General info

Travel Info

What to do

People&Culture

New York City Music - Live Music Venues

Roseland Ballroom

This real-deal ballroom plays home to big-time touring acts.

The Scene

Though this once-grand ballroom occasionally features the jazz sounds it was intended for, it's now more famous for national touring acts not quite big enough to play Madison Square Garden. Roseland's stages and bars are makeshift modern while hinting at past glory. The main stage at the hall's far end has been rigged with arena sound and lights for big rock paydays. Because entry is staggered to check tickets, IDs and bags, get there early to beat general-admission mobs and lines that last till well after the music starts.

Cool History

Roseland opened during the onset of ballroom dancing's heyday--New Year's Eve 1919--before falling on hard times as a grand dime-a-dance hall during the Depression. In the flush '40s, the Ballroom became a big-band mecca, featuring as many as three orchestras on as many stages nightly. Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and the Dorsey Brothers made the Roseland the big-band swing foundation for the revolutionary 52nd Street bebop scene at smaller venues. Once rock and roll took over popular culture in the '50s, Roseland began a long decline, though it briefly attracted a new generation of dancers during the '70s disco inferno.

239 W 52nd St
New York, NY 10019
Phone: (212) 247-0200