Live Nation has lately had some uncharacteristic losses.
In April, a federal jury found the live entertainment company, which merged with Ticketmaster in 2010, has operated as an illegal monopoly — music to the ears of the concertgoers who’ve complained for years about exorbitant ticket prices.
Locally, Live Nation also lost out this year when the Baltimore-based Finn Group, along with Knitting Factory Entertainment, was selected to take over management and operations of the city-owned waterfront music venue Pier Six Pavilion — a job held by Live Nation for the past decade.
Pier Six Pavilion’s “new era” kicked off Friday night with a ribbon cutting and free concert with local acts like the Kelly Bell Band and DJ Tanz. It’s part of a Baltimore-first approach that the new operators said would inform much of what the venue does in the future.
LaRian Finney, managing partner of the Finn Group, said the local-minded attitude is a “love letter back to Baltimore City.”
“I think it should have TLC,” Cherry Hill native Finney said of updating the venue. “I think you should have an array of connectivity to the community.”
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Live Nation and the duo of the Finn Group and Knitting Factory Entertainment — an Idaho-based company with decades of national concert experience — were the only bidders for the job, said Otis Rolley, president and CEO of the Baltimore Development Corporation, which oversaw the selection process.
In a music-industry story of David vs. Goliath, the Finn Group and Knitting Factory Entertainment’s personalized pitch to uplift the 45-year-old venue, located at 731 Eastern Ave., was the clear choice, according to Rolley.
Rolley emphasized that the decision was not the city taking a leap-of-faith chance on a local business, but rather the choice that made the most financial sense.
“To be just frank, it wasn’t even close,” Rolley said, “in terms of the economic return to the city, what they were looking to put into the venue [and] their level of expectation in terms of what could happen here.”
While Live Nation is no longer the venue’s operator, the concert promoter is working with Pier Six Pavilion on select concerts, bringing 10 shows to the venue this summer, including Myles Smith and Lake Street Dive, Christina Karas, vice president of communications at Live Nation, said in a statement.
“The City of Baltimore is a great partner, and we’ll continue to bring top touring artists to Pier Six Pavilion,” Karas said.
The Finn Group/Knitting Factory Entertainment took over this month, with an agreement in place through Dec. 31, 2029, along with a three-year renewal option, per the city contract. They’ll pay the city an escalating annual rent, starting at $200,000 in 2026 and rising to $318,270 in its final year, plus 10% of gross ticket revenue and private rental fees.
The new operators have already made noticeable changes around the roughly 4,400-person capacity venue, including an upgraded sound system and on-stage video screen. Visitors will also notice colorful new artwork, curated by Mount Vernon’s Quid Nunc Art Gallery, including murals of legendary Baltimore musicians like Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday and Frank Zappa painted by local artists G. Pack and Mark West.
They’ve also renovated the bathrooms and bars and added Maryland-based food vendors such as the Holy Môlï Food Truck, whose chef Saon Brice won an episode of the Food Network’s “Guy’s Grocery Games,” and the wood-fired pizza truck Fiamme del Forno.
While few will complain about upgraded amenities, the music will matter most to draw more visitors to Pier Six Pavilion, which largely operates in the warmer months.
Finney, who co-created the popular Baltimore festival Jazzy Summer Nights, said the venue will continue to book national touring acts, but more local artists will open for those headliners.
The 2026 season — which includes the Beach Boys (June 6), Chanté Moore (Sept. 10) and Modest Mouse (Oct. 9) — kicks off May 28 with an all-Baltimore lineup of Future Islands, Dan Deacon and Ed Schrader’s Music Beat. The plan is to book between 30 and 35 shows this year, Finney said.
“Baltimore is a breeding ground for some unbelievable musicians,” Finney said. “It’s just good business to say, ‘Why not highlight the folks from your city?’”
In the past, Pier Six Pavilion would go dark for stretches between shows. The new operators plan to address that, too, by hosting movie nights and game day events when the Ravens and Orioles play.
While the positive energy was palpable on Friday, Knitting Factory CEO and President Morgan Margolis acknowledged that it remains an uneven battleground when trying to compete against Live Nation and rival AEG Presents for booking major concerts.
“Look, I’ll say it: We’re a smaller promoter fighting against Live Nation [and] AEG,” Margolis said.
Rolley is confident that BDC made the correct decision with Pier Six’s new operators. The bigger, better-known option is not always the best choice, he said.
“Often, the best is actually coming from within Baltimore,” Rolley said. “I think for a long time, we were delusional and confused and had some inferiority complex nonsense. But those days are over.”
Banner reporter Emily Opilo contributed to this story.
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