Huntington Theater Ranked Fifth Worldwide In Ticket Sales

The Paramount marquee touts the theater’s top-five ranking among club venues worldwide in ticket sales for 2017. Long Islander News photo/Peter Sloggatt

By Peter Sloggatt
psloggatt@longislandergroup.com

The Paramount continues to march up the ladder on a global scale. The Huntington concert hall has taken the number-five spot for club venues worldwide based on 2017 ticket sales in rankings released by Pollstar magazine, a leading publication in the concert industry.

And a look at the charts shows The Paramount to be within striking distance of fourth and third place. Paramount’s 178,914 tickets sold last year was 1,268 tickets – less than one sold-out-show – away from fourth-ranked First Ave. in Minneapolis. Just over two sold-out shows separated The Paramount from the third-place spot held by Washington, D.C.-based 9:30 Club.

A busy schedule of diverse offerings has kept The Paramount chugging up the rankings.

“Our diverse bookings are a key to our success,” Brian Doyle, co-owner of The Paramount said. “Our customers enjoy the experience of coming back to the room time and again, as we have booked all types of genres of music and developed series catered to their eclectic tastes, from punk rock to country, jazz to hip-hop, family shows to comedy, pop to oldies, heavy metal to boxing, classic rock to theater performances, and everything in between.”

The Paramount has attracted worldwide attention for bringing Madison Square Garden-level talent to its 1,555-capacity venue on New York Avenue. Billy Joel famously performed for the home crowd in October 2013, and current king of album sales Ed Sheeran performed a surprise concert there in July 2014. Rod Stewart, Don Henley, Jeff Beck, Pitbull, Slash, Steely Dan and other stadium-class talents have played the room.

But, Doyle said, the diversity of the programming is key to bringing in the numbers. The venue books up-and-coming artists like Shawn Mendes, Ghost, Meghan Trainor, Twenty One Pilots, Lil Uzi and Vert, all of whom played The Paramount on their climbs to the top of the charts. Another ticket driver is comedy which has filled the house with audiences coming to see some of the biggest comics on the planet: Kevin James, Sebastian Maniscalco, Kevin Hart, The Impractical Jokers, Jim Breuer and Joan Rivers. And tribute bands – led by Billy Joel band members’ Mike Del Guidice and Big Shot – bring thousands of music lovers to The Paramount. Audiences go back to the Eighties with Jessie’s Girl, rock to Dark Star Orchestra performing music of the Grateful Dead, and Get The Led Out playing music of Led Zeppelin.

Even home grown talent – local bands Glassjaw, Taking Back Sunday, Bayside and The Sleeping – and emerging Long Island artists – Jon Bellion, Oogee Wawa, Nick Tangorra, Oak & Ash – drive ticket sales.

With some 200 shows a year, it all adds up.

And in just over five years since opening, it’s added up quickly.  The Paramount is slated to present its 1,000th show Saturday, Jan. 27, with Blues Traveler.

Hey, What’s Huntington Doing On This List?

When Pollstar magazine’s end-of-year rankings hit the newsstands, The Paramount’s owners Brian Doyle, Dom Catoggio, Jim Condron and Stephen Ubertini were all struck by the same thing.

Letting me in on the news, they slapped the Pollstar list on the table in front of me.

“What do you see?” they asked.

On the list of the top club venues worldwide, I saw The Paramount placed fifth.

“Pretty impressive,” I said.

It took another minute to see the story behind the story. Highlighted in yellow on the page, was Huntington among a collection of cities: Boston, Washington DC, St. Louis, Brooklyn, even Brussels were on the list.

Huntington – not considered a major market by the bands The Paramount books – stood out.

Huntington, home to 200,000 of Long Island’s nearly 3 million residents.

Huntington, home of The Paramount.

—PETER SLOGGATT