Roseland Theater Under New Management

David Leiken retains ownership of the Roseland and will take on a “coaching” role in the business through the end of the year.

Aminé at the Roseland in 2016. (Henry Cromett)

By Anthony Effinger

David Leiken, Portland’s most enduring concert promoter, has sold the company that manages the Roseland Theater to Mammoth Northwest for an undisclosed price.

Leiken, 75, retains ownership of the Roseland and will take on a “coaching” role in the business through the end of the year. Mammoth, based in Lawrence, Kan., merged with Mike Thrasher Presents in 2021, following the death of Thrasher, who helped establish Portland as a touring destination for underground punk, metal and rap acts.

Leiken, who ran his own concert-ticketing operation until 1999, when he sold it to TicketsWest, has been one of the industry’s most vocal critics of Ticketmaster, the ticketing giant now owned by Live Nation. While others folded in the face of Ticketmaster competition in the 1990s, Leiken’s FastTix fought on.

Live Nation has come under scrutiny in the U.S. Senate, which has held hearings on whether the company holds monopoly power. Live Nation ate crow in November when its website crashed during sales for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour.

Related: A planned Live Nation ballroom would dwarf Portland’s existing venues.

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