It’s been a long time coming, but it looks like we’re finally going to have a full calendar year of concerts.
The last time this happened was in 2019, when Milwaukee recorded the most arena, amphitheater and stadium concerts in the city’s history. This was in large part thanks to the Milwaukee Bucks’ Fiserv Forum, which hosted 32 concerts in its first full calendar year of operation, far surpassing the list of annual concerts of any arena in the city’s history.
On top of that, there were shows in 2019 at the Milwaukee Brewers’ Miller Park (now American Family Field), the Alpine Valley Music Theater, the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, and the American Family Insurance Amphitheater. . But the live music industry closed on the cusp of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Venues in Milwaukee didn’t start hosting shows again until last July.
Business has been a bit chaotic since then, but there are signs of optimism. The American Family Insurance Amphitheater, which reopened after undergoing a $ 51.3 million renovation, hosted 18 concerts in 2021 – the most in a single year since 2004, and enough to make it the 12th most profitable amphitheater in the world for the year, according to a publication specializing in Pollstar concerts.
Based on box office returns in 2021, Pollstar predicts that the Top 100 tours in 2022 will collectively gross $ 5.63 billion and collectively sell around 65 million tickets, a 12% jump from 2019.
Of course, we are not yet past the pandemic, and other shows have been postponed and canceled in recent weeks. But as long as the vaccines continue to be effective, the gigs will continue, and it’s clear there will be some major artists keen to make up for lost time with the Milwaukee shutdowns.
Be sure to check this list regularly throughout 2021 for up-to-date information. We’ll also be adding links to our reviews for many of these shows.
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Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @pietlevy or Facebook on facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.
Piet also talks about concerts, local music and more on “TAP’d In” with Evan Rytlewski. Listen to it at 8 p.m. Thursdays on WYMS-FM (88.9) or wherever you get your podcasts.
