Executive Profile: Allen Scott And Another Planet Entertainment’s Growing Live Music Solar System

Pollstar recently sat down with Allen Scott, the President of Concerts & Festivals at Berkeley’s Another Planet Entertainment, for a wide-ranging interview in the veritable eye of the storm: the inner sanctum of the backstage area at the 17th Outside Lands in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The previous weekend, Another Planet collaborated with Dead & Company to celebrate 60 years of the Grateful Dead’s music in the park’s same “main stage” Polo Field. And the weekend after Outside Lands, Zach Bryan and Kings of Leon brought the South to SF for the second iteration of APE’s Golden Gate Park Concerts series.

The three-day annual Outside Lands and special celebrations such as the Dead’s, which was feted all over the Bay Area, are shining stars among a glittering portfolio of prolific and historic California concert venues. We touched on them all in this compelling conversation, including the newest venue (Channel 24 in Sacramento) and the next to reopen (San Francisco’s classic Castro Theatre, coming in Q1 of 2026). There’s also two-year-old The Bellwether in Los Angeles, the newly-named Lake Tahoe Amphitheatre at Caesars Republic, Oakland’s Fox Theater, Berkeley’s 122-year-old Greek Theatre and the small but mighty incubator for the whole company, The Independent in San Francisco. Scott’s vision of and passion for the future of live music in California and beyond is longstanding and comes from a historic place — continuing the legacy of the late, pioneering concert promoter, Bill Graham.

Pollstar: Last year was the first time you expanded to a second weekend of programming in Golden Gate Park with System of a Down and Deftones and then this year you went right ahead and had three weeks in a row.

Allen Scott: That was not the plan! We had been talking to the Dead for two years about this and tried to book them last year. Then they decided to do the Sphere residency [in Las Vegas] and focus on that. We got it going again last summer, talking about this year. By the time they could make a decision, which was like April of this year, Zach Bryan had already confirmed a date. They needed to do three dates, and then it was about Jerry’s Birthday on the Friday. At that point, we told the city we wouldn’t do any more concerts on the Zach Bryan weekend and just do these three.

It was really an addition of one show day. But it took on so much more meaning than just the concerts, with people flooding into town, being here for a week to celebrate the anniversary. Deadheads really get out and about and patronize businesses. Haight Street hadn’t seen anything like it in I don’t know how long. The concerts not starting until four o’clock allowed people to go out and spend money around town. At this age, a lot of these people have some money now and can spend it. We saw them turn the experience into a proper vacation.

I’ve long thought of you as one of the great forecasters when it comes to knowing what will do well at festivals in the future. How far ahead are you working with booking talent for Outside Lands these days?

We have offers in for the headliners next year and other acts already. We started in June submitting offers.

Does that include the second weekend of programming in Golden Gate Park?

At this point, there’s conversations happening with a number of artists. We’re seeing what sticks, and who wants to do it.

Are you from California? What’s your story before Another Planet?

I’m from Virginia originally and moved here in 1997, via Wyoming for a couple of years. I moved to San Francisco, one, because I fell in love with the city when I visited it. I instantly fell in love with it. Not to mention the rich history of live music, like with Bill Graham at the Fillmore and beyond, I was just enamored by that. People would say, “Why didn’t you go to L.A.?” And I said, well, that’s the recording capital of the world, but I feel like San Francisco is one of the best live music cities in the country. It always punched over its weight. Meaning in terms of population, it’s the third or fourth biggest concert market in the country. We’re neck and neck, probably, with Chicago. It’s really New York, LA, Chicago and San Francisco. As a metropolitan area, we’re probably ninth or tenth in the country.

The history of music, that was a big reason I moved here. One of the reasons we like to keep Outside Lands so multi-generational, and we work very hard to do so, is because people in the Bay Area like to go to concerts. There was a study a few years ago that the average person goes to one concert a year in the United States. If you did that and concentrated in the Bay Area, I’m sure it would be two or three shows a year. You know, there are people who go weekly that are in their Thirties, Forties, Fifties. It’s not just young people, and that’s different from a lot of places.

You were too young to be involved in the original Bill Graham legacy, but it sounds like he was quite an influence on you.

Definitely an influence. I read his autobiography before I came out here. His autobiography. I work with Gregg Perloff and Sherry Wasserman, who were his protégés at Bill Graham Presents. I’m honored to work with them. They were part of rock and roll history with Winterland and the Fillmore, tours with the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead. Gregg and Sherry have done so many Dead shows over the years with Bill Graham and after he passed. So, with the Dead & Company shows this year, that was another ‘stars aligning thing’ for them and for us.

And now you also have the new Channel 24 that opened in April in Sacramento. What’s the capacity of that venue?

2,200. It’s a killer venue. We’ve already had a few sold-out, two-night runs with some really special acts –Empire of the Sun, Jack White and Primus most recently. The list goes on, and the room sells out regularly.

We’re really proud of that venue and its layout. It has a GA floor and tiered balcony, with some reserved seats in the middle, so the sightlines are perfect throughout the venue. We are bringing in artists to Channel 24 that play the Fox, the Greek and the Bill Graham Civic or similar-sized venues in the Bay Area.

Sacramento has been starved for this sized venue for so long. Artists have been skipping that market, so we’ve been trying for 10 years to find the right place. Finally, we had to build one from the ground up. Sacramento is really embracing it. Like I said, tickets are selling like crazy up there. People are coming from the Bay Area to Channel 24 shows regularly, which is really cool to see. It’s such a reverse commute type of thing, because so many Sacramentans come to the Bay Area for shows.

How about The Bellwether in Los Angeles, which opened a few years ago?

Yes, the Bellwether opened two years ago. It’s exciting being down in LA; it’s the entertainment capital of the country. It’s a different feeling down there when I go to shows. You have celebrities and special guests constantly at these shows, and there’s just such a rich history with all the music labels down there.

We have a great booking team at APE, including Sherry Wasserman, Eric Barleen, Nick Barrie, Ben Bryan and Isabel Sullivan. And starting in September, we have a new hire, Jordan Anderson, coming on bard at The Bellwether.

Wasn’t the space once [Prince’s nightclub] Glam Slam?

So you know! Yes, it was Prince’s Glam Slam, then it was an EDM venue, and then it was a grow house.

And before that, it was Vertigo, so there’s so much club history there.

There were four columns that we knocked out. The ceiling’s lower than a 40-foot ceiling, and it’s just a more intimate feel, so that was really exciting to us, the opportunity to see the bones of that. Our partners on that project (Michael Swier’s Mercury East) had designed and built the Bowery Ballroom in New York and the Mercury Lounge and Teragram Ballroom in LA. Collectively, we understand the importance of a venue and what it brings to the show. It’s definitely been a lot of fun and very well received down there. We’ve had some big shows. Mumford and Sons played there, Haim has played two multi-night runs there. We just had Trey Anastasio Band doing a warm-up show before the Dead & Company shows. A lot of artists have wanted to play that room, and that’s been fun.

Then you have The Independent in San Francisco. What’s the vibe there?

The Independent just last year celebrated its 20th anniversary. That space at 628 Divisadero has been a venue since back to the ‘60s, when it was called the Half Note Club. Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk played there. Then it went through different iterations, most notably the Kennel Club, where Nirvana and Jane’s Addiction played, a big rock club, and then the Justice League, which was a big hip-hop and turntable venue when people actually used turntables. The Roots, The Black Eyed Peas, Fatboy Slim and all the locals came through there.

We do 250-275 shows at The Independent a year. It’s a very utilitarian room: square, great sight lines, great sound and lights for a venue of that size. We’ve had a lot of future Outside Lands headliners play there: Doja Cat [in 2018] and Twenty One Pilots [in 2013]. The list goes on of who came through The Independent on their way up.

What’s the capacity of The Independent?

The Independent is 550-cap. So it’s a small room. And because the sound and lights are so good for a venue of that size, we can do big underplays. Metallica has played there, Green Day, John Legend, the Arctic Monkeys, you name it, has come through there and done underplays. Phoenix, when they headlined Coachella, they came through to warm up there before the festival.

It’s a small but mighty room, but really it’s about the up-and-coming acts. Doechii played there last fall, and she had maybe the biggest set of the weekend [at Outside Lands]. It’s only been about nine, ten months since she played The Independent.

It’s such a vital room to Another Planet and how we book. It allows us to see a band perform and how they sell. We’ve had over 10,000 artists play there between headlining and supporting. It’s just been great for us. The name, obviously, is The Independent, and we’re an independent company in a time where we compete against multinational companies for talent, no matter the venues.

It’s a special room, with a special place in our heart and it’s kind of like our incubator and testing ground for a lot of the future arena headliners or Outside Lands headliners.

Another Planet also assumed management of the historic Castro Theatre in San Francisco. Do you have an idea when that will reopen?

We’re opening the Castro in Q1 next year and we’re in full renovation mode. It’s been a long road to get here. It’s over 100 years old and is a very cherished venue, particularly in the LGBTQ+ and film communities. There are a lot of people who feel ownership to it and rightfully so. It was under a lot of deferred maintenance and the owners asked us to come help and save it for them and that’s what we’re doing.

It will probably be our most active building — even more than The Independent — because of all the film programming, comedy shows, community events and concerts that will make up the calendar. We’re really excited, but it has ballooned in cost. What we thought was initially going to be a $15 million project is about $40 million.

So, things that are beloved by the community here will still be there and in a restored and respectful way?

Yeah, I mean, the ceiling, we’ve done that, the marquee, we’ve done that, there’s a brand new organ going in — we hope to take all the best things about it and expand on them.

What will the capacity be?

1,400, which is like The Bellwether.

Any surprises? It seems like there’s been great details exposed when you pull walls down.

There’s surprise after surprise in there, but we are working on something very exciting for the opening month and hopefully will announce it this fall.

There’s a lot of retail vacancy in the Castro neighborhood, and we really hope to be bringing 300,000 people through the community throughout the year. We’ve seen positive economic impacts on local businesses with all of our venues, whether it’s the Fox, The Independent or the Bill Graham Civic. Venues help to revitalize the surrounding area with this base of people that are coming through who go out nearby and spend money before or after a show.

What about the Fox Theater in Oakland?

We opened in 2009, and that was a venue that sat dormant for 43 years. It was almost burned down by arsonists. This city almost tore it down for a service parking lot. We came in with a developer and he gathered a bunch of funds together with new market tax credits and historic tax credits and donations and it turned into a big $70 million renovation, which at the time was a lot of money. Still a lot of money! [He did it] to preserve the venue and Oakland School for the Arts, which is in the same building.  Kehlani, Zendaya and Angus Cloud from “Euphoria” all went there.

There’s a rich history to that. We do about 125, 130 shows there a year. People from around the world come in and say it’s the nicest venue they’ve ever been into. It’s a wonderful place to see a show. We’ve had some legendary performances there over the years. Some of the biggest superstars in the world. My bucket list artist played there: Prince.

You also have the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, which is so beautiful and unlike any concert venue out there.

Yeah, it’s so raw — it’s just a wall of people in front of the artists and artists love it. Lorde is playing there this fall. She’s doing a ton of arenas on this run, but she had to play the Greek in Berkeley. She played the venue for two nights in 2014 and sent a handwritten thank you note to Gregg, Sherry and myself afterwards, telling us about how much she enjoyed playing there. You don’t get a lot of those in our business!

We just did a huge renovation adding bathrooms and a food court, but we also regraded the lawn. It used to be really steep and now it’s got this perfect pitch up there, which means we’re able to accomodate more people up there.

You’ve also made some changes at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Can you talk about that?

Before we took it over in 2010, they were doing like eight or nine concerts there a year, at most. Since We’ve taken over, we’re doing 60 concerts there a year. We just added in telescopic seating so that we can make it into a 4,500-seat theater setup [down 8,500 capacity], which is new this year.

People really like coming there and bands like coming back. Tool’s played there numerous times, Phish has played there numerous times, Jack White. We have David Byrne coming in there for three nights. It’s a special room and particularly for the GA audience. But now, with this reserved seat setup, we’re seeing a lot of traction and we expect to increase the number of shows we have there. I would say 80% of the shows sell out there. It’s such a great location, with BART right across the street, in the center of the city and right in Civic Center.

You did an incredible pop-up event in Civic Center last year and have another big one coming up.

Yeah, we did Fred Again.. and Skillrex, which we announced on a Monday, put on sale on a Tuesday, blew out 25,000 tickets with 75,000 people in the queue, and then the show was that Saturday. He put together an amazing stage concept, with some of the audience members dancing behind him. That was such an epic and special event. It’s something that you would not have seen happen in the city prior to COVID.

We’re doing a free show to celebrate Empire’s 15th Anniversary on Sept. 13 with Shaboozey and more. They’ll have another big name added to the bill as a surprise special guest. Holding free events in the Civic Center and Embarcadero areas of the city are part of an overall agreement to do these additional weeks of concerts in Golden Gate Park under the Golden Gate Park Concerts series name.

There’s one out-of-state venue that Another Planet operates in Stateline, Nevada, and that’s recently undergone a name change to Lake Tahoe Amphitheatre at Caesars Republic (8,500-cap). What kind of shows are booked there?

We’ve hosted everyone there from Bruno Mars, Elton John, Luke Combs and Foo Fighters to Hozier, Beyoncé, Imagine Dragons and Chris Stapleton.

What’s your outlook on the future of live music here in the Bay Area?

I feel this great upswing that’s happening right now. It’s been happening for the last year or so. We’re so committed to San Francisco and this market. We want to see it succeed and arts and culture is the way to do that. That’s why I’m here and why I moved here in 1997.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.