Best stadiums in which to see a concert?

[ladywithspinninghead]

Well, I'm one of those who are disappointed to learn this is most likely a stadium-only tour.
Since I'd only be interested in a few shows because of this, I want to make it worth my while. Apparently the acoustics in the stadium here in Toronto are awful so I'd be interested in knowing which stadiums in North America have a decent sound.

I'm willing to travel although unlikely to go to Europe or Australasia.

Thanks for your input!

 

[kramwest1]

I've seen U2 in 3 stadiums in the U.S.--Mpls. Metrodome, Vegas' Sam Boyd and Honolulu.
I think opinions vary widely on the quality of stadiums show (audio sound and seating distances), but that said, I have been fairly happy.
I wouldn't recommend the Metrodome, other than for people who like how U2 drop little personal touches for the hometown crowd.
I thought Sam Boyd was fine, despite sitting about as far back as possible.
Honolulu was awesome. The sound was good, and I was in the front row of the balcony, so I saw everything except some of the side screens.

Will they play any of these stadiums this time? I doubt it. MAYBE Sam Boyd.
But, the point is to see the band and experience the concert with fans and friends. Great audio is for nice home stereo set-ups.


Mark

 

[pudgie_child]

Well, I'm one of those who are disappointed to learn this is most likely a stadium-only tour.
Since I'd only be interested in a few shows because of this, I want to make it worth my while. Apparently the acoustics in the stadium here in Toronto are awful so I'd be interested in knowing which stadiums in North America have a decent sound.

I'm willing to travel although unlikely to go to Europe or Australasia.

Thanks for your input!

It's going to be hard to make recommendations until they announce which venues they'll be playing.

 

[tribu]

I attended Barcelona in VT, at Nou Camp. It was electrifying!!!! Just unbelivable!!!!!

You should give it a try.

 

[raft]

Judging from the video and my experiences in various stadiums in Argentina, I guess San Siro / Giuzeppe Meazza in Milan must be great. It's walled stands make great visibility. I wonder about the sound, though. A similar one is Boca Junior's (Bombonera) in Buenos Aires, but never been there for a concert.
How's Amsterdam Arena?

 

[ladywithspinninghead]

It's going to be hard to make recommendations until they announce which venues they'll be playing.

Good point - but there might be only a week between the announcement and the sale and that's not a very long time to plan out a trip. I can still get ideas in the meantime..

I disagree about sound being unimportant - if I have the choice between travelling to a city where the sound is great and one where it's awful, I'm going to take the former.
Honolulu would be awesome though

 

[alsome]

I attended Barcelona in VT, at Nou Camp. It was electrifying!!!! Just unbelivable!!!!!

You should give it a try.

I agree 100000%!!!

One of the best nights in my life!

It was edge's birthday... as in the elevation tour! Bono gave him barça's t-shirt (ronaldinho's) and we went crazy, of course!

Biggest stadium in europe... 80.000 people, but sooo loud and warm crowd!!!

Maybe this is the reason why they will begin the new tour in barcelona?

 

[pudgie_child]

In North America, generally speaking, the best venues will be old college football stadiums. Professional (NFL) football stadiums tend to have corporate suites in the middle of the seating bowl (with a few exceptions - see below), which push the upper tiers farther away from the field and require them to have steeper rakes. Baseball stadiums, while having smaller seating capacities, are generally too wide to be good concert venues.

The exceptions among NFL stadiums are the following venues, which would be decent places to see a stadium concert:

Ford Field
Soldier Field
Metrodome (only has one level of suites)
Lambeau Field (it is unlikely, however, that the band will play Green Bay, WI)

I'm hoping that, near me, the band plays Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, the new Stanford Stadium for its Bay Area dates and the L.A. Coliseum for its Southern California dates.

 

[KristenCaNaDiAn]

I'm really hoping they play a show at the Metrodome. That is the closest place to me(6 hour drive) and I just checked out the website and it looked like a pretty decent stadium

 

[eiret21]

seen u2 over 20 times now at this satge

without doubt the best crowd ive seen is in spain

number one on my list will be spain

 

[coolian2]

mt smart, auckland.

40,000 capacity once you include the field, which is essentially a postage stamp, so even the stands are close.

yeah, i know i'm making the wrong plug. too bad.

 

[phillyfan26]

I'm curious as to whether they'll play the Linc or CBP in Philly. Both stadiums have held concerts.

 

[digitize]

All we have in Austin is the University of Texas's 100,000-seater Royal Memorial Stadium... it's never had a concert before, the design of the stadium is such that acoustics would certainly be nonexistant, and the Austin-metro area's population of about a million people isn't enough to sell out the 110,000 tickets or whatever necessary, factoring in GA/floor seating.

Cowboys Stadium, here I come.

 

[namkcuR]

Baseball stadiums, while having smaller seating capacities, are generally too wide to be good concert venues.

Does that mean they won't do any baseball stadiums? U2Tours.com says they played Yankee Stadium on ZooTV.

The two locales I'd be interested in are Ohio and New York. I live in Dayton, OH. That's in the Southwestern portion of the state, which is a good 4 hour drive from Cleveland on a good weather day, so the Browns stadium would be a pain. Columbus, for the Ohio State stadium, is about 2.5-3 hours away. Then there's Cincinnati, which is the closest, only an hour away, which houses both the Bengals stadium and the Reds stadium. I just don't know how likely it is that they play those venues.

But Ohio isn't the first choice anyway. My older brother, who is also a U2 fan, lives in Manhattan. I flew there to spend a few days with him and see U2 at Madison Square Garden for both the Elevation and the Vertigo tours. We already casually and briefly talked around Thanksgiving about me going out there again when U2 plays NYC. The question is where...the obvious choice is Giants stadium. But if for any reason they can't get Giants stadium, would they play Yankee Stadium again?

I don't go to a lot of concerts, and I've never been to one in a stadium, so I'm not familiar with these things. Are Giants/Yankee/Mets stadiums good concert venues? And what other possible venues are there in NYC?

Another thing...MSG is right there in Manhattan. Giants Stadium is actually across the river in the Meadowlands in Jersey, Yankee Stadium is in the Bronx, and Citi Field is in Queens. It appears as though getting to any stadium is going to be a lot more of a pain in the ass than going to the Garden was.

 

[U2C]

How's Amsterdam Arena?[/QUOTE]

 

[jphelmet]

I don't go to a lot of concerts, and I've never been to one in a stadium, so I'm not familiar with these things. Are Giants/Yankee/Mets stadiums good concert venues? And what other possible venues are there in NYC?

Another thing...MSG is right there in Manhattan. Giants Stadium is actually across the river in the Meadowlands in Jersey, Yankee Stadium is in the Bronx, and Citi Field is in Queens. It appears as though getting to any stadium is going to be a lot more of a pain in the ass than going to the Garden was.

going over the meadowlands isn't that bad. there are shuttles from port authority. i did that last time around for the e rutherford shows from manhattan (the arena is across the street from the stadium). certainly a bigger pain than walking over to msg, but its not awful. they have tons of shuttles, and getting on one coming back doesn't take very long.

i saw zootv in giant stadium forever ago. i don't really remember the sound being really bad or anything. i was really far away, and the show didn't compare to the indoor leg of the tour.

 

[tjames921]

Does that mean they won't do any baseball stadiums? U2Tours.com says they played Yankee Stadium on ZooTV.

The two locales I'd be interested in are Ohio and New York. I live in Dayton, OH. That's in the Southwestern portion of the state, which is a good 4 hour drive from Cleveland on a good weather day, so the Browns stadium would be a pain. Columbus, for the Ohio State stadium, is about 2.5-3 hours away. Then there's Cincinnati, which is the closest, only an hour away, which houses both the Bengals stadium and the Reds stadium. I just don't know how likely it is that they play those venues.

I live in Columbus and I doubt U2 will play Ohio Stadium. They did on the Popmart tour, but the turn out wasn't very good. The only way I see them playing there is if it's the only Ohio date. It's too big a stadium for there to be multiple Ohio dates IMO.

Also, Columbus is only a little over an hour away from Dayton.

 

[pudgie_child]

Does that mean they won't do any baseball stadiums? U2Tours.com says they played Yankee Stadium on ZooTV.

No, it just means that it would be something to consider if you had a choice of two different shows near you. In my case, for example, if U2 were to announce shows at Dodger Stadium in L.A. and Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, I would probably try to get tickets to the Vegas show and pass on the local (Dodger Stadium) show. I would have a harder decision to make if they were to play the L.A. Coliseum instead.

 

[starsgoblue]

I live in Columbus and I doubt U2 will play Ohio Stadium. They did on the Popmart tour, but the turn out wasn't very good. The only way I see them playing there is if it's the only Ohio date. It's too big a stadium for there to be multiple Ohio dates IMO.

Also, Columbus is only a little over an hour away from Dayton.

*le sigh* It would have been too easy to only have to drive down the street to see them....

 

[U2lunatic]

What's the sound like in Croke Park?

 

[JCOSTER]

I've been at Giant Stadium and the sound just bounces off of everything. Been to Shea stadium too and I think the sound is much better there, or in that type of stadium.

 

[PeckU2]

It be insane if they could pull off Lincoln Financial Field and CitizensBank Park here in Philly. One night in each.

But Pierre Robert from WMMR said the other day, Fall 2009 at the Linc. I''ve been in both, not for shows, but for games. I'd rather it be in the ballpark, its smaller in there. And every seat in there is a great seat.

 

[HBK-79]

I live in New Jersey. If U2 are going all-stadiums this year, I'm seriously considering going to one of the following-

a) Giants Stadium
b) Citizens Bank Park
c) Gillette Stadium

Which venue would offer the best-quality sound and the best sightlines?

Plus- I'm 5 foot 6 inches (yes, I'm short for a guy). Would that prevent me from enjoying the GA experience?

What do you guys think? Any advice?

And how much would tickets cost for a stadium concert?

 

[pudgie_child]

I live in New Jersey. If U2 are going all-stadiums this year, I'm seriously considering going to one of the following-

a) Giants Stadium
b) Citizens Bank Park
c) Gillette Stadium

Which venue would offer the best-quality sound and the best sightlines?

Giants Stadium is the best option of the three.

 

[U2NativeSon]

I saw U2 @ RFK, 3 times 1987, 1992, 1997. The stadium would just rock like an old Redskins game. I Would like to see them play FedEx Field in Landover, MD. Easily can hold 100,000 people. Make a DVD too, why not ?

 

[pudgie_child]

I saw U2 @ RFK, 3 times 1987, 1992, 1997. The stadium would just rock like an old Redskins game. I Would like to see them play FedEx Field in Landover, MD. Easily can hold 100,000 people. Make a DVD too, why not ?

They're probably not going to do it, but Byrd Stadium in College Park would be the best Washington-area stadium for a concert.

 

[smileymbcastard]

Ill tell you a bad stadium its the Roger's Dome in Toronto. With the roof closed it sounds like a bloody tin can

 

[LDM007]

What do you think the chances of U2 at Fenway Park are?

 

[ladywithspinninghead]

Ill tell you a bad stadium its the Roger's Dome in Toronto. With the roof closed it sounds like a bloody tin can

That's what I hear - that's exactly why I started this thread, don't want to just see them in an inaudible stadium!

I love New York so maybe Giants Stadium then

Although somewhere on the West Coast would be cool too!

 

[gman]

The rules for stadium gigs are thus. If the stadium has say....4 seperate stands, the sound would bounce about a lot more than a stadium like Wembley where there is one continual, consistant roof. Better still, is a stadium without a roof