By Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen

Palace Sports & Entertainment’s two outdoor venues, DTE Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston, MI and Meadow Brook Music Festival in Detroit, posted strong concert grosses that should preserve their status as 2007’s top-attended amphitheatres.

DTE Energy Music Theatre, the nation’s most-attended outdoor venue for 16 consecutive years, hosted 61 events and maintained an average attendance of more than 10,000 guests per show for the 12th year in a row as it attracted more than 634,000 in total attendance. It enjoyed 15 sold-out shows in 2007 including Eddie Money (May 25); Montgomery Gentry (June 2); Foreigner (June 8); Doobie Bros./Peter Frampton (June 14); Barenaked Ladies (June 15); Creedence Clearwater Revisited (June 16); Ted Nugent (June 22); Tool (July 3); Toby Keith (July 5); Anita Baker (July 21); B.B. King Blues Festival (July 29); Dave Matthews Band (Aug. 23); Ozzfest (Aug. 26); Hinder (Sept. 7) and Aerosmith (Sept. 8).


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Meadow Brook Music Festival maintained an average attendance of more than 4,000 for the fifth consecutive year during its 37-show summer of 2007. The intimate amphitheatre and rolling hills played host to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (July 28-29 and August 3-5) and the 7th Annual Wine & Food Festival (August 25-26). Other season highlights included three capacity crowds: Lonestar (July 13), Stevie Wonder (Sept.12) and Dashboard Confessional (Sept. 14) for a total attendance of nearly 150,000.

“It was a challenging summer, but we are pleased with how our amphitheatres fared and thankful for the continued patronage by our area’s event-goers,” said Tom Wilson, president and CEO of Palace Sports & Entertainment, in a statement. “By maintaining the quality of guests’ experiences, bringing in the top summer tours, keeping ticket prices as low as possible and expanding our marketing reach through technological growth we were able to battle the effects of this area’s economic situation and the continual spread of free events and festivals.”

PS&E’s Michigan venues, which also includes The Palace of Auburn Hills average 300 events and 3.5 million guests annually.

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