Stadium vs. Arena Preference/Thoughts

[Cody James 1,525]

Does anyone else think stadiums have better sound quality? I went to Miami and I felt it was a little underwhelming for sound, but maybe that is due that the specific arena having aged equipment.

[Bronco 12,259]

38 minutes ago, Idefix1999 said:

Exactly! 

And if you wait for the months when it gets darker earlier, you may have to deal with cold or rainy weather, which also could effect the health of the artist. I've seen Ed Sheeran during the last weekend in September. 14°C and heavy rain... 

The Chromatica Ball in Düsseldorf was great, since the stadium has a retractable roof, but there are maybe seven stadiums of that size that can be closed this way in all of Europe

Yeah exactly, the vast majority og European stadiums are open roof football stadiums. And of those, only the ones that are national venues like Wembley and not club venues like Anfield/Tottenham etc are available outside of June & July. 

[Keeo 475]

Arenas. Being close to the artist and being able to SEE without looking at a screen is very important to me. Looking at the Chromatica Ball film stressed me out as I kept thinking of how far away I’d have been if I had gone and how disappointing and frustrating it would have been for me. No regrets about spending for a Mayhem floor ticket. 
While I’m not happy with the price, the experience was everything I needed it to be 

[elegidadedios 2,384]

As a fan I honestly don't care about stadium or arenas, I just want us to not pay 500 bucks to see our favorite artist

[StrawberryBlond 14,917]

Stadiums pros: higher chance of getting a ticket, pulls in more money for clout purposes, singing along feels more epic, the tour is over quicker making it easier on the artist's health and means they can get back to work making more music sooner

Stadium cons: more expensive (good news for the artist but not the fans), dates only in the biggest cities meaning you will have to travel, less available dates makes it harder to find one that suits you, busier and louder, seats are more uncomfortable, bad weather can soak you or cause a show to be cancelled, harder to see the stage (and some side view sides have restricted view), not always easy access to travel and accommodation afterwards

Arena pros: usually a high number of dates so it easy to find one that works for you, tend to be nearer to more people and require minimal travel, comfortable seats, warm and comfortable with no weather impacting the event, the artist is a lot nearer to you, you can get a good view no matter where you are, usually easy access to travel and accommodation afterwards

Arena cons: if the artist is very popular tickets will sell out super fast meaning you will probably miss out, less money to be pulled in (usually) meaning so limited clout opportunities unless there's hundreds of dates, tour takes longer to complete wearing on the artist's health and so making the next album takes longer

The best arena concert I ever saw was Gaga at the MB and ArtRave because she was so close to us (Artrave especially with that snakey stage design that wove into the crowd) and you could see and hear her super clearly and the whole experience whether standing or sitting was physically comfortable. And the best stadium concert I ever saw is a difficult one as I've not seen many of them. I guess Gaga and Pink are a tie. When we sung along, it was such an amazing feeling, you feel like you're part of something so much bigger. 

Overall, as a fan, arenas are always king. It's just that the part of me that wants to see my fave secure that bag and break records makes me want them to plump for stadiums. Though maybe just one or two as a statement to say they've done it. 

[Monstermilo 4,716]

i care more about her health and accessibility for fans to get tickets 

1 stadium date is equivalent to her doing 4 arena shows...... 

she should not be doing back to back shows with 1-2 days in between, she needs rest more than other pop stars cuz of her chronic illness - ideally she should have 5 days in between shows MINIMUM 

she could do one or two stadium dates a week over the course of a year 

 

i also think that arenas create this horrible situation where theres only 40k tickets available in cities where theres millions of people..... of course nosebleeds are going to be 200-500 dollars when there is BARELY any supply of tickets. 

 

artists as big as lady gaga and ariana should be doing stadiums 

their fans deserve it, these two are worth hundreds of millions of dollars and are backed by huge labels.... if they cared about their fans having easy access to their shows, they would do stadiums. the extra shipping and building costs for the stages is a small price to pay so more of your fans can see you. 

ive been to arenas, stadiums and festivals and the sound is fine in ever setting..... in fact sometimes i felt like i enjoyed seeing artists in open field settings like coachella because there was so much space around me and i could still hear perfectly 

[Alberto95 14]

It seems like almost everyone here lives in New York or LA and had zero problem with buying a ticket for the Ball in these small ass arenas, lol

I am from Italy and it was literally impossible to grab any ticket for the 2 Milan shows. Not a single person that I know was able to buy them. 

So, in a perfect fairytale world were Lady Gaga is a young niche artist that few people know (Tate McRae for example) sure, arenas are way better and a more enjoyable  experience.

But the reality is that a 12.000 seats arena for 2 nights in a country were she is well beloved and doesn't tour since 2017 is simply a joke and 95% of the fans are left out with not a single ticket (I was 125.000 in queue for the presale).

[Monstermilo 4,716]

34 minutes ago, Alberto95 said:

It seems like almost everyone here lives in New York or LA and had zero problem with buying a ticket for the Ball in these small ass arenas, lol

I am from Italy and it was literally impossible to grab any ticket for the 2 Milan shows. Not a single person that I know was able to buy them. 

So, in a perfect fairytale world were Lady Gaga is a young niche artist that few people know (Tate McRae for example) sure, arenas are way better and a more enjoyable  experience.

But the reality is that a 12.000 seats arena for 2 nights in a country were she is well beloved and doesn't tour since 2017 is simply a joke and 95% of the fans are left out with not a single ticket (I was 125.000 in queue for the presale).

EXACTLY, every other city other than LA and NYC is screwed when theres 36k tickets available 

fine arenas have better acoustics but i care about ppl being able to get tickets  

[OMF 3,483]

Arena for me as I find Stadiums overwhelming and I rarely get great views. However a stadium full of fans is a different atmosphere and make for better concert recordings. I personally often just go to smaller venues although obviously not to see someone like Gaga in a Pop era

[Bronco 12,259]

People talk about the seating capacity dif between stadium tours and arena tours and accessiblity.

So let's put it into perspective. 

In the UK on her first ever pure stadium tour (TCB) she did 2 shows in London to an audience of 86,000. So everyone in the UK had only 2 dates to attend, and all had to be able to get to London.

On the Mayhem Ball tour, she's doing Manchester and London over 6 dates. So already, people in Northern England, North Wales and Scotland have 2 shows they can get tickets for that require less travelling.

Her 4 London shows have a likely capacity of 80,000 based on the 02 max cap - already 90% of the Chromatica Ball capacity in the UK. 

Add in the 2 Manchester dates which have a 20,500 max capacity per night and she's now got a total UK max capacity of 121,000 on the Mayhem Ball vs the TCB stadium tour capacity of 86,000. And 41,000 of the Mayhem ball tickets reduce the travel distance for northern UK fans. 

So which is more accessible - 2 shows with 86,000 tickets in 1 city? Or 6 shows, with 121,000 tickets, in 2 geographically spread cities?

 

[Alberto95 14]

1 minute ago, Bronco said:

People talk about the seating capacity dif between stadium tours and arena tours and accessiblity.

So let's put it into perspective. 

In the UK on her first ever pure stadium tour (TCB) she did 2 shows in London to an audience of 86,000. So everyone in the UK had only 2 dates to attend, and all had to be able to get to London.

On the Mayhem Ball tour, she's doing Manchester and London over 6 dates. So already, people in Northern England, North Wales and Scotland have 2 shows they can get tickets for that require less travelling.

Her 4 London shows have a likely capacity of 80,000 based on the 02 max cap - already 90% of the Chromatica Ball capacity in the UK. 

Add in the 2 Manchester dates which have a 20,500 max capacity per night and she's now got a total UK max capacity of 121,000 on the Mayhem Ball vs the TCB stadium tour capacity of 86,000. And 41,000 of the Mayhem ball tickets reduce the travel distance for northern UK fans. 

So which is more accessible - 2 shows with 86,000 tickets in 1 city? Or 6 shows, with 121,000 tickets, in 2 geographically spread cities?

 

In this VERY SPECIFIC case that basically only applies for the UK and few big cities in the US you are right.

But every other country is left with 1/2 dates in one city in the same tiny venue and many countries are completely left out (Poland, Portugal, LATAM...).

A stadium tour would allow way more people to enjoy the experience and also would allow her to visit way more countries with a 80+ dates tour.

[Monstermilo 4,716]

14 minutes ago, Bronco said:

People talk about the seating capacity dif between stadium tours and arena tours and accessiblity.

So let's put it into perspective. 

In the UK on her first ever pure stadium tour (TCB) she did 2 shows in London to an audience of 86,000. So everyone in the UK had only 2 dates to attend, and all had to be able to get to London.

On the Mayhem Ball tour, she's doing Manchester and London over 6 dates. So already, people in Northern England, North Wales and Scotland have 2 shows they can get tickets for that require less travelling.

Her 4 London shows have a likely capacity of 80,000 based on the 02 max cap - already 90% of the Chromatica Ball capacity in the UK. 

Add in the 2 Manchester dates which have a 20,500 max capacity per night and she's now got a total UK max capacity of 121,000 on the Mayhem Ball vs the TCB stadium tour capacity of 86,000. And 41,000 of the Mayhem ball tickets reduce the travel distance for northern UK fans. 

So which is more accessible - 2 shows with 86,000 tickets in 1 city? Or 6 shows, with 121,000 tickets, in 2 geographically spread cities?

 

she could book wembley for 3 dates with a total of 270,000 tickets.... less shows to do WAY MORE people 

if dua lipa can book wembley, gaga can surely book and sell out wembley 

i prefer her doing less shows, less strain on her body and also has 150k more tickets.... 

or she could even do tottenham hotspur 62k capacity - 3 days 180k total tickets 

more tickets with half the amount of shows .... less stress on her body

 

Edited Monday at 08:07 AM by Monstermilo

[Alfonso 1,551]

Arenas as long as the prices aren't insane/cover demand and they allow breaks in between to make sure she's healthy 

[Bronco 12,259]

1 hour ago, Alberto95 said:

In this VERY SPECIFIC case that basically only applies for the UK and few big cities in the US you are right.

But every other country is left with 1/2 dates in one city in the same tiny venue and many countries are completely left out (Poland, Portugal, LATAM...).

A stadium tour would allow way more people to enjoy the experience and also would allow her to visit way more countries with a 80+ dates tour.

I mean the reality is that she would not be doing an 80+ date stadium tour in the same window she's doing an arena tour. If we were to get a full stadium tour, then there's a real possibility on a logistics front that Europe wouldn't have had any shows until Summer 2026. And given we know for a fact no 2025 stadium tour was planned, there's a strong chance the US tour would have been significantly smaller and cover less ground based on what venues had essentially last minute availability. 

I do think it's a shame some countries and continents are missing out - but this is a common factor in Gaga's touring at this point and it's not related to stadium size. She just for some reason doesn't regularly and reliably tour in some regions, I can't give logic to it as the previous times she has visited many locations she hasnt gone back too she sold out. That being said - LATAM, eastern europe & Portugal always get the **** end of the straw with most western pop tours.

I disagree my example only applies for the UK - I was just using it's figures. If you run the math, it applies for almost every location she's visiting on this tour that she also visited on the Chromatica Ball tour. The only exceptions are Germany & the Netherlands. 

1 hour ago, Monstermilo said:

she could book wembley for 3 dates with a total of 270,000 tickets.... less shows to do WAY MORE people 

if dua lipa can book wembley, gaga can surely book and sell out wembley 

i prefer her doing less shows, less strain on her body and also has 150k more tickets.... 

or she could even do tottenham hotspur 62k capacity - 3 days 180k total tickets 

more tickets with half the amount of shows .... less stress on her body

 

You talk about accessability and yet you're solution is she only tours in 1 city in the UK vs 2. Ignoring the fact that it's the most expensive city in the UK and would require several hours of travel for many concert goers on a domestic travel system that is one of the most expensive in Europe. 

We all keep talking about her health and I'm going to come back to the basic principle of discussing disabled people's health. They make the shots. 
It's incredibly ableist and infantalist to insist you understand and know these people's health conditions and the physical health impacts it has on them better than they do. 
Gaga wants it this way, Gaga is happy with it this way, it clearly works for her physical health. 

As for stadium shows being better - you can't climate control a stadium tour. The UK for successive years now has seen London have severe heatwaves during the summer outdoor concert season. This is increasingly dangerous for fans - I have attended close to 40 concerts in the last 2.5 years and I have never seen so many people passing out from dehydration and sunstroke at gigs. It is way beyond what it used to be years back. 
Add in the effects of performing in such heat, having the added impact of stage lighting as well (which can be hot as ****) and it's ludicrous to suggest stadium shows are better for performers vs a climate controlled indoor arena. 

And again - it has never been suggested by Gaga, her management or anyone on this site that Gaga could not sell out stadiums in any of the markets she's doing an arena tour in. She literally did a stadium tour in most of those markets only 3 years ago and her brand demand is significantly higher now.