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Pollstar’s Top 100 Clubs 2008

Pollstar

Pollstar has published it’s Top 100 Worldwide Club Venues for the third quarter of 2008. While the majority of the clubs listed are located in the US, the Top 100 list also includes clubs in Belgium, Ireland, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

The list is compiled based on ticket sales reported to Pollstar between January 1 though September 30 of this year.

Here’s a look at the top-selling club venues so far for 2008:

  1. 9:30 Club – Washington DC
  2. The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
  3. House of Blues – Dallas, TX
  4. The Pageant – St. Louis, MO
  5. House of Blues – Chicago, IL
  6. House of Blues – Anaheim, CA
  7. The Wiltern – Los Angeles, CA
  8. Fillmore Auditorium – Denver, CO
  9. Rams Head Live! – Baltimore, MD
  10. Ancienne Belgique – Brussels, Belgium

Download the PDF of the full listing for Pollstar’s Top 100 Worldwide Club Venues here.

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About the author: Todd Owyoung is an internationally published music photographer specializing in concert photography and band portraits. He also grills a mean steak.

Contact Todd for image licensing and assignments wherever the rock show lives. You can also get in touch with Todd via Twitter.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 12th, 2008 at 4:25 pm and is filed under News and Info and tagged with , , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

15 Responses to “Pollstar’s Top 100 Clubs 2008”

  1. Tasha says:

    Interesting list. personally, I find the fact that the Old Town School Of Folk Music in Chicago came in at #93 pretty hysterical, considering I’ve never heard of it.

    Of course, I don’t make a habit of shooting folk music…

  2. Todd says:

    Hey Tasha, thanks for the comment. I saw there were a number of Chicago venues listed, that Old Town School of Folk Music among them. Nice to see the Metro is getting some representation.

    Live Nation’s House of Blues are cleaning up, that’s for sure.

  3. Jessie says:

    the only Toronto club made it in is Kool Haus on #44
    personally i don’t really like that venue

  4. Todd says:

    Hey Jessie, how big is the Kool Haus? I’ve seen images from a few acts there, but it’s hard to gauge the size. My friends Semi Precious Weapons just played there, I think (though it could have been a different Toronto club).

  5. Victor says:

    I’m kinda shocked HOB in Chicago did so well, I always found it to be small compared to venues like the Metro or the Riv.

  6. Todd says:

    The House of Blues “franchise” really cleans up. They have nine venues in the top 25 alone.

  7. courtney says:

    Great to see 9:30 club again up at #1. Been a tough year for clubs but glad to see those in my area doing well. Had two of my clubs in the top 10..

  8. Todd says:

    I always see great shows go through the 9:30 Club, so I’m not surprised that it’s at the top of the list. Great booking.

  9. Jessie says:

    I think the Kool Haus is the biggest out of the club venues in Toronto. I think it takes up half a block of the street. I don’t really know how to tell haha. But Kool Haus is part of The Guvernment club. And I think The Guvernment itself is a venue too, because I just realized that The Academy Is… is playing there and not usually the Kool Haus venue. So I am pretty confused. (And the website lacks info)

  10. HR says:

    I posted this on the flickr conversation as well

    this is all based on ticket sales. capacity and frequency of shows is how its figured out.

    just ticket sales. nothing else.

    ALSO be minded that not all venues and promoters report to pollstar. it is voluntary. most choose not to.

  11. Todd says:

    Absolutely, the list is simply based on ticket sales reported to Pollstar. No more, no less.

    There are a lot of venues on here that I would expect to see on such a list, namely a lot of the 1000 to 3000 capacity clubs, and lots of Live Nation houses.

    With that said, I wonder which of the larger independent venues are missing.

  12. Call me a cynic but I was a little suspicious of how few venues there are on this list from outside North America.

    Guess if it’s based on ticket sales it must be genuine……but does that mean that US club venues tend to have more bands appearing at them each week, that they’re bigger? Or are the rest of us over the other side of the Atlantic just missing out big time?

  13. Todd says:

    Hey Colin,

    The thing to keep in mind about this list is that it’s entirely voluntary for clubs to submit their ticket sales to a publication/resource like Pollstar.

    Many venues of a certain size in the US may do this, so it’s most interesting as a perspective on that market, and even then I’m sure there are omissions.

    For other countries, I’m sure many venues are misrepresented or not included altogether.

  14. Christine says:

    Hey Todd! Thanks for posting this list. It’s so nice to see the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach up pretty high on the charts. All of my fellow peers seem to bash our HOB for a reason I do not know. The venue is so underrated and I’m at least thankful that I have an awesome venue in the SC to attend!

    1 quick question, are the numbers that represent ticket sales in the .pdf by the dollar?

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