LYNN — You can’t hurry love. And apparently, you can’t hurry Diana Ross either.
When Motown giant Diana Ross performed in Lynn last month, it was the culmination of a 10-year effort on the part of the City to get her here.
“I think it took (booking agent) Henry Ryan at least 10 years to get her to come here,” said James Marsh, the City’s director of community development, who also supervises the City Hall auditorium. “It was amazing the work he did.”
Ross, of course, is the 1960s and 70s icon who sang hit after hit for the Motown label as the lead singer for The Supremes and then as a solo artist. And at age 81, she is still going strong, Marsh said.
“She put on a fantastic performance,” he said. “It was one of the best shows I’ve ever witnessed anywhere, at any venue.”
To land someone of Ross’ caliber is not something that happens overnight, Ryan said.
“It’s the result of years of work,” Ryan said. “It means building the auditorium into a premiere venue that can host A-Class acts.”
He added, “It takes a long time to build a reputation successfully. Over the last several years, we finally got to the pinnacle where we were able to book someone like Diana Ross.”
Marsh said, “It’s not an easy feat to book a legend like Diana Ross. Once you do, it’s an enormous undertaking, making sure all the pieces are together leading up to the show.”
There will be a steady stream of acts coming to the holidays through the first part of 2026. On Nov. 30, the Beatles tribute show “Rain” will be performed. It is one of several tribute shows to be booked. Others are “Get the Led Out,” a Led Zeppelin show on Jan. 16, 2026; “Toast: The Ultimate Bread Experience,” May 22, 2026; and Marc Martel’s “One Vision of Queen,” March 28, 2026. Martel voiced the Freddie Mercury songs in “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
December will be a month of holiday shows for all ages. “Home for the Holidays” with Peabo Bryson, Sheena Easton, and Ruben Studdard will run Dec. 1 and 4. And the Salem Ballet Company will perform Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” Dec. 20 at noon and 4 p.m.
On Dec. 6, a retrospective of the film “Stand By Me” will be shown, with personal appearances by Cory Feldman and other members of the cast.
Also in December: 98 Degrees on Dec. 5 and 38 Special on Dec. 13.
Going forward into the new year are Yiyo Sarante on Jan 3, 2026; The Band Perry on Jan. 9, 2026; and Fabio Porchat on Jan. 31, 2026.
“Curious George and the Golden Meatball” will be performed Feb. 21, 2026.
Marsh credited Ryan and House Manager Ann Marie Leonard with helping to bring about the more complicated aspects of the Ross show.
“I cannot say enough about them,” he said.
One of the challenges leading up to the Ross show Oct. 30 was how to handle tickets, Marsh said.
“We wanted to make sure we got all real fans into the auditorium,” he said, “at prices they could maybe afford. We didn’t want them all (tickets) to go to scalpers or ticket services.”
To that end, Marsh and the staff staged an old-fashioned ticket sale, where fans lined up to purchase actual tickets, as opposed to digital copies.
“We put around 1,000 up that way (roughly half of the 2,200 seats),” he said. “Once they were gone, we put the rest up for sale (online). We gave some to the ticket services, but mostly we had real fans there.”
Even though the auditorium holds only 2,200, the effect of a draw such as Diana Ross meant a great deal to the city’s economy, said James Cowdell, director of the Economic Development and Industrial Corporation.
“Every restaurant was packed,” Cowdell said. “I spoke to Bob Rosetti (owner of Rosetti Restaurant in downtown Lynn), and he said he’d been sold out for that night for several weeks leading up to the concert.”
He added, “The Blue Ox was completely booked. April’s and Ciao were jam-packed. The economic impact is significant. Equally important is that most of the people attending came from outside Lynn. They saw a great show and spent money at our restaurants. It was a huge win for Lynn.”
There were other challenges that went into putting on the show, and all of them were met, Marsh said. Even though it was the last week of October, the number of people in Ross’ retinue meant that an outdoor tent had to be set up in the City Hall parking lot for catering. Ross went through one costume change and sang for 90 minutes without a break. That cut down on the space needed for her wardrobe.
As for Ross herself, “You could tell how sincerely happy she was to be there and how happy our sold-out crowd was to see her,” Marsh said. “She actually posted about the show on her Instagram account saying how much she enjoyed singing here and how incredible the audience was.”
Ryan said Ross was a joy to work with.
“In every single aspect, she was a dream,” he said. “She exudes class. She was the classiest performer I’ve ever seen.”
