Wanna See George Strait’s Final Show? It’ll Cost You
Want to see George Strait‘s sold-old final concert next month, but don’t have tickets? You’re in luck — if you’re loaded. The average ticket price is $681, according to secondary ticket marketplace Vivid Seats. The median price is $426.
If you’re on a budget, general admission tickets are more affordable. The average there is $228. The median is $186.
Of course, if money is no object, you might as well go all out. Floor-level seats have an average ticket price of $1,642, and a median price of $1,050.
Now you know why they call him King George.
The concert, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on June 7, promises to be quite an event. Also on the bill: Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert and Eric Church.
Regular prices for Strait’s farewell tour have been much more reasonable. The Strait dates that were listed in Billboard’s Boxscore ranking of top concert grosses last month showed ticket prices ranging from $69.50 to $101.50. Strait had various supporting acts on those dates: Chris Young; Sheryl Crow; or Merle Haggard and Lee Ann Womack.
But the “secondary ticket marketplace” prices are comparable to what scalpers can command for such top rock stars as U2 and the Rolling Stones.
Strait, 62, is one of the few country stars who could command this kind of price. Strait has built a legendary career since the release of his first country hit, “Unwound,” in the spring of 1981.
Strait has amassed 85 top 10 hits on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, second only to Eddy Arnold in the 70-year history of the chart. Arnold wrangled 92 top 10 hits from 1945 to 1980.
Strait has sold 45 million albums since January 1991, when Nielsen SoundScan began tracking U.S. music sales. That’s puts him in seventh place among all artists, and second only to Garth Brooks among country artists. Brooks has sold more than 69.5 million albums in the same period.
Strait has had five No. 1 albums on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart: 1997’s Carrying Your Love With Me, 2004’s 50 Number Ones, 2005’s Somewhere Down In Texas, 2008’s Troubadour and 2009’s Twang. He’s in third place among country artists, behind Brooks, who has had nine No. 1 albums, and Kenny Chesney, who has had seven.
Strait is the reigning Entertainer of the Year at both the Country Music Assn. and the Academy of Country Music. He was voted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006. He was the ACM’s Artist of the Decade for the 2000s.
The final show in Arlington is a homecoming for Strait, who was born and reared in Texas.