Profits and revenues were soaring at the 3Arena in Dublin before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the venue in March.
That is according to new figures which show that sell out shows by Drake, Elton John and Stevie Wonder last year helped the company behind the 3Arena to record a 13% increase in pre-tax profits to £13.55m (€14.85m).
According to accounts filed by the Live Nation-owned Apollo Leisure Group, the business recorded the increase in pre-tax profits after revenues rose by 9% from £26.59m to £29m.
The figures show that almost one million people at 956,242 attended 113 shows at the 3Arena in 2019 - an increase of 3.3% on the 926,062 that attended the venue in 2018.
Trade publication Pollstar earlier this year ranked the 3Arena the ninth most attended arena in the world last year.
The booming 2019 business at the venue allowed the directors of Apollo Leisure pay out a dividend of £10.4m after a dividend payout of £6.8m in 2018.
This year the numbers attending the Dublin Docklands venue will only be a fraction of recent years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The venue has been shut since March and the directors stated that "2020 revenues and profits will be materially affected by ongoing restrictions on mass gatherings due to Covid-19".
"All music events scheduled since March 13 2020 have been postponed, rescheduled or cancelled as a result of the restrictions imposed by the Irish Government on that date. At present, it is uncertain when events will recommence", they said.
The directors state in response that there are taking a number of measures including reducing costs.
The impact of the pandemic on the live music business is starkly illustrated in the latest figures for the global operation of Live Nation.
It recorded a loss of $1.26 billion for the first nine months of this year as revenues plunged by 81% from $8.6 billion to $1.62 billion.
The directors for Apollo Leisure stated that the group has significant net assets and is profit making, however, the company has net current liabilities.
They stated that have received written confirmation from Live Nation of continued financial support.
The Pollstar figures - based on returns made by the 3Arena - show that the most lucrative string of gigs last year at the venue were performed by Drake and Ariana Grande.
They also show that Drake generated €3.52m at the box office from the 31,054 fans who attended his three gigs in March 2019.
In September 2019, 38,379 fans attended Ariana Grande's three gigs where €3.13m was generated at the box office.
The single most lucrative gig for 2019 was performed by Stevie Wonder where the legendary singer generated €1.6m at the box office for his sold out gig on September 7, 2019.
Another act whose career spans the decades, Elton John last year generated €2.85m at the box office for two shows at the 3Arena in June 2019.
The best performing Irish act at the box office last year at the 3Arena was Picture This.
The Pollstar figures show that Picture This generated €2.8m at the box office after 62,249 music fans attended five gigs at the venue staged by the act in March 2019.
The takings at the box office are shared between performer, promoter, ticket seller and venue operator.
Last year, Apollo Leisure Group recorded a post tax profit of £11.7m after paying corporation tax £1.8m.
After the dividend payout last year, Apollo Leisure had accumulated profits of £46.5m and its cash funds declined from £13.48m to £8.4m.
Staff costs at the company last year increased from £3.6m to £4.12m as numbers employed increased from 59 to 64.
The profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of £1.52m.
A spokesman for Live Nation declined to comment.
