Concert Market Rankings: No. 3 New York

Kevin Mazur / Getty Images / LN – Cheek To Cheek:
Lady Gaga joins Tony Bennett at Radio City Music Hall Aug. 5, 2021, for two shows billed as his final New York performances.

In The City That Never Sleeps, The Shows Must Go On

While it’s debatable which city deserves the “Entertainment Capital of the World” nickname, New York City makes a case with its endless array of options to keep residents and tourists occupied, including Broadway plays, sporting events, shopping, dining and live music at some of the planet’s most iconic venues. 

After New York City was hit hard by COVID-19 as the initial epicenter of the crisis in the U.S., it fully reopened on May 19, 2021, and live music soon triumphantly returned.  

Foo Fighters had the honor of welcoming live music back to Madison Square Garden, playing to a full-capacity audience at the Manhattan arena June 20. The Foos performed for nearly three hours, selling 15,371 tickets and grossing $1,401,255. 

The Garden hosted New York’s top-grossing arena event of 2021 with Harry Styles’ “Harryween Fancy Dress Party” Oct. 30-31, which grossed $5,714,220 total for an average of $2,857,110 per night. The gigs were actually Styles’ fourth and fifth of the month at the arena: Sold-out plays there on Oct. 3, 4 and 16 grossed an additional $8,099,555.

MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., had the market’s top stadium show with an Oct. 9 reunion concert from bachata group Aventura that grossed $7,339,642.

Radio City Music Hall hosted another special event with “One Last Time: An Evening With Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga.” The Aug. 3 and 5 shows marked the final New York concerts of Bennett’s career, selling 5,211 tickets per night and grossing an average of $954,450 for the top auditorium/theatre show.

Later that month, Ashley McBryde took the stage at Irving Plaza to welcome fans back to the Manhattan club after a multimillion-dollar renovation improved sightlines, sound, lights and other production aspects.

New developments in the NYC market included the opening of the 500-capacity club Brooklyn Made by independent concert promotion company Brooklyn Made, which was launched in 2020 by Bowery Presents and Live Nation New York ex-pat Anthony Makes. Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy played the venue’s first shows Sept. 30 and Oct. 1.

Check out Pollstar’s inaugural Concert Market Rankings chart at the link below:
https://www.pollstar.com/Chart/2022/01/First%20CMR%20Jan%202022_997.pdf