Millions Accrieu For Waltz King André Rieu

Crew Dismantling Schoenbrunn in Melbourne
November 17, 2008

The grandiose staging, which recreated the Habsburgs' summer palace, is dismantled after Andre Rieu's Melbourne concerts at the Docklands stadium.
CLASSICAL music superstar Andre Rieu will leave Australia tens of millions of dollars richer after his blockbuster run of shows. And with demand at its peak, Rieu has already placed tickets on sale for his next Australian tour.
The Dutch violinist has announced two dates at the Rod Laver Arena for 2009: October 29 and 30. Tickets are priced between $86 and $249.
Although most blockbuster tours are managed by local or international promoters, Rieu's own organisation manages all aspects of his shows.
Rieu's tour splits the promotional costs with his record label, ensuring his company does not have to pay any fees to or split any profits with a third party.
A spokeswoman for the Docklands stadium said that, including restricted-view seats, each Rieu show from last week had logistical provisions for about 12,500 seats on the arena, 8850 on level 1, 8500 on level 2 and 12,000 for level 3.
However, only last Saturday's show, with sales of 38,605, came close to capacity. An additional 50,000 fans attended over Thursday and Friday night. Tickets were priced between $286 and $99.
While the Docklands stadium declined to declare the individual numbers sold for each price point, a conservative estimate of gross takings for Rieu's Melbourne concerts is about $17 million, including several hundred thousands spent by fans on merchandise. Another 100 die-hard fans also paid $1250 a head for a "meet and greet" backstage.

More than 30,000 households nationally paid $24.95 to watch the show on Foxtel's pay-per-view, adding a further $700,000-plus to his coffers.
Fans in Rieu's native Holland will be able to see the Melbourne concert this Friday, on the TROS network, while the show will also air on New Year's Eve on Germany's ZDF network.
Next year's Rieu tour, with a smaller venue, will have a more modest stage production.
This week's ARIA music DVD chart has Rieu holding the top five slots, and eight of the top 10. The violinist has sold 1.75 million CDs and DVDs in Australia, collecting 77 platinum awards.
Story by Andrew Murfett ~ Photo the property of "Suz" in Australia