Flying Lotus, The O2, 9:30 Club’s Melanie Cantwell Among Initial Pollstar Award Winners

Michael Guilbert – Pollstar Awards
Ryan Pardeiro and Nathan Huber of 3D Live

With an overwhelming number of categories and nominees in 2018, the 29th Pollstar Awards are being given out in two ceremonies. Actress Kate Flannery hosted the first presentation as part of Production Live! Feb. 6.

Flannery introduced herself as “the drunk from ‘The Office.’ … I am your host, your time keeper and general eye candy.” After explaining that “today’s awards focus on venues, production professionals and international firms” she then went on to present this year’s winners.

Melanie Cantwell, who books the 9:30 Club, as well as The Anthem and Lincoln Theatre in Washington, D.C, won the Nightclub Talent Buyer of the Year Award. Noting she was shocked to have won, she accepted the award by saying, “I was really thrilled that I was nominated to begin with. I know how lucky I am to work with a great group of people who are excited to come to work every day. So thank you.”

The award for Tech Enhancement of the Year went to Flying Lotus and 3D Live, who collaborated on an acclaimed 3D tour last fall. Of course, Pollstar was all over it.

Clair Global won Sound Company of the Year. The tradition-rich company, founded by brothers Roy and Gene Clair in 1966, has been scooping up Pollstar Awards for years, and one will have a hard time scouring the archives for the few years they didn’t win. Upstaging won Lighting Company of the Year for a second time in a row.

The team of Stageco took home the award for Staging/Equipment Company of the Year, which it last won in 2016. In October, Pollstar talked to the company’s project managers Hedwig De Meyer and Stefaan Vandenbosch, who managed the outdoor crews working on the Rolling Stones “No Filter” European tour. Lori Tierney of SOS Touring accepted the award on behalf of the company, saying: “Mary Lou Figley gave me my very first job in this business so I’m happy to accept this on behalf of Stageco.”

Rock-it Cargo has been winning Transportation Company of the Year since 2002, and this year was no exception. Another regular Pollstar Awards winner is Moo TV. This year marks the eighth consecutive Video Company Of The Year win for the Nashville based video experts. Pollstar recently spoke to Moo TV owner Scott Scovill about tapping into expanded touring potential.

Accepting the award, Scovill said: “We always thank our people, but this year especially. We had seven kids that were in Vegas and they went through hell. If you have anyone that was out there, they’re more affected than you know, probably. But to talk to them now and to hear them say, ‘I just want to get back out there and make people happy,’ that’s pretty incredible. So this is to all of those kids. Thank you.”

Roger Waters earned the Pollstar Award for Most Creative Stage Production. Waters wrapped up the U.S. leg of his “Us + Them” tour in November, grossing $92 million and selling 756,189 tickets throughout 2017. The man is currently touring Australia, before heading to mainland Europe, where the tour wraps July 6 at British Summer Time in Hyde Park, London. A couple of public TV and radio stations in Germany announced that they wouldn’t promote or broadcast Waters’ German concerts, because they disagreed with the musician’s stance toward Israel.

Michael Guilbert – Pollstar Awards
Melanie Cantwell

Waters sent a video message, saying: “I’ve just been informed that my team have been given an award by Pollstar, which they thoroughly deserve for the most creative show on the road last year, 2017. We’re all very happy about that we’ve got one or two in the cupboard at home, same team, ‘The Wall’ was acknowledged a few times and hopefully the ‘Us & Them’ tour will be as well. I love you all, with a deep lasting and fervent passion. Pollstar, thank you.”

The Third Coast Booking Agent of the Year Award went to Paradigm’s Joe Atamian, after his colleagues, and mentors, Jonathan Levine and Chip Hooper won the awards the previous two years. Paradigm just moved into bigger offices in Nashville in December. High Road Touring won Independent Booking Agency of the Year for a third time in a row, and Emma Banks (CAA) was crowned UK Booking Agent of the Year for a fifth consecutive year.

Banks wasn’t on site, but CAA’s Rod Essig was. Picking up the award on his colleague’s behalf, he said: “I would like to accept this for her whole team over in the U.K. They’ve done such a great job, and I wanted to thank her for getting country music in London,” which was a reference to her work on London’s Country 2 Country Festival.

Banks’ fellow-countryman Barrie Marshall won the award for International Promoter of the Year. There were a couple of more Pollstar Award regulars: the Ryman Auditorium’s team took home the Theatre of the Year award, as it has been doing every year since 2010, when it ended the Nokia Theatre’s multi-year winning spree. LA’s Greek Theatre, which is currently in search of a new operator from November, won the Red Rocks Award for Best Small Outdoor Venue. “I only got sick there once,” joked Flannery.

Best Major Outdoor Venue went to the Hollywood Bowl. Laura Connelly, VP of Presentations at LA Philharmonic who oversees all non-classical presentations at the venue, accepted the award. She said: “On behalf of everybody who works at the Hollywood Bowl, thank you so much to the artists, the county of Los Angeles and Andrew Hewitt and Bill Silva Presents.”

The Brooklyn Steel in New York was crowned Best New Concert Venue, and The O2 London was once again named International Venue of the Year.
 
Part one of the Pollstar Awards closed Production Live!, the production-focused conference day that traditionally kicks off Pollstar Live!. Flannery did a great job of turning what can sometimes be a tedious affair into an entertaining and fairly short ceremony, and, after handing out all awards in under half an hour, joked: “I was going for a record tonight, and I might have hit it. We are done.”

For the next two days, some of the worlds biggest personalities in (live) entertainment are going to tackle a vast amount of topics in panel discussions, workshops and keynotes. For a full list of previews, head to the Pollstar Live! overview.

Winners overview:

Lighting Company of the Year: Upstaging

Sound Company of the Year: Clair Global

Staging / Equipment Company of the Year: Stageco

Transportation Company of the Year: Rock-It Cargo

Video Company of the Year: Moo TV

Tech Enhancement of the Year: 3D Live, Flying Lotus

Most Creative Stage Production: Roger Waters

Third Coast Booking Agent of the Year: Joe Atamian, Paradigm Talent Agency

Independent Booking Agency of the Year: High Road Touring

UK Booking Agent of the Year: Emma Banks, Creative Artists Agency UK

Theatre of the Year: Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN

Red Rocks Award / Best Small Outdoor Venue: Greek Theatre | Los Angeles, CA

Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue:  Hollywood Bowl | Los Angeles, CA

Best New Concert Venue: Brooklyn Steel | Brooklyn, NY

International Venue of the Year: The O2, London, UK

Nightclub Talent Buyer of the Year: Melanie Cantwell, 9:30 Club, The Anthem, Lincoln Theatre, Washington, DC

International Promoter of the Year: Barrie Marshall, Marshall Arts

See Pollstar’s conference coverage here and visit this link to check out the schedule for Pollstar Live!