealistic to find but then
again that is why I am using this web site.  Thanks again for your
effort, I truly appreciate it!