BACK IN BUSI- NESS: Bishop Briggs plays an YEAR IN REVIEW 2019 event at Web- ster Hall after its reopening. (Getty Images) CONTINUED FROM PAGE 51 our expectations. From show count, Verizon launching in 14 venues during the audience reaction, 2019 football season, while AT&T rolled it economic impact out at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in the neighbor- in Arlington, Texas. In the digital realm, the hood, it has been a $1.1 billion esports sector made a deeper truly rewarding and move into traditional venues such as newly humbling experience renovated TD Garden in Boston, and the for our team,” says Overwatch League is developing a network Geoff Gordon, re- of buildings to host events around the world, gional president for even as it eyes building custom arenas for its Live Nation Philadel- events in the next year. phia. “The Met has Check out some of the year’s other top really been about the stories: convergence of the growth of the city with an amazing building — 94 feet across, 65 deep and 80 high — OPENING ACTS that deserved this.” rivals the dimensions of New York’s Radio THE MET PHILADELPHIA — The latest The revamped venue includes a spa- City Music Hall. The building hosted 164 addition to the city’s live music scene opened cious lobby, plus velour theater seating, 25 shows in its inaugural season and as of with a bang on Dec. 3, 2018, with a Bob bars, a ring of deluxe box seats, wrap- October had donated more than $74,337 Dylan show at the reclaimed historic hall around balconies, gently sloped upper to the School District of Philadelphia, part on the northern fringe of Philly’s Center decks and a surprisingly intimate show- of a pledge to give 25 cents of every ticket City. The five-tiered 3,400-capacity Live room vibe thanks to an elaborate Clair sold at the Met to local schools. Nation-booked theater — originally built for Brothers sound system that enhances the opera in 1908 — underwent a $56 million ren- room’s already excellent acoustics. A cur- CHASE CENTER — San Francisco’s first ovation before hosting shows by Janet Jackson tain system can hide parts of the balcony, new arena since the Cow Palace opened in and Mariah Carey, Weezer, Mark Knopfler reducing capacity to 2,700 or 1,900. In 1941 was privately financed, opening with a and Madonna, among others in 2019. addition to lush backstage accommoda- “Our first year at the Met far exceeded tions for acts, the unusually large stage CONTINUED ON PAGE 54 HOTTICKETS MORE THAN 30,000 CAPACITY Ranked by gross. All data based on figures provided to Pollstar. Date range 11/22/18-11/20/19. Data updated as of Dec. 11. TICKETS RANK GROSS EVENT VENUE SOLD PROMOTER DATE SHOWS 1 $29,634,734 Outside Lands Music Golden Gate Park, San Francisco 205,500 Another Planet Entertainment Aug. 9-11 3 & Arts Festival 2 $27,345,457 Spice Girls Wembley Stadium, London 221,971 SJM June 13-15 3 3 $25,510,437 The Rolling Stones MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J. 104,964 AEG Presents / Concerts West Aug. 1-5 2 4 $21,741,563 The Rolling Stones Soldier Field, Chicago 98,228 AEG Presents / Concerts West June 21-25 2 5 $17,155,177 Fleetwood Mac Wembley Stadium, London 108,469 Live Nation June 16-18 2 [email protected] BY COMPILED 6 $16,996,653 Spice Girls Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England 150,955 SJM May 29-June 1 3 7 $16,900,000 WWE WrestleMania MetLife Stadium, 82,265 World Wrestling Entertainment April 7 1 East Rutherford, N.J. 8 $16,568,721 Pink Wembley Stadium, London 145,230 In-house, AEG Presents / Marshall Arts June 29-30 2 9 $16,557,515 BTS Rose Bowl, Pasadena, Calif. 113,040 Live Nation May 4-5 2 10 $16,289,639 Ed Sheeran Hockenheimring, Hockenheim, 191,120 FKP Scorpio Konzertproduktionen June 22-23 2 Germany 11 $14,483,593 Lollapalooza Brazil Autódromo de Interlagos, São Paulo 246,000 T4F - Time For Fun April 5-7 3 12 $14,050,410 BTS MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J. 98,574 Live Nation May 18-19 2 13 $13,728,598 BTS Stade de France, Saint-Denis 107,328 Live Nation June 7-8 2 14 $13,545,701 BTS Wembley Stadium, London 114,583 Live Nation June 1-2 2 15 $13,494,183 The Rolling Stones Broncos Stadium at Mile High, Denver 58,846 AEG Presents / Concerts West Aug. 10 1 52 JANUARY 2020 YEAR IN REVIEW 2019 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 52 WEBSTER HALL — After a two-year the company since 2006, adding that op- renovation, the venerated East Village erations under “terrific partner” AEG have bang courtesy of two “S&M2” shows featur- venue in Manhattan jointly operated by BSE been fantastic so far. “I say that with humili- ing Metallica and the San Francisco Sympho- Global, AEG Presents and Bowery Presents ty, but we believe it’s going to be great, and I ny (which grossed a combined $4.1 million), reopened its doors in April with an under- think people are anxious to be a part of it.” followed by shows from Elton John, the Dave play show from Jay-Z. The 133-year-old club Matthews Band, Eric Church and others. made some backstage fixes — such as a new DICKIES ARENA — The new $540 million With a gantry system that allows the freight elevator to rectify the building’s arena, home of the beloved Fort Worth scoreboard to retract all the way up into the notoriously terrible load-in for artists, in Stock Show & Rodeo, was designed by HKS ceiling, the $1.6 billion, 18,064-capacity addition to more dressing rooms below the and David M. Schwarz, the same architects venue designed by Manica Architecture grand ballroom — as well vital front-of- behind Dallas’ American Airlines Center, is also home to the NBA’s Golden State house changes including better accessibility with a Southwestern art deco exterior theme Warriors. It rose up smack in the middle of for patrons with disabilities, more staircases that complements several other buildings in the city’s trendy Mission Bay neighborhood, and exits and replacing the first-floor Marlin the city. also home to the San Francisco Giants’ Room performance space with a lounge. At 560,000 square feet, the arena Oracle Park. Artists can now enjoy expanded dressing anchors the south end of the stock show The 11-acre development also includes rooms and shower facilities, as well as a state- grounds and sits opposite Will Rogers two 14-story office buildings, 20 restaurants of-the-art sound system from high-end audio Memorial Center, with the nonprofit rodeo and 27 retail outlets, a nearby 133-room manufacturer L-Acoustics set up by acousti- signing a 70-year lease with the city promis- hotel and a 5.5-acre public park across from cians Arup and Sonic Design. The venue has ing to reinvest all net revenue back into the one of the entrances, much of it yet to open. a history of booking arena-size artists for inti- building. The building booked aggressively The public plaza boasts the city’s first full mate shows as well as hosting a variety of up- in its first year, opening with a Nov. 8 gig by outdoor LED display — a 74-foot-tall curved and-coming acts as a feeder to sister venues Twenty One Pilots, as well as locking down Samsung screen — which complements Barclays Center and Nassau Coliseum. two George Strait shows and gigs by K-pop a massive amount of videoboards inside, “Because of what Bowery and BSE have stars SuperM, the Black Keys and MercyMe with a reported 53.6 million individual LED done with their other venues, people know in an effort to bring a state-of-the-art, multi- pixels — as well as 32 courtside lounges with it’s going to be great,” says Bowery Presents amenities including private wine lockers. co-partner Jim Glancy, who has been with CONTINUED ON PAGE 56 HOTTICKETS 15,001–30,000 CAPACITY Ranked by gross. All data based on figures provided to Pollstar. Date range 11/22/18-11/20/19. Data updated as of Dec. 11. TICKETS RANK GROSS EVENT VENUE SOLD PROMOTER DATE SHOWS 1 $11,384,338 Bud Light Super Bowl State Farm Arena, Atlanta 38,195 In-house Jan. 31-Feb. 2 3 Music Fest 2 $8,910,490 Take That Arena Birmingham (England) 70,309 SJM May 12-19 7 3 $8,712,748 BTS Taoyuan Int’l Baseball Stadium, 50,144 Big Hit Entertainment Dec. 8-9 2 Taoyuan City, Taiwan 4 $8,685,750 Middleweight Unification T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas 17,118 Golden Boy Presents, Matchroom Boxing May 4 1 Fight: Canelo vs. Jacobs 5 $8,513,984 Elton John Staples Center, Los Angeles 57,213 AEG Presents Jan. 22-30 4 [email protected] BY COMPILED 6 $8,282,629 Sebastian Maniscalco Madison Square Garden, New York 72,960 Outback Concerts Jan. 19-20 4 7 $7,410,833 Hugh Jackman The O2, London 97,291 AEG Presents, TEG Dainty June 2-7 6 8 $7,202,945 Paul McCartney T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas 29,822 AEG Presents / Concerts West / June 28-29 2 Marshall Arts 9 $7,128,055 World Championship Madison Square Garden, New York 17,593 Matchroom Boxing June 1 1 Boxing: Joshua vs. Ruiz 10 $6,542,392 Hugh Jackman Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney 77,518 TEG Dainty Aug.