Giles

Richmond speeds past D.C. as buzzing concert scene
Washington Business Journal - by Tierney Plumb, Staff Reporter

D.C. slipped this year on StubHub’s third annual ranking of the 20 most-active markets for summer concert tickets.

U.S. cities that use the San Francisco-based ticket marketplace were ranked based on total sales for concerts between May 15 and Sept. 15.

The Richmond area took the biggest leap on the list, moving up from No. 17 to No. 9 this year, helped by performances from Jimmy Buffett, Radiohead, Bruce Springsteen, Jonas Brothers and Dave Matthews Band -- the majority of which took place at Nissan Pavilion.

Despite D.C.’s three best-selling acts hosted at the Verizon Center — Coldplay, Eagles and Pearl Jam — it dropped to No. 18 from No. 15 in 2007.

For the third year in a row, New York took the top seat, hosting such performances as Billy Joel’s sold out musical “Last Plays at Shea” in July.

Joel commanded the highest average selling ticket price among the summer’s top concerts, at $230 apiece.

Boston jumped to No. 2 on this year’s list after ranking No. 4 in 2007 on the strength of Kenny Chesney and Bruce Springsteen’s performances at Gillette Stadium.

Two newcomers made debuts on the list, with Indianapolis at No. 13 and Cleveland at No. 20.

The most expensive concert ticket sold this summer as of Aug. 11 through StubHub, an eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) company, was $4,000 for a front row seat to the Dave Matthews Band concert in New York City on Sept. 10. The cheapest: $2 for a middle section ticket to see the same band in Michigan on June 9.


2008 America’s 20 Most Rockin’ Cities

New York City
Boston
Los Angeles
Philadelphia
Chicago
San Francisco Bay Area
Hartford
Detroit
Richmond
Dallas
Atlanta
Las Vegas
Indianapolis
Atlantic City
Seattle
Denver
Houston
Washington
Miami
Cleveland

~

this news doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

islandclaws

No surprises there. I think anyone could have guessed that list.

superdeluxe

Does Seattle include White River and the Gorge?

Giles

I would have thought the top three would have been

NYC
San Francisco
Chicago

nothingfails

it sucks, I live in Louisville, which is the 15th largest city, but yet we rarely get good rock (or pop, or r&b, and almost no dance) artists but mainly country crap

Flashback

I am actually a bit surprised - NYC was never a Rock and Roll city compared to a Detroit or Chicago etc. and Vegas?

NoirFan

Er, New York is the rock n' roll city. Inexplicably however, The Rock and Roll HOF is in Cleveland. I know Cleveland rocks, for Ian Hunter told me so, but still.

Gdrlv

As a resident of Vegas, I can attest that we absolutely do not belong on that list. Tons of bands pass us by, and we get virtually no indie acts.

Mikael79

I'm sad that Minneapolis didn't make the list. It seems like most major acts do go there, but it is definitely a little out of the way.

Hokeyboy

MIAMI?!?!?!? Get the fuck outta here...

Trust me, I've lived in South Florida for 36 years, and this place is a lot of things but it DOESN'T rock. If you're into hip-hop, latin, regaetton, etc. then Miami is your place. Rock? FORGET IT. Head to Tampa or Orlando, at least.

wendersfan

Cleveland rocks, at least compared to Columbus.

Actually, Cleveland gets a lot of great shows. Columbus, not so much.

DJLinus

Nissan Pavilion is included in the Richmond area?

Just because it's in Virginia doesn't mean it's close by. The venue should be included in the DC area's tally.

That said, we finally got some venues - Toad's Place, the National - to replace the late, great Flood Zone, which attracted mid-level national indie/hipster/alternative/whatever artists.

Mikael79

15th largest city?? Not according to these sources:

Wikipedia Listing of Metropolitan Area Population Rankings

Wikipedia Listing of City Population Rankings

Yes, I just brought the facts!

Giles

apparently StubHub believes this to be the case - go figure. I think they are wrong btw.

sauce07

Without a doubt, Nissan is in Northern Virginia.

PopcornTreeCt

I don't know much about Miami but I can tell you that Orlando sucks for Rock music. Tampa has gotten some pretty good acts though.

I was supposed to see Stone Temple Pilots tonight but it was cancelled. *sigh

Nplease696

This list is total BS- No Austin?? Live Music Capitol and no mention? Crazy..

Where's Portland?- Crazy crazy
the rest of the list. Experience touring with Bands big and small


New York City - Big Acts Yes -Smaller acts, indie/club bands- No Way-
Boston - Big Acts Yes- Small Acts, better than NY, but not that much better
Los Angeles - yes deserves to be on here- great scene
Philadelphia - should have made top 20
Chicago - Same- good for big and small
San Francisco Bay Area - good for big and small
Hartford -??? i dunno, maybe big acts go there
Detroit - good for both
Richmond - ??? guess bigger acts play there
Dallas - Big Acts yes, Small acts- NO WAY- Scene is dried up, all dance clubs
Atlanta - Good for both
Las Vegas - wow didn't knwo they had much of a scene
Indianapolis - big acts yes, small NO
Atlantic City - SEE VEGAS
Seattle - YEs to both- the Austin of the NW
Denver - YES- great music town
Houston - looks like dallas 5 years ago- took over most of dallas shows- still not great
Washington - big acts maybe- small -maybe 10-15 years ago
Miami - Big maybe- small No way, anyone traveling in van is not playing miami, too far without any shows/cities close
Cleveland - Big acts YEs, Small Yes- though columbus is good for smaller acts as well.

the omission of Austin and addition of Vegas, Atlantic City, Richmond etc is crazy.


When touring with smaller bands- there's a couple key cities you look for good turnout and fanbase in no particular order.

new york, Chicago, austin, LA, portland, Seattle--- those are the big 6
Boston, Philly, SF, Denver, houston, detroit, cleveland would be the next tier

Darth Maher

You'd think being #5 on that list that Chicago would have better rock radio stations.

"The Loop" isn't bad if you don't mind hearing Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, AC/DC and Aerosmith over and over and over and over..........

Giles

DC's indie music cred was crushed when WHFS' slowly went up and died 'Now Here This' was pivotal to Washington's music scene. There is a large British music crowd, but with so few UK bands making DC a stop, it's beyond frustrating. I wish the constuction of the Filmore in Silver Spring, could be done sometime in 2009 then the proposed early 2010 opening date. The finger can be pointed at Seth Horowitz who successfully blocked DC from getting a House of Blue - Seth you're a selfish ****.

Decker

We actually get most of the big tours here. Of the top 10 shows last year , I think we had 8 stop here (and of those two that didn't, Genesis, did play a VH1 Honors show here and if you needed to see Celene for some reason, well, you had your chance). Still, we don't get the big group summer tour shows and are missing the Springsteen show.

C_Fletch

Apparently they have never been to MPLS. I've seen dozens and dozens of different shows thru the years. Then I moved to Chattanooga, TN - they got NOTHING. The closest city to us is Atlanta and even they do not have the amount of concerts that MPLS has. Trust me, I look.

Flashback

My opinion, of course, as one that grew up around and in NYC it was not a rock city. Main music that comes to mind is pop/dance, disco and rap. There were 2 or 3 stations that you could listen to - NEW,BAB,APP. Not sure what they are like now.

Clubs I went to are probably all gone too. Scrap, Kat, Lime's Church, Ritz, Bottom Line and L'amours in Brklyn.

Looking at that list again I am really surprised that Austin is not there (but I guess this was sampled by major acts ticket sales - which of course mean 'nada'). Now talk about a great music scene - at least from what I have experienced.

FatTony

If it does, it might as well include the Tacoma Dome and Everett Events Center since those are both closer than the Gorge.

At any rate, I think Seattle should definitely be higher on the list (assuming it's an ordered list). But it seems like their only criteria is the number of tickets sold, so the big shows have more weight on the ranking than the tons of little shows that happen every week.

Flashback

Actually look a little closer (and why this list is dumb) the time was
"total sales for concert events only, occurring between May 15th and September 15th"

Now we know everything costs a bit more in NYC but 2 shows sold out for Shea Stadium and 1 for Giants Stadium sold out for Billy Joel and Springsteen.