Author: Eric Renner Brown

MTV’s VMAs Roll Into New Jersey

MTV’s VMAs Roll Into New Jersey

Posted by | Aug 21, 2019 | , ,

Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment CEO Scott O’Neil speaks during the MTV Video Music Awards news conference May 6 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. (Getty Images) Newark’s Prudential Center to host event’s first appearance outside NYC or LA since 2007 When MTV’s Video Music Awards descend on Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Monday, the event will mark the first time since 2007 – and only the fourth time in the show’s 35-year history – that the VMAs have been held outside of New York City or Los Angeles. “Working with (MTV owner) Viacom has been such a pleasure,” said Sean Saadeh, the venue’s executive vice president of entertainment. “They’ve really embraced New Jersey as this play for the 2019 VMAs. I’m grateful for them being the pioneers of checking ‘yes’ to New Jersey for these big-time awards shows.” The event, which will be hosted by comic Sebastian Maniscalco,… Continue Reading MTV’s VMAs Roll Into New Jersey

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Q&A: Peter Shapiro Sweats the Small Stuff

Q&A: Peter Shapiro Sweats the Small Stuff

Posted by | Aug 4, 2019 | , ,

Peter Shapiro at Brooklyn Bowl. (Courtesy Brooklyn Bowl) The concert impresario will break down his world-class venues (and squirrels) at this year’s VenuesNow Conference For the last two decades, promoter and venue operator Peter Shapiro has amassed one of the most formidable portfolios in the live music business. The 46-year-old began his career in the late 1990s, booking and operating jam-friendly Manhattan club Wetlands, and has since built an independent empire, from orchestrating the Grateful Dead’s highly lucrative Fare Thee Well shows in 2015 to founding left-of-center festival Lockn’ in rural Virginia. But Shapiro’s crown jewels remain Brooklyn Bowl and the Capitol Theatre. The former, a 1,000-capacity club in the borough’s posh Williamsburg neighborhood that includes a restaurant and bowling lanes, is celebrating its 10th anniversary and has spawned an affiliate location in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Shapiro renovated and reopened the Capitol Theatre, the Port Chester, N.Y.,  room that hosted… Continue Reading Q&A: Peter Shapiro Sweats the Small Stuff

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Women of Influence: Kate McMahon

Posted by | Jul 1, 2019 |

Leader and Hero Messina Touring Group’s Kate McMahon guides her company’s inclusive, unstoppable team Kate McMahon, executive vice president at Messina Touring Group, sometimes plays down her achievements. “I try not to travel too much anymore,” the industry lifer said. “I kind of see myself as the constant in the office, the person who is going to be here. There’s a little bit of HR, a little bit of approval of timesheets and expense reports and all that kind of boring stuff.” But McMahon, who has helped lead Messina Touring Group since its inception in 2001, and has worked with founder Louis Messina since the mid-’90s, is as eminent a figure in the music biz as any, overseeing the marketing and promotion of major MTG clients — starting with country heavyweights such as George Strait and Kenny Chesney, and then widening to include pop powerhouses like Ed Sheeran and Taylor… Continue Reading Women of Influence: Kate McMahon

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Hot Competition

Hot Competition

Posted by | Jun 3, 2019 |

Milwaukee’s Summerfest 2018 featured several hundred bands scattered across a dozen stages. (Tyler Yomantas) The flagship venue of Milwaukee’s Summerfest has world-class production capabilities once again — and things are just getting started Summerfest, the Milwaukee festival that bills itself as “The World’s Largest Music Festival,” had another smashing year in 2018. From June 27 to July 8, mega-touring artists including Dave Matthews Band, Blake Shelton, Journey and Def Leppard, Shawn Mendes, Imagine Dragons, Arcade Fire and The Weeknd headlined the event’s flagship venue, American Family Insurance Amphitheater, comprising the high-profile tip of a lineup iceberg that featured several hundred performers scattered across a dozen stages in Henry W. Maier Festival Park, situated on the shores of Lake Michigan. The festival posted an attendance figure that, in a vacuum, appears gaudy: Over 11 days, it drew 766,192 attendees to the 75-acre park. But, by Summerfest’s standards, the number was underwhelming.… Continue Reading Hot Competition

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Generation Next: Brittanie Delava

Generation Next: Brittanie Delava

Posted by | Jun 3, 2019 |

Director of Club and Theater Touring, AEG Presents As director of club and theater touring at AEG Presents, Brittanie Delava plays a critical role in optimizing the programming and strategy of the promoter’s ever-growing portfolio of venues. “I wear many hats,” said Delava, 32, who joined AEG in early 2016 and assumed her current role a year later. “I am the go-between between agents and our local talent buyers — so, figuring out how to take an artist’s vision for what they want to do and use AEG’s resources to execute it.” Given that AEG’s list of partnerships with regional promoters and venues — not to mention AEG-backed rooms themselves — seems to grow with every passing week, Delava’s role is a substantial one. “I’m talking to the buyers for all these venues every single day,” she said. “A lot of what I’m doing is figuring out how to adapt what… Continue Reading Generation Next: Brittanie Delava

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This Month’s VenuesNow