2008 Concert Industry Awards

Congratulations to all of the nominees for the 20th Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards. The list of honorees was announced online at PollstarPro.com on Dec. 1. The complete list can be seen HERE.

The winners will be announced at the giant awards party at the new Club Nokia located at L.A. Live on Friday, Jan. 30.

Presented in association with AEG Live and AEG Facilities, this anniversary event, which includes exotic catering and an open bar, also promises to be the industry party of the year.

For the first time, all awards voting is being conducted online. There are no paper ballots. Voting begins Monday, Dec. 8. Every Pollstar subscriber will receive an e-mail from [email protected] on that day containing their unique link to vote. Your vote is confidential and only one vote per e-mail address will be valid.

If your e-mail address has changed, you have not activated your PollstarPro account, or you did not receive your e-mail vote invitation, please contact us at [email protected].

Special lists of past winners and fun pictures looking back at the previous 19 years of Pollstar award shows can be accessed HERE. We tried to pay tribute to some industry greats by also including a few photos of those who have retired or passed on.

There truly have been some memorable moments over the years that were not properly captured on film.

There was the caterer prepping crème brulée in 1999 who set off the fire alarm that forced the evacuation of Royce Hall in the middle of the show.

We remember the fire marshal trying to shut down the 1996 awards at the Santa Monica Museum of Flying because of overcrowding.  But it was really nothing compared to the crunch in the lobbies at the 1992 show at The Wiltern or 1993 show at The Pantages.

We also remember sending search teams out after starting the 2000 show at the House of Blues in Las Vegas when we noticed the Jim Belushi half of the Blues Brothers had wandered off into the casino.

And of course there was Elvis, whose surprise 10-minute opening of the show in 2001 at the Thomas & Mack Center nearly caused host Richard Jeni to leave the building.

Ahhh, there’s nothing like a live show with no rehearsal. We can’t wait to see what happens next. We just know it won’t be exactly what we plan.

The next awards party at Club Nokia will be the concluding event of CIC 2009, which begins with an opening reception on Wednesday evening, Jan. 28 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel.

All CIC registrations include a ticket to the awards party. Please note that CIC registration rates increase on Dec. 15. CIC registrations or tickets to just the awards party are available at PollstarPro.com/CIC2009.