Impact NextGen: Zhubin Aghamolla

Zhubin Aghamolla’s three tentpole moments in his young booking career speak volumes about his skillsets and bright future ahead.

The first, he says, is co-booking The All Things Go music festival that returns to Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, Oct 1.

“We’re really proud of the lineup and love the statement we made by having female headliners,” says Aghamolla, noting Lorde, Mitski and Bleachers lead the festival bill. “Working with Stephen Vallimarescu and Will Suter on the festival is easily one of the best experiences in my career.”

The second, is the number of doubles booked into D.C.’s Anthem, which with a 6,000-capacity is approaching arena numbers. This includes shows by Aziz Ansari, alt-J with Portugal. The Man, Mitski, Glass Animals, HAIM, Flume and Phoebe Bridgers. “That’s two weeks of double shows with incredible artists,” he says.

And thirdly was I.M.P’s 2021 New Year’s show, usually booked by I.M.P. co-founder and chairman Seth Hurwitz, but due to COVID he was unable to curate. So Aghamolla took the reins, enlisting one of his favorite acts: “Ben Schildkraut, the agent for Rainbow Kitten Surprise, and I came up with the idea for the show, and Donna Westmoreland, our COO, pushed me to go for it. I felt weird and nervous not working on it with Seth. The show sold out in advance, RKS had an incredible performance and the house was rocking.”

The tentpoles illustrate the former I.M.P. intern’s market knowledge, ability to collaborate and make executive decisions whether festival, venue or special event. In addition to booking the Anthem, Merriweather Post and All Things Go, Aghamolla will soon have another club to book – the replica of the old 9:30 Club I.M.P., which Dave Grohl announced last year.

Aghamolla has at least four mentors, Hurwitz, Westmoreland, “production guru” Ed Stack, and perhaps most importantly his father, Jamshid Aghamolla, who taught him one very important lesson: “Don’t take shit from anyone.”