From the Liverpool Docks….

I had a surprise same-day deadline today, so the next installment of the 1988 countdown will have to wait until next week.

But I thought I’d share a list I came up with last week while I was waiting for Beck to hit the stage:

TOP FIVE MOST-FAMOUS MUSIC VENUES IN THE USA:
1. Carnegie Hall
2. The Grand Ole Opry
3. The Apollo Theater
4. The Hollywood Bowl
5. Red Rocks

I disqualified anyplace that wasn’t currently in business (see ya, CBGB’s) or where the primary use is sports (adieu, Rose Bowl).

If you disagree with any of my choices, or if you think I left someplace out, say so in the comments!

Topic for future consideration: what would be the top five outside the United States? Budokan, probably. And…?

posted 2 October 2008 in Tasty Bits and tagged . 8 comments

8 Comments on From the Liverpool Docks….

  1. Scraps Says:

    U.S.:
    Metropolitan Opera House
    Radio City Music Hall
    West 54th Street

  2. Scraps Says:

    Foreign:

    Sun City

  3. Gavin Says:

    If West 54th qualifies, then doesn’t Studio 8H at 30 Rock outshine it?

    Radio City was my #6.
    Met Opera…. hmmm. Maybe.

    How aware were you of either of them growing up on the West Coast? I did think that it’s possible to make the argument that four of the five most-famous music venues in the States are in NYC, but I wasn’t sure how much of that was just my own regional bias.

  4. Tom Nawrocki Says:

    For foreign venues, Paul McCartney votes for the Concertgebouw.

    Did you know the Beatles played Red Rocks?

  5. Gavin Says:

    I did not know that! At any point, did John Lennon tell the crowd “This is Red Rocks”?

    International:
    Royal Albert Hall, of course.
    Maybe the Cavern Club.

  6. Rob Says:

    Cobo Hall in Detroit is famous, or at least it was in the 70s and 80s because it seems half the “Live Albums” of that era were recorded there, some of them not even by the J. Geils Band.

    Madison Square Garden (or “Long Hair at Madison Square” as Paul McCartney would say) could be #3 or 4.

  7. Scott Underwood Says:

    The Fillmore Auditorium in SF?

    Though I guess its defunct brother in the east was more famous.

    International:
    Budokan

  8. Gavin Says:

    The Fillmore’s an excellent call; I forgot it was still in business.

    I had disqualified sports venues, which would knock out MSG–but I’m not sure I needed to, because I can’t think of any other stadiums/arenas that would crack the top five or ten as music venues.

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