Two Cedar Rapids Entertainment Venues Earn Worldwide Kudos

2021 brought back some of our freedom, emphasize the word SOME, after a year of being cooped up from the COVID-19 pandemic. A big part of the summer was a return to live music, and summer attendance at two Cedar Rapids venues no doubt contributed to each of them being ranked by Pollstar as top-selling venues WORLDWIDE.

Pollstar is the leading data provider in the live entertainment business, and a recent press release from VenuWorks states that based on their data, the past year was BIG for both the Paramount Theatre and McGrath Amphitheatre.

Based on ticket sales between November 19, 2020 and August 18, 2021, the Paramount Theatre was ranked #41 out of the top 100 theatre venues, while McGrath placed at #31 of the Top 50 amphitheatre venues, respectively.

This past 4th of July no doubt contributed to these standings

It was reported by VenuWorks coming off the 4th of July weekend that their three Cedar Rapids venues (Paramount, McGrath Amphitheatre and Alliant Energy PowerHouse) hosted 10,000 fans. That translated to $660,000 in consumer spending over that holiday weekend.

It was a huge weekend that featured REO Speedwagon and Fitz and the Tantrums at McGrath, Sevendust at the Paramount Theatre and of course, Freedom Festival events around downtown. We've seen marquee shows this year featuring the likes of ZZ Top, Jake Owen and Billy Idol just to name a few.

The venues are in some very stellar company

This is a truly comprehensive list of some of the nation's most storied venues, with Nashville's Ryman Auditorium topping the list of theater venues, and at the top of the amphitheatre list is the famous Red Rocks in Colorado.  Definitely not too shabby being in the top half of those groups!

Cedar Rapids VenuWorks executive director Michael Silva said, "for the last year and a half, the live entertainment industry was decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are grateful to the City of Cedar Rapids for their on-going support of these important venues that provide so much entertainment and quality of life for our residents during these challenging times."