Anthrax tour stats 1988.

[TD]

In 1988, Anthrax finally got a big break, by getting the coveted opening spot on KISS' Crazy Nights tour. Now Anthrax would finally get the arena shows they had thought they were gonna get w/ Sabbath and WASP in 1986 on that ill fated tour. Anthrax opened the 3rd and final leg of the Crazy Nights tour. White Lion and Ted Nugent had opened up the 1st two legs of the tour. KISS' attendance numbers were down considerably on this tour, and KISS were particularly worried about the turn out they would get on the west coast. Even in KISS' hey-day, they were much less popular out west than in the mid-west and east coast. KISS saw the numbers ANthrax were pulling on their own headlining shows (they were selling out clubs and theatres) and KISS also knew that "thrash metal" was very popular on the west coast, as it was the west coast that spawned Metallica, Megadeth, Testament, Slayer, and Exodus. Anthrax seemed to be the perfect act to liven up the Crazy Nights tour as it headed west. Here are the shows, and the attendance figures from the recently published "KISS: Alive Forever; The Complete Touring History."

03/01/88
Dane Co. Expo Ctr. Coliseum
Madison, WI
3,553/8,000 (attendance/capacity)

03/02/88
Starplaza Theatre
Merrillville, IN
3,288/3,288 (sold out)

03/03/88
Carver Arena
Peoria, IL
3,899/8,000

03/05/88
Winnipeg Arena
Winnipeg, Manitoba
4,611/10,000

03/08/88
Edmonton Coliseum
Edmonton, Alberta
5,057/7,500

03/09/88
Saddledome
Calgary, Alberta
5,641/7,000

03/11/88
Pacific Coliseum
Vancouver, BC
4,814/7,500

03/13/88
Jackson Co. Expo Park
Central Point, OR
5,055/5,700

03/14/88
Memorial Coliseum
Portland, OR
4,235/9,000

03/15/88
Spokane Coliseum
Spokane, WA
3808/8500

03/17/88
Center Coliseum
Seattle, WA
5,945/14,327

03/19/88
Plaza Civic Ctr.
Rapid City, SD
5,000 attendance

03/20/88
Casper Events Ctr.
Casper, WY
3,869/10,424

03/21/88
Salt Palace
Salt Lake City, UT
7,000/13,000

03/23/88
McNichols Arena
Denver, CO
5,575/10,137

03/25/88
Chandler, AZ
Compton Terrace
5,363/10,535

03/26/88
Pacific Amp.
Costa Mesa, CA
no attendance data known

03/28/88
ARCO Arena
Sacramento, CA
3,579/4,500

03/30/88
Civic Auditorium
San Francisco
4,644/7,000
(a good friend of mine was at this show, and reports that it was a general admission show, and that most of the crowd seemed to be there to see Anthrax, because he said the floor went nuts while they played, and after their set, the floor cleared, and the remaining KISS fans were able to get up close to their heroes, so it was a win-win for the fans!!)

03/31/88
The Forum
Inglewood, CA
cancelled!!!!

04/01/88
Sports Arena
San Diego, CA
4,089/8,000

04/02/88
Thomas and Mack Ctr.
Las Vegas, NV
3,562/8,465 last show of US Crazy Nights tour

The tour finale was going to be at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix and the venue was given a temp hold date of 04/03/88, but when Evening Star Productions saw that the show in nearby Chandler, AZ only sold at 55% capacity, the show was nixed.

As you can see, these were not the usual gawdy numbers KISS were used to. However, for Anthrax it was still a chance to play some world famous venues, and to go some secondary markets that they may have never been to before or since. More importantly, it landed them another opening slot later in the year, this time with Ozzy Osbourne.

 

[dutchy]

is there any way you can get this done with record-sales??

 

[max]

thanks for the info.
yes me too would like to know their album sales stats.
what was thrax's biggest ever headline gig and attendance figures for it? anyone know this???

 

[dutchy]

They headlined Dynamo Open Air, 100.000 people!!!

 

[TD]

Yeah, they did headline Dynamo Open Air in 1993. In the US they played a radio station (92X) sponsored concert w/ Motley Crue back in '88 at Buckeye Lake right outside of Columbus, the show drew something ridiculous like 40,000 people. I wasn't there, but have many a friend who went.

 

[max]

sorry i meant their 'own' gig. ie. what was the biggest crowd anthrax ever pulled? (festivals don't count, nor does clash of the titans.)

 

[TD]

Their "own" gig. You're looking at something rather small then. I'd say somewhere between 5,000 - 10,000 when they headlined the Headbangers Ball tour, or one of the early SoWN shows. I doubt they pulled any huge numbers on the SoWN tour though, because it quickly got rerouted from arena's and ampitheatres to clubs. I think the first week of SoWN shows were in big venues, then it was back to the clubs. In Ohio for instance, they were booked to play the Hara Arena in Dayton, OH. Hara holds 7,058 people. The show was moved from Dayton to a whole other city, Columbus, to the Newport Music Hall, which has a capacity of 2,000 if absolutely crammed. So that tells how "well" tickets sold for that tour.

 

[mrthrax]

that sure was strange the backlash for sown,it sold 1.3 mill in usa and yet they had to scale down tours,td can u make any sense of it.

i know the album came out at the height of grunge and maybe people decided it was uncool to go to a metal show,who knows!!

 

[TD]

I don't think 1.3 million is an accurate number. It was certified gold, which is 500,000 and then it stalled. It was never certified platinum. Elektra may have produced 1.3 million copies of SoWN though, that would explain why you can still find copies of it at cut out bins everywhere. Even amazon.com sells the "cut-out" version of SoWN.
As far as a backlash, well, basically the album got a HUGE promotional push from MTV and Elektra. Add to that Anthrax were still hot from the "Bring the Noise" collaboration, so interest was there. The album did really well initially, and then fell off of the charts. Anthrax booked a full scale arena tour, and qucikly found out that they just weren't gonna be that "huge." I don't think it was a disaster, but in their minds, I think they thought SoWN was gonna be their "Countdown to Extinction" and it just wasn't meant to be.

 

[max]

i'm sure charlie said an interview that SOWN sold 1 million worldwide...
btw what is the 'cut out' version???

 

[TD]

1 million worldwide would not get you a platinum award. Those are given by individual countries. Cut-outs are when record stores get stuck with too many copies of an album, and sell them back to a wholesaler, who then re-sells them w/ a small "cut" in the case. They are sold at a reduced rate, and the cut is there to prevent you from returning the item for a "full" refund.

 

[max]

thanks for the info TD. i've been wondering for ages what those CDs with cut out in the spines are...
now i know!!!

 

[TD]

The most famous "cut-out" albums are probably the 1978 KISS solo albums. So famous that they helped in large part bankrupt the entire Casablanca Records empire!! In September 1978, each individual member of KISS released a solo album. The members name would be the album title (i.e. KISS: Ace Frehley) each album actually sold rather well, averaging about 750,000 each. However, Casablanca and KISS wanted this to be the hugest release ever, so 5 million copies (1.25 mill of each) were pressed and sold for the day of release. Now, in 1978, albums were certified platinum or gold based on stores buying them, not people (in fact this would not change until 1991 and the advent of soundscan) so each KISS solo album was platinum before they were even released! Great hype, but there were about 3millions copies of these albums left floating around, and record stores were stuck with them. I remember seeing these records in cut out bins when I was a kid, 6-7 years later in the 1980's.

 

[Brentney Spears]

Anthrax (or Elektra) really fucked SOWN by not having a video follow up to "ONLY" quick enough. Only came out before the album (April '93?) and it seems like forever until the "Black Lodge" video came out, October? They should have had "Room For One More" come out just a month or 2 after "Only" and they would have had a better initial push. Headbanger's Ball was still on and they owned it until it died in '94. But who cares? Classic record.

 

[TD]

Agreed. "Only," was out a month before the record, so it was April. "Black Lodge," didn't come out until late September, and even though "Black Lodge" got mainstream radio play and MTV play, it was too little too late. By the time "Black Lodge" came out the US "arena" tour was already over. If you don't do all you can with an album the 1st 2 -3 months it is over.

 

[mrthrax]

room for one more should have been a quick follow up indeed!!!

 

[johnnieCzech]

Let's see how much they will be pushed with the new album. Sorry boys and girls but I don't expect anything much.

 

[dutchy]

Did you know that "Black L"was nominated for the MTV video music awards??

@TD what you do for a living??you got a lot off good things to say on this board!!Keep it coming!!

 

[TD]

I teach junior high school special education. Thanks for the kind words.

 

[TD]

Originally posted by johnnieCzech
Let's see how much they will be pushed with the new album. Sorry boys and girls but I don't expect anything much.

Nor do I, however, there are outlets for this type of music that can be used to spread the word. Much Music USA has a cool show called "Uranium" with a really hot 21 year old host! I'm hoping the video gets major play there. That is the closest thing we have to the HBB. This show has the new trendy bullshit metal the kids like, but showcasing Anthrax next to Mudvayne and Saliva will show everyone who the real deal is! Also, most major cities have some show that plays metal during certain times during the week or weekend. If whatever single they release takes over those shows, and has enough "commercial appeal" (ala "Nothing," or "Only.") it could leak over to mainstream rock radio (ala "Drag the Waters" by Pantera or "Almost Honest," by Megadeth) Also, Anthrax need to jump on whatever tour they get on as openers, and headline before the tour, after the tour, and on off nights. Even though we diehards want them to headline, it is important to open so they can reach new fans who otherwise aren't gonna pay $20 to see Anthrax at a club. Disturbed, Sevendust, Manson, Godsmack, Mudvayne, Korn, and who nows how many other bands are possible choices. Maybe they can luck out and get on Ozzfest. They also need to buy commercial time during cable shows that a "metal" audience may be watching. Now, I'm not a marketing expert, but I'm thinking the 15 - 30 year old male probably watches a lot of Comedy Central and white trash sports like wrestling and Motocross. I bet ad's during those shows would work well. And, if Anthrax have any hkind of manager, he needs to get the band on some talk shows. Howard Stern, Craig Kilborn, Jon Stewart, Carson Daly, whatever, just get the band out there.