The highest-attended ticketed concert of all-time
Vasco Rossi is a name that is almost certainly unfamiliar to most people reading this, but it is a very different story in Italy. Rossi is a rock legend in his native land, an artist who has sold more tickets to a single event than The Rolling Stones ever have, yet, he could walk down the street in London anonymously.
Rossi has been a constant presence in the Italian music scene for over 40 years, and to date, he’s sold over 35 million records. His feat is even more impressive when considering that the overwhelming majority of those sales will have been in the same territory or Switzerland. In total, he’s had ten number-one albums, and despite being in his 70s, Rossi is still as successful as he’s ever been.
In 2017, Rossi announced his grand plans to cement his legacy with a concert at the Enzo Ferrari Park in Modena. He ambitiously shared his plot to play the largest show of all time; incredibly, it was a pledge he succeeded in delivering.
At first, access was exclusively available to his fan club members, who purchased most of the premier tickets. However, by the end of the week, organisers had sold almost 200,000 tickets and proceeded to put the final block on sale shortly before the event. Remarkably, in total, they sold over 220,000 tickets, and an additional 5,000 free tickets were handed out to guests.
Pricing for the concert ranged from Є50 plus fees to Є75, which pocketed Rossi Є12 million and made him a hero in Modena. Shortly afterwards, he was granted the key to the city due to the iconic performance which put the municipality on the map.
Speaking to La Stampa in 2018, Rossi said: “At first the people in Modena were a bit shocked, but it’s a city that appreciates a good challenge. The councilor told me that they went around the city in June explaining our project to the citizens. In the meantime, I was preparing myself: Every day for a year long I would run 7 km. It was a battle that I would only overcome that night on stage, feeling fresh and dressed to the nines. In front of all those people, without a guitar.”
Although Rossi holds the record for the highest-selling ticketed event of all time, his performance at the Enzo Ferrari Park isn’t the largest concert ever to have taken place. Instead, that accolade belongs to Sir Rod Stewart, who achieved that feat in 1994. Stewart was booked to headline the free annual concert held at Copacabana Beach, and reportedly, over 3.5 million people watched the former Faces frontman bring in the New Year in Rio de Janeiro style.
