Live Nation At The Palladium

Live Nation has agreed to a long-term lease to book and operate the historic Hollywood Palladium ballroom in Los Angeles. North American Music CEO Bruce Eskowitz and L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti made the announcement at the venue April 11th.

The Palladium, with a capacity of more than 4,000, will be refurbished and Live Nation hopes to reopen the landmark by fall 2008.

Restoration plans will update the venue’s interior and amenities while maintaining the Palladium’s original aesthetic integrity, according to a statement from Live Nation.

Among the planned improvements are a doubling of back-of-house space, a new hospitality room, easy access loading dock, state-of-the-art stage and production grid, doubling restroom facilities, increasing concessions, reinforcing special events capabilities, and modifying the room to improve sight lines and enhance VIP areas.

Space for dressing rooms will be tripled, and an artists’ outdoor patio will be installed.

For history buffs, the restoration will include finish restoration reminiscent of the original facility.

The Sunset Boulevard landmark opened in 1940 with a show by Frank Sinatra and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. It’s also been used as a TV studio, serving as the home of "The Lawrence Welk Show" and, recently, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip."

As a music venue, it has seen its popularity rise and fall with the times but in recent years it has hosted shows by then-emerging acts including The Strokes, Wolfmother, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Bloc Party.

Bringing the Palladium into the Live Nation stable gives the company a formidable hold on the mid-sized venue scene in the City of Angels, which already includes The Wiltern, House of Blues and Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal CityWalk.

"The addition of the Hollywood Palladium to our Los Angeles-area portfolio provides us with the mid-sized capacity venue that we were previously missing, and one with a tremendous rock ’n’ roll history which makes it very exciting for us," Eskowitz said in a statement.

"Our strategy in large markets like Los Angeles is to own and/or operate a mix of venues that gives us the ability to nurture artists through all stages of their development. We plan to continue to establish the right venue mix in major music markets around the world."