In numbers: This is how much it really costs to produce an international concert

The rock ‘n roll and concert side of the entertainment industry is still fighting to keep its head above water. It has been a really difficult two years for the industry as all events were banned during the Covid-19 lockdown.

While the National State of Disaster came to an end at midnight on 5 April 2022, a number of restrictions remained in place for 30 days to give the government time to put legislation in place to guide its response to the pandemic. This included the wearing of masks and limiting gatherings to 50% of a venue’s capacity, provided attendees can show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test.

The public comment period for The National Health Act, which was supposed to replace the Covid-19 lockdown regulations, has been extended to 5 August 2022, after which the country should have more clarity regarding the limitations for gatherings and the wearing of masks.

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But, this doesn’t bring much reprieve for the workforce responsible for putting together some of the most magical international gigs we’ve attended in South Africa, including the unforgettable 2011 concert when Irish rockers U2 performed their 360° Tour at Cape Town Stadium and FNB Stadium in Johannesburg (brought to SA by Big Concerts).

Speaking to The Citizen, Sven Hansen, production manager/producer and owner and director of 4 Plus 3 Productions PTY LTD said it’s next to impossible for smaller promoters to bring international acts like U2 and Eminem to South Africa with the current venue limitations in place.

“You have to sell 80% of your tickets to cover your production costs, your venue hire, your technical, hotels, flights, artist fees, tax on your performance fee that goes to Sars,” he explains.

According to Hansen, who has been producing concerts for about 18 years, and who has worked alongside some of the most respected people in the industry, including U2’s site manager Jake Berry, getting a high-end band to perform at a Cape Town and Johannesburg stadium with all your performance fees, production costs and flights will cost you around R70 – R80 million to produce two shows.

He stresses though, that you need to sell at least 80% of your event’s tickets before you even start making a profit, which means with venues only allowed to operate at 50% capacity, it is not financially viable to bring international acts to the country unless people are prepared to pay R10,000 for a golden circle ticket instead of R1,500.

“Pre-lockdown tickets sold for around R450 in the cheap seats, but when you only have 50% capacity these ticket prices could easily shoot up to R1,000 for seated tickets and start at R5,000 for a golden circle ticket,” said Hansen.

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The average cost of producing an international concert in a venue like FNB stadium:

If you hire a venue, like FNB stadium, that can accommodate 74,000 people, you need to sell 60,000 tickets before you will even begin to see a profit. However, with the current limitation on gatherings, you’ll only be able to get around 37,000 people into the stadium, which means you are about 20,000 tickets short of starting to make a profit.

This is how much it would potentially cost to produce an international act at a stadium:

• Your artists fees for high-end performers like Justin Bieber (who was also brought to SA by Big Concerts), Eminem and other big names are over $1 million per show – that translates to around R42 million just on your artist fees for two shows.
• You also need to cover the artists’ and their entourage’s visa applications, security, domestic flights, hotels, as well as meals, drinks, entertainment and so forth.
• Venue hire adds about another R1.6 million to your budget, and pitch protection is another R480,000 per venue.
• The security bill for a stadium is around R800,000 to R900,000.
• In most cases, you also need to fly the artists to South Africa – often paying for either their business class flights or chartering a private jet. Business class flights from the US to South Africa cost around R160,000 per flight.  
• For a large production, for the stage and lights and all other equipment you are looking at another R5 million to R6 million.

Hansen says while he doesn’t think Covid-19 signed the death warrant for international concerts in SA, the entertainment industry will suffer until crowds are allowed to descend on venues in their numbers again.

Speaking on behalf of Big Concerts, publicist Dionne Domyan-Mudie, said there are international concerts on the horizon and the industry remains confident in the live events industry seeing a comeback.