Starland Ballroom
Encyclopedia
Sayreville, New Jersey
Sayreville is a borough located on the Raritan River, near Raritan Bay in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 42,704....
, USA. Opening night was December 7, 2003 and featured a performance by former Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
lead singer David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth is an American rock vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality. Roth was ranked nineteenth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Singers of All Time....
. The venue was formerly known as the Hunka Bunka Ballroom, which operated as a dance music club in the 1980s and 1990s, though throughout the '90s it often hosted concerts, specifically punk and ska lineups.
History
In its first year of operation, over 150,000 tickets were sold to Starland events, enough to make the venue as one of the 10 largest concert nightclubs in the world, according to Pollstar magazine.In its second year of operation, Starland sold over 205,000 tickets, qualifying it as the fourth-best ticket-selling concert nightclub in the world, according to Pollstar magazine.
In just five years, Starland has sold close to three-quarters of a million tickets, while constantly ranking as one of the best-selling concert nightclubs in the United States and beyond. Celebrities and musicians alike have been spotted at Starland, including New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
, Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona...
, Howard Stern Show star Artie Lang, comedians Jim Florentine and Bob Levy, Hillary Duff, baseball star Mike Piazza, Peter Fonda and others.
On August 20, 2004, Coheed and Cambria
Coheed and Cambria
Coheed and Cambria is an American progressive rock band from Nyack, New York. Formed in 1995, the group incorporates aspects of progressive rock, punk rock, metal and post-hardcore....
filmed a concert at Starland Ballroom and released it as a DVD, entitled Live at the Starland Ballroom
Live at the Starland Ballroom
Live at The Starland Ballroom is a double DVD/CD from rock quartet Coheed and Cambria, released on March 22, 2005. The concert was filmed August 20, 2004 at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey. The New York City radio station, 92.3 K-Rock put on the show and sold tickets for 92 cents...
. Heavy metal band Anthrax
Anthrax (band)
Anthrax is an American heavy metal band from New York City, formed in 1981. Founded by guitarists Scott Ian and Danny Lilker, the band has since released ten studio albums and 20 singles, and an EP featuring Public Enemy. The band was one of the most popular of the 1980s thrash metal scene...
, Clutch
Clutch (band)
Clutch is an American rock band from Germantown, Maryland, formed in 1990. The band's first release was an EP entitled Pitchfork, which debuted in October 1990. Their first studio album, Transnational Speedway League, was released three years later in 1993. To date, Clutch has released nine studio...
and God Forbid
God Forbid
God Forbid is an American heavy metal band formed in 1996 in East Brunswick, New Jersey.-Biography:Building up a following in the late 1990s by touring with bands such as GWAR, Nile, Cradle of Filth and Candiria, God Forbid's first full album Reject the Sickness was released by 9 Volt Records in 1999...
, have also filmed a DVD at Starland, while bands like My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday and The Starting Line
The Starting Line
The Starting Line is an American pop punk band based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that formed in 1999.- Formation and history :In 1999, the band that would become The Starting Line was initiated in Churchville, Pennsylvania via an e-mail from guitarist Matt Watts to vocalist/bassist Kenny Vasoli...
have filmed performances at the venue for broadcast on MTV, Fuse and elsewhere.
In January 2005, the Starland Ballroom hosted a pair of concerts to raise money for victims of the December 26 tsunamis. My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance is an American alternative rock band from New Jersey, formed in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way and have a diverse sound incorporating elements of punk, emo, glam metal, and progressive rock...
, Taking Back Sunday
Taking Back Sunday
Taking Back Sunday is a rock band from Long Island, NY, formed in 1999 by guitarist Eddie Reyes. Current members of the band are Adam Lazzara , John Nolan , Eddie Reyes , Shaun Cooper and Mark O'Connell ....
, Senses Fail
Senses Fail
Senses Fail is an American post-hardcore band from Ridgewood, New Jersey. Formed in 2002, the line up initially consisted of vocalist Buddy Nielsen, drummer Dan Trapp, guitarists Dave Miller and Garrett Zablocki and being completed by bassist Mike Glita. The band quickly issued their debut EP, From...
and dozens more performed over two nights, raising over $150,000 for UNICEF and the International Red Cross. In September 2005, Dashboard Confessional
Dashboard Confessional
Dashboard Confessional is an American rock band from Boca Raton, Florida, led by singer-songwriter Chris Carrabba. The name of the band is derived from the song "The Sharp Hint of New Tears" from the debut album The Swiss Army Romance....
and Coheed and Cambria co-headlined an event at Starland to raise $80,000 for Direct Relief International's efforts to assist victims of the Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
disaster. Also, the post-hardcore
Post-hardcore
Post-hardcore is a genre of music that developed from hardcore punk, itself an offshoot of the broader punk rock movement. Like post-punk, post-hardcore is a term for a broad constellation of groups...
band Thursday
Thursday (band)
Thursday were an American rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey. Formed in 1997, the group has released six full-length albums, their most recent being No Devolución, which was released in April 2011 on Epitaph Records...
, from nearby New Brunswick
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA. It is the county seat and the home of Rutgers University. The city is located on the Northeast Corridor rail line, southwest of Manhattan, on the southern bank of the Raritan River. At the 2010 United States Census, the population of...
filmed most of the live footage for their DVD, Kill the House Lights
Kill the House Lights
Kill the House Lights is a compilation album by New Jersey rock group Thursday. The album includes many unreleased versions of older songs as well as three new songs. It also includes a DVD with a documentary on the band and live performances. The name of the record derives from a lyric from the...
, inside the Starland Ballroom.
The building is believed to be the place where hometown stars Jon Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as the founder, occasional rhythm guitarist, and lead singer of rock band Bon Jovi, which was named after him...
and Richie Sambora
Richie Sambora
Richard Stephen "Richie" Sambora is an American rock guitarist, producer, musician, singer, and songwriter who is the longtime lead guitarist of the rock band, Bon Jovi. He and frontman Jon Bon Jovi form the primary songwriting unit of the band...
(lead singer and guitarist of Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...
) met in the early 1980s.
On April 13, 2007, the building was purchased by AEG Live, one of the largest producers of live concert and sporting events in the world. AEG Live's New Jersey operations run out of the Starland facility, including operational and booking efforts related to the All Points West Music & Arts Festival
All Points West Music & Arts Festival
The All Points West Music & Arts Festival was an annual music and arts festival held at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey. First held in August 2008, it is hosted by Goldenvoice/AEG Live events, the same company that hosts the similar annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival...
, Toms River Fest
Toms River Fest
Toms River Fest is a major festival event held at the campus of Toms River High School North in Toms River Township, New Jersey, during the summers of 2005, 2006 and 2008. It was selected by the American Bus Association as one of the Top 100 Events in North America for Group Travel 2006...
, and performances at venues like The Count Basie Theatre, The Ritacco Center, The State Theatre and more.
In July 2008, a film called The Perfect Age Of Rock And Roll, starring Peter Fonda, Lauren Holly, Jason Ritter, Taryn Manning, Billy Dee Williams and Ruby Dee, filmed its club scenes inside the venue.