Boxoffice Insider: ‘Hella Mega’ Opener Kicks Off Summertime Stadium Run

Hella Mega Tour
Timothy Norris / Getty Images / Live Nation – Hella Mega Tour
Green Day performs during the “Hella Mega Tour” announcement show at Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood, Calif., Sept. 10, 2019. The COVID-delayed stadium tour also featuring Fall Out Boy and Weezer kicked off July 24 at Globe Life Field, one of the major tours of 2021.

After more than a year-long delay, the “Hella Mega” tour finally launched on July 24 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The North American trek starring Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer, along with opening act The Interrupters, drew a sellout crowd of 37,519 for the first stadium performance in the western hemisphere reported to Pollstar since the 2020 concert industry shutdown.

With tickets priced from $17.13 to $194.50, the show racked up a gross topping $3.2 million to rank as the fourth highest worldwide since the beginning of the year. However, it is the second highest gross overall for a stadium concert in 2021. Only New Zealand band Six60’s April 24 show at Auckland’s Eden Park stadium logged a larger boxoffice haul of $4.7 million.
The headcount from the Dallas/Fort Worth market also gave the Green Day-led event the second highest global attendance total of the year among all events in any type of venue. Again, only Six60 moved more tickets for a single performance with 48,159 sold for their Auckland concert in April.
The “Hella Mega” tour was originally announced on Sept. 10, 2019, along with an appearance that night by all three bands performing new music from upcoming album projects at Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles. Initial plans were for the tour to hit Europe, Asia and Oceania along with North America in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation of all the dates in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and many of the European ones. Only this summer’s U.S. itinerary as well as an eight-city jaunt through Europe next summer remain on the schedule.
Along with the stadiums booked on the American trek that is set to continue through Sept. 6, the tour will also stop at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater on Sept. 1 as part of the annual Milwaukee Summerfest. 
Just a few days before the tour’s debut, Green Day played a surprise warmup concert on July 20 at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Okla., the group’s first live show since the shutdown. Announced only the day before and sold out within an hour, the event drew a full-capacity crowd numbering 1,536 for a $73,058 gross. Tickets were priced at $47.50 and $50.
Some of the other stadiums on the “Hella Mega” schedule are also planning other concerts this summer and fall, among them Citi Field in New York City that hosted the tour on Aug. 4, although without Fall Out Boy as someone on the band’s team reportedly tested positive for COVID, taking Fall Out Boy off the gig as well as Aug. 5’s Fenway Park stop, and then hours before announced it would not make the tour’s stop in DC either.
Citi Field also has Dead & Company on the books for Aug. 20, one of a handful of stadium dates on their 2021 tour that is booked primarily in amphitheaters.
The Aug. 5 Fenway gig is the third of five concerts booked at the home of the Boston Red Sox during the first week of the month. Guns N’ Roses and Billy Joel played on Aug. 3 and 4 while New Kids on the Block and Zac Brown Band followed on the 6th and 8th, respectively. Next month, Fenway will bring in Maroon 5 on the 12th and then Jonas Brothers on Oct. 1. 
Along with “Hella Mega” on Aug. 15, Wrigley Field will also welcome the Maroon 5 tour (Aug. 30), Guns N’ Roses (Sept. 16) and Dead & Company (Sept. 17-18), but the Chicago Cubs’ home ballpark will also host Aventura for the first time on Aug. 29. It is one of five stadium dates the bachata group has planned stateside this year. They also are booked in the Miami, Dallas, Los Angeles and New York markets. Their L.A. show will be at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 5, just two days after the “Hella Mega” concert there.
Then in Detroit, Comerica Park has two concerts planned this summer, the first on Aug. 8 featuring Guns N’ Roses “We’re F’N’ Back” tour followed by “Hella Mega” two nights later.