Filling Arenas?

Which progressive rock act can still put the most people in arenas?

Pink Floyd......NOOOO doubt !!!!

YES'S last tour was in arena's. Saw them at Manchester MEN and it was sold out! Obviously Pink Floyd could even sell out football stadiums. After those two I think any other band would struggle!!!

RUSH had 40,000 for the Rush in Rio concert, didn't they? ..or was it 60,000?

con safo wrote: Probably any of the larger groups (ELP, Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis) if they were to do a reunion tour.. i dont really know of any newer prog bands that could fill an arena. TMV could probably draw a pretty large crowd tho.

Yes they sure can, I'm seeing them at the Oakland Arena in October.  They're probably only able to play in such a large venue because they're performing with System of a Down, but to me  it's a Mars Volta show with System of a Down bringing the audience back to reality after a mindblowing show by the Volta.  

Single Coil wrote: RUSH had 40,000 for the Rush in Rio concert, didn't they? ..or was it 60,000?

According to the 2nd disk of the Rush in Rio DVD, they sold 60K in Sao Paolo and 40K in Rio.  They also did a show in Porto Alegre, I think, that sold around 40K too.   All of these shows were "An evening with..." types.  None of them were festivals though.  Was anyone in the Archives at any of those shows?

Unfortunately, Mariah Carey can probably sell arenas too.  What is wrong with people?!?!

Edited by akiko

Progger wrote: YES'S last tour was in arena's. Saw them at Manchester MEN and it was sold out! Obviously Pink Floyd could even sell out football stadiums. After those two I think any other band would struggle!!!

Yes may fill an arena in Manchester, but not in Budapest..

It was not an accident, that Rush played in Prague and not in Budapest...

Dream Theater fills a venue of 5-6000(I saw them 3 times).

Pink Floyd for sure. They are the one "prog" band I can think of that would fill a large stadium, alongside the likes of U2 or maybe Bon Jovi.

To be honest, don't know enough about Rush's current following to say about them.

  I did see Yes last year at Wembley and it wasn't completely filled (curtains cut off the last few rows at the back of the hall). I don't think a reformed ELP would do especially well. Genesis? Maybe... Of the newer bands I get the impression TMV and Tool would do pretty well. I believe King Crimson (or Fripp) supported Tool on a tour? I've never thought of King Crimson themselves as being a band that filled large stadia (when I saw them it was at the Marquee, a smaller venue). There are certain acts that work in a big stadium (I've seen Led Zep, U2, Eagles all outdoors) while others are better in more "intimate" surroundings.

Edited by Phil

Genesis for sure, they fill Wembley with the chessy INVISIBLE TOUCH TOUR, so they can do it with any new crap they released, with or without Collins or Gabriel