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The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., is the top venue in the U.S. for ticket numbers and gate revenue, and second in the world only to the O2 arena in London. It also sold three times more tickets than its venerable Manhattan neighbor, Madison Square Garden.
Brooklyn’s in the sold-out house.
The Barclays Center, a magnet for music superstars during its first full year of business, is already the nation’s No. 1 venue in the number of tickets sold and gate revenue.
JOHN ANGELILLO/UPI /Landov
Rihanna sang and pranced at the Barclays Center on May 5, 2013.
The new arena in New York ranks No. 3 worldwide in number of tickets sold, according to Pollstar magazine. And Billboard magazine ranked Barclays Center as No. 2 globally in gross ticket sales revenue at $ 46.9 million.
The new arena sold 657,423 tickets to concerts and family shows between Jan. 1 and June 30 — the highest figure in the U.S., Pollstar reported.
Kevin P. Coughlin/New York Daily News
Sir Paul McCartney got the crowd at the Barclays Center rocking June 8, 2013, with Beatles tune ‘Eight Days a Week.’
The only buildings on the planet with better ticket sales numbers were the O2 arena in London and Manchester Arena in England — and only the O2 outgrossed Barclays Center.
Local residents weren’t surprised by the first-year success of the arena.
Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Jay Z played at the Barclays Center on Sept. 28, 2012.
“It’s beautiful,” said Yvette Raymond, 49, who lives near the building that opened in September. “It makes the neighborhood more lively. The neighborhood has always been good, but Barclays has made it even better.”
The building’s star-studded first-year lineup of performers started with Jay Z headlining eight shows, and then included Brooklyn native Barbra Streisand, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Paul McCartney.
James Keivom/New York Daily News
Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger and the rest of the Rolling Stones graced the Barclays Center stage Dec. 8, 2012.
“We are proud to have become a destination venue that has been recognized globally in a short period of time,” said Brett Yormark, CEO of Barclays Center.
Senior citizen Andrea Cave, a retired teacher, said she thought the new arena was a major boost for the area.
Pearl Gabel for New York Daily News
Barbra Streisand, as a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., had a homecoming of sorts when she performed at the Barclays Center on Oct. 11, 2012.
“It’s an iconic building,” she said of the $ 1 billion facility on Atlantic Ave. “At one time that area was really crappy … If you walked around over there, you could get creamed. It’s much safer now.”
Barclays Center quickly outpaced its Manhattan neighbor, the venerable Madison Square Garden. The World’s Most Famous Arena, with 194,237 tickets sold, ranked No. 29 worldwide for the first half of 2013. That means the Brooklyn arena sold more than three times the number of tickets than its counterpart in Manhattan.
Pearl Gabel for New York Daily News
Justin Bieber is one of many pop stars to entertain the masses at the Barclays Center.
Gary Bongiovanni, editor of Pollstar, said the numbers reflect more positively on the Brooklyn facility than negatively on the Garden, which has a maximum capacity of 19,763.
“The Garden will remain the iconic building that it has always been, and the artists will still want to play there,” said Bongiovanni. “Brooklyn got Streisand, the Stones, McCartney playing there.
“That doesn’t mean that they won’t play the Garden.”
Not everybody was thrilled about the success of the 19,000-seat Brooklyn arena.
“It didn’t bring nothing to this neighborhood but traffic,” said James Luben, 35, who moved into the area in 1983. “Where the hell’s the affordable housing? Where are the jobs?”
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Barclays Center At A Glance
- Opened Sept. 28, 2012.
- Performers include the Rolling Stones, Barbra Streisand, Justin Bieber, Coldplay, Jay Z and Paul McCartney.
- Upcoming events: Beyoncé (Aug. 3-5), the MTV Video Music Awards (Aug. 25) and Michael Bublé (Sept. 29).
- Hosted 183 events since opening, including 51 concerts.
- Home to the Brooklyn Nets, with the Islanders scheduled to arrive in 2015.
