Austin, Texas, has never forgiven us for stealing the “Keep Portland Weird” motto from them. Well, hate to break it to our unofficial sister city, but we’ve jacked their other claim to fame: Based on statistics, Portland is the leading city for live music per capita in America.
The numbers are complicated, but according to the concert-industry trade publication Pollstar, we’ve got more claim to the title. Six Stumptown venues— Roseland Theater, Wonder and Crystal ballrooms, Aladdin Theater, Hawthorne Theatre and Doug Fir Lounge—finished in the top 100 for ticket sales in 2013. Austin had only two venues on the list. Altogether, the listed Austin venues sold 150,000 fewer tickets than the Portland venues.
Sure, one can argue those figures don’t reflect the fact that Austin hosts three major music festivals during the year, but is touting an exponentially devolving shit-show like South by Southwest really something to be proud of?
March 22, 2014 7:42 AM
