Metallica creates a YTL 10 million economy

Friday, August 1, 2008

The ticket sale for the Metallica concert that took place in Istanbul last Sunday, together with the flight and accommodation expenses of visitors from abroad and eating and drinking expenditures, totaled approximately YTL 8 to 10 million

DEMET CENGİZ
ISTANBUL – Hürriyet

Prominent heavy metal band Metallica created a giant economy while mesmerizing over 40,000 people at its third Turkey concert in Istanbul's Ali Sami Yen Stadium last Sunday.

The sale of concert tickets, together with the flight and accommodation expenses of visitors from abroad and eating and drinking expenditures totaled approximately YTL 8 to 10 million.

While concert tickets were sold for prices ranging between YTL 50 and YTL 350, approximately 3,000 people came from Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and countries in the Middle East, paying more than YTL 1 million for the plane tickets.

As an alternative to charter planes, a significant portion of the crowd preferred land travel. It is predicted that these people, who widely preferred cheap hotels, paid a total of YTL 300,000 for accommodation.

Impact on the neighborhood

The Metallica concert, organized under the sponsorship of Akbank Exi 26, also had an enormous impact on the economy of Istanbul's Mecidiyeköy district. Shopping centers witnessed around a 40 to 50 percent increase in the number of visitors and turnover, while the sales in restaurants and cafes rose 40 to 250 percent.

“Astoria, which hosts 18,000 visitors on Sundays, witnessed 25,000 people this Sunday. Our restaurants and cafes reported increases between 25 and 30 percent in turnover,” said Vedat Aşçı, the owner of the Astoria Shopping Center. The occupancy rate of the film theaters at the Astoria was up around 55 percent as well.

Burger King, located just next to the stadium, earned two and a half times its usual daily turnover. Street vendors were also reportedly more than satisfied with their sales during the concert.

Third concert in Turkey

Over 40,000 diehard Metallica fans sang along with the heavy metal group during their recent concert, the band's third stadium gig in Turkey in 15 years.

A specially built 800-square-meter stage, which organizers said was the largest ever built in Turkey for such an event, was erected for the concert at Ali Sami Yen in Mecidiyeköy, where fans began forming lines Saturday night -- nearly 24 hours ahead of the concert.

Turkish heavy metal band Pentagram took to the stage as one of the opening acts at the concert. Metallica, made up of guitarist-vocalist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo, appeared at 9:40, with frontman Hetfield saluting the audience. Although some fans argued that the band is getting older and is no longer in good form, Metallica still managed to draw loud cheers from the audience.

In 1993, 48,000 people watched Metallica's first-ever Istanbul concert. The band rocked the city for a second time in 1999 in a concert drawing 46,500 fans.

Metallica

Formed in Los Angeles in 1981, the four-member band is one of the most commercially successful and influential heavy metal acts. With more than 120 million records sold worldwide, the band has won seven Grammy Awards and has had four albums peak at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. The band has recently finished recording their upcoming ninth studio album, "Death Magnetic," slated for release in September.

Inform