After a season of buildup and two weeks of feverish hype, Super Bowl XLVIII was never really a game. From the first snap, the Broncos seemed disoriented and over-matched. By halftime the game was over, and the only thing to look forward to was the halftime show. Along with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bruno Mars delivered a half-time show for the ages that is dominating Monday water-cooler conversations across the country. In addition to bringing a bit of excitement to the otherwise lame Super Bowl, the performance may go down as one of the savviest marketing campaigns in the history of music.
Not at all coincidentally, Bruno Mars tickets to his upcoming tour went on sale this morning with Super Bowl buzz still ringing in over 100 million ears across the country. As a result, the market for Bruno Mars tickets is on fire. Since this morning, the average price for his Moonshine Jungle Tour is up $150 to an average price of $500. While there are some tickets left on the primary market for select shows, many are already sold out. Ticketmaster also seem to be struggling to keep with demand, and had to switch from their interactive seating maps for most events, including Bruno Mars Madison Square Garden tickets.
2014 saw some impressive uses of big events for self-promotion. Miley Cyrus in particular stood out for her provocative performance at MTVs Video Music Awards. With an audience of 10 million tuning in, it served her purpose to perfection and was a shotgun graduation ceremony from Hanna Montana to Miley Cyrus. In part becuase of the VMAs, Miley Cyrus tickets for her upcoming tour are a hot item. Despite the hype engine that Miley has built, however, she’s still not sold out for many of the dates on her Bangerz tour.
Mars’ Super Bowl showcase generated a reported 2.2 million tweets, and Twitter has not stopped this morning, with a legion of existing and newly-discovered fans clamoring for tickets to the tour, which kicks off in full in the U.S. on May 23rd. The price for tickets on the primary market ranges from $49-$100 for most shows. Bigger city shows like Madison Square Garden have prices that range from $70 to $181. For shows at big venues like Madison Square and TD Garden, the average prices on the secondary market is north of $600 with the cheapest tickets going for $150, or approximately double the face price. At those prices, Mars upcoming tour ranks amongst the most expensive in the country this summer, ahead of One Direction tickets and Jason Aldean tickets, which are two of the highest prices for an American tours this spring and summer.
As for Cyrus, the average price for her first two shows of the Bangerz tour are down 6% this week and the cheapest ticket for the second show in Anaheim can be had for $33. While the buzz generated from Miley’s hype seems to be wearing off a bit just as her tour gets set to start, it’s unlikely Bruno Mars will suffer a similar downturn. Whether it was his opening drum solo at the Super Bowl half-time show or his recent Grammy win for best pop vocal album for Unorthodox Jukebox, it’s clear that Mars is a real talent, a gifted performer and here to stay.
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