Pollstar Live! Preview: The Wiltern To Shine Again As Pollstar Awards Host

The Pollstar Awards return to the venerable Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles Feb. 7, hosted by comedian Tom Papa and honoring the most successful artists, executives, tours, venues, companies and more from the live industry — nominated and voted upon by industry peers.

The venue, originally built in 1931, is part of a 12-story Art Deco landmark on Wilshire Boulevard, and opened as the Warner Brothers Western Theater, the flagship venue for that theater chain.

Renovated heavily in the 1980s by developer Wayne Ratkovich and with involvement from Another Planet Entertainment’s Gregg Perloff, the venue reopened in 1985, home to many historic concerts and events, including a 1985 Tom Petty concert that was filmed and recorded for the Pack Up The Plantation: Live! album.

As part of Pollstar history, The Wiltern was home to the 2018 Pollstar Awards, where Perloff was given the Bill Graham Award for concert promoter of the year, which was a full circle moment for him.

“To win it in this theater was special,” Perloff said at the time. “Look how beautiful, it’s a treasure. The wrecking ball had taken down half of it and we saved it, due to Wayne Ratkovich who was a developer at the time. My father was the dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at UCLA and Wayne got to know him and it inspired him to save old theaters and the arts and culture. There’s a plaque in the lobby to my parents.”

The venue is a regular tour stop for artists of all types, and often a location for underplays, with recent shows by Beck, The Roots, The Struts, Black Midi, Liz Phair and many others.
Although Petty died in late 2017, the legend lives on The Wiltern, including at a John Mayer gig benefiting his Heart And Armor Foundation in September 2023. For the occasion, Ed Sheeran stepped in to be Mayer’s support act, playing a full slot before joining Mayer on stage to perform a cover of Petty’s “Free Fallin’.”

Sheeran told the crowd with a laugh, “I just said to John: I feel like I’m going to watch that on YouTube for the rest of my life. That was so special.”

It’s a fine location for this year’s awards show, which includes categories for prestigious awards including Bobby Brooks Award for agent of the year, Bill Graham Award for promoter of the year, Talent Buyer of the Year, Venue Executive of the Year and many others, including multiple artist categories honoring tour of the year in multiple genres.