Van Halen are charging $49, $75, and $125 for various seats on their reunion tour. If I were in a band, I'd want as many dates in as many venues as demand would allow.

The average of the above mentioned prices is $83. Multiply that by a 13,000 seat arena = $1,079,000. Multiply that figure by a 40 date tour = $43,160,000. Granted, the bands do not get all of that money, but they are receiving the majority of it. That's not even including merchandise sales and I'm sure they get a percentage of concessions.

In short, yes, I would do a tour in heartbeat rather than a $1,700 per seat one-night show. Plus promoters/sponsors often guarantee a band (see the Rolling Stones as one example) a certain sum to go on tour, before a single ticket is even sold.

But LLC, you're right - it's less and less about the music and more about the cash. But as I said earlier, the recording industry is nearly dead, so touring is an artists most desireable manner of making money.