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The Summer of 2008 started with high gasoline prices and ended with headlines of an Economic Crisis, but for Palace Sports & Entertainment (PS&E), the live music scene in Michigan’s metro-Detroit area proved extraordinarily healthy. PS&E, which also owns The Palace arena, owns the DTE Energy Music Theatre, an outdoor amphitheater and manages the Meadow Brook Music Festival on the campus of Oakland University. The season the DTE Energy Music Theatre (15,274 capacity) and the Meadow Brook Music Festival (7,701 capacity), runs May through September.

"We are thrilled with how well our amphitheatres fared and thankful for the continued support by our area’s event-goers this summer, especially during these tough economic times," said Tom Wilson, President and CEO of PS&E.

Wilson credited the utilization of a top-notch schedule of the most popular touring acts—which included Detroit’s hometown hero—Kid Rock, who sold out the DTE Energy Music Theatre four consecutive nights. (He also happened to release "All Summer Long", a #1 single for much of the Summer.) Other acts with sold out performances included the Police, who were on their farewell tour, this year’s hot teenager act the Jonas Brothers, and perennial favorite, James Taylor, who released a much anticipated and currently chart topping album, "Covers" in September.

In addition to the right performers, PS& E also had an affordable ticket pricing program, which aided the number of sellouts and near record-breaking attendance averages this year. More than two-thirds of the venues’ events included affordable $10 or $15 lawn tickets or specially discounted four-packs of lawn tickets and, in addition, PS&E offered big savings on a wide selection of concerts at The Palace, DTE Energy Music Theatre and Meadow Brook Music Festival back in July as part of their "Two-Day Ticket Blitz," which provided savings of up to 50 percent on a majority of the shows at the three PS&E venues.

 DTE Energy Music Theatre brought in more than 785,000 people during its 65-show summer, resulting in the third-best average attendance in PS&E’s 18 years of ownership with 12,086. These numbers should keep the venue on pace to remain the nation’s most attended outdoor venue for the 18th consecutive year. DTE posted 20 sellouts—Tim McGraw, Kid Rock (four nights!); Eddie Money; The Police with Elvis Costello; Dave Matthews Band; Rod Stewart with Bryan Adams; Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band; Mayhem Festival featuring Slipknot; Jack Johnson; Brooks & Dunn/ZZ Top; Steve Miller Band with Joe Cocker; Maroon 5/ Counting Crows; Ted Nugent; Journey with Heart and Cheap Trick; Jonas Brothers with Demi Lovato; Lynyrd Skynyrd and Mötley Crüe with Buckcherry and Papa Roach.

Meadow Brook Music Festival notched a record-high six sellouts in 2008, surpassing its previous season high of four, and drew close to 150,000 people during its 35 shows—the second highest attendance average under PS&E’s 15 years of management with 4,282. The sold-out shows were James Taylor; Trace Adkins with Kellie Pickler; "Weird Al" Yankovic; Crosby, Stills & Nash; Live, Blues Traveler and Collective Soul; and O.A.R.

Although a combination of exciting pair ups, top performers and innovative ticket pricing programs resulted in a successful Summer season, Wilson saves most of his accoloades for the audiences. "It goes to show how much metro Detroiters and the state of Michigan love their music," he said. "We dedicate ourselves to bringing the best summer acts to our stages while delivering the best overall fan experience possible and we are more than excited by the turnouts we observed this season."

In related news, DTE Energy Music Theatre had an especially green summer by initiating GreenCurrents, a renewable energy program—in the four months the venue participated in the program, it displaced 330,600 kWh of energy, which equates to more than 463,000 pounds of carbon dioxide. In addition, DTE Energy Music Theatre stepped up its recycling efforts with the addition of recyclable bins placed along the walkways throughout the amphitheatre grounds, backstage and in its concessions. The venue claims to have saved an equivalent of 285 trees, 83,160 gallons of water, 29.05 barrels of oil and 86,130 kilowatt hours of energy with the 11.88 tons of recycled materials such as paper, plastic and glass.

"We are pleased to see the results of our ‘going green’ initiative in its first summer, and we will continue to that maintain that focus to help make the environment a better place," said Wilson. "It’s great to the see how a few small adjustments on our part made a huge positive impact on the environment and how beneficial those results will be in the long run."

Combined, PS&E’s Michigan venues—The Palace, DTE Energy Music Theatre and Meadow Brook Music Festival—average 300 events and 3.5 million guests annually.