The Florida Theatre in Downtown Jacksonville is the No. 1 most-attended venue of any type in the Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia region, according to 2024 statistics released by Pollstar, a concert industry trade magazine.
The city-owned, historic venue’s attendance surpassed the St. Augustine Amphitheatre, Daily’s Place, the Moran Theater in the Jacksonville Performing Arts Center and concerts at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, even though each of those venues has significantly more seats.
The Florida Theatre, with 1,865 fixed seats, sold 183,157 tickets.
Daily’s Place, with a seating capacity of 5,500, sold 103,750 tickets.
The St. Augustine Amphitheatre, with a capacity of 4,789, sold 103,532 tickets.
The Moran Theatre in the Jacksonville Performing Arts Center, with 2,950 seats, sold 99,231 tickets.
With a total capacity of 15,000, VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena sold 95,824 tickets.
The Florida Theatre is the No. 44 most-attended theater worldwide, and for theaters up to 2,000 seats, it is the No.5 most-attended theater nationwide, according to Pollstar.
“Ranking first in our market and 44th in the world for theaters despite having fewer seats to sell every night is a testament to the incredible support that the Florida Theatre receives from our community and the world-class talent that takes our stage every night. This ranking reflects our commitment to delivering quality entertainment for years to come,” Florida Theatre Vice President of Programming Kevin Stone said in a Dec. 17 news release.
Top attendance and gross revenue at theaters up to 2,000 seats:
• The Smith Center/Reynolds Hall in Las Vegas, 235,038 tickets, $19.45 million gross revenue.
• Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, New Jersey, 230,208 tickets, $13.70 million.
• Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in Fort Meyers, 190,593 tickets, $14.63 million.
• Moore Theatre in Seattle, 187,111 tickets, $10.60 million.
• Florida Theatre, 183,157 tickets, $8.47 million.
“What’s significant about the Florida Theatre being on these charts is that it is locally managed by a nonprofit organization dedicated to this building and serving our community,” Numa Saisselin, president of the Florida Theatre, said in the release.
“Jacksonville likes to go out and have a good time. We value being able to enjoy live performances in the company of our friends and neighbors, and our audience tries not to miss a good show.”
According to Pollstar, the Top Tours of 2024 were led by Taylor Swift, who set an all-time income record, earning $2.2 billion, and Coldplay, who set an all-time record for tickets sold, at 10.3 million tickets.