Why Club Venues Beat Stadium Shows: The Death of Intimacy in Modern Live Music

I know that title sounds like a lot, and this is my own preference and experience. Partly because I'm old and tired and have a hard time huffing around a stadium. But I think there is more to this to explore.

Over the years, stadium shows have almost become the norm. And for some acts I get it, Taylor Swift's eras tour was all stadium shows and you couldn't sell an organ to get tickets. She did that tour for over two years and it was so hard to get into. She came to 2 places in Texas and I couldnt' get ticket for either one. Though in retrospect, I'm not sure how I would have held up in a 3 hour stadium show.

We saw Pink at the Alamodome and it was fun, but going up the stairs coming in people kept asking me if I was ok or if i needed to sit down. I know I was tired, but I must have really looked bad! Either way once we got to our seats up in the nosebleeds and caught our breath, the show was fine. The highlight was when she sang So What at the end and was rigged to a cable and came flying all the way up by our section and waved at everyone.

The downside is we caught Covid at that show and were sick for a week or so after. Not fun times I tell you. After that we didn't see any shows for awhile.

In 1994, yes I'm going back a lot I saw Metallica on their Summer Shit tour, that was all general admission in an open air field. That was a pretty wild show. I was in my 20s and we pushed our way to the front by the barricade and could see and experience everything. I had some cool pictures on a disposable camera, but no idea where they went since then.

I'm not going to list every single show, just going to do some comparisons.

Personal Connection is Lost in Big Venues

I know Taylor Swift is good at making everyone feel like she is talking directly to them, but she is also the exception to most things, so besides her. Over all at a Stadium or arena show, things feel more disconnected. We saw Taylor for her Speak Now tour many years ago in an arena. It was a fun show, but pretty mellow and she hadn't honed her live performances like she has by now. We left feeling kind of ho hum.

You see, after I saw Metallica live, and saw Danzig and Type O Negative back in the 90s on Halloween Night of all things, those both felt like spiritual exeperiences. It was amazing.

When We saw The Pretty Reckless in Austin a few months ago, it was in the Moody Theater which only holds 2700 people. It was a blast. We were in the balcony and could still see every movement and facial expression Taylor Momsen performed. It was literally like watching a goddess in action and it was beautiful and special.

Years ago we followed a few local bands pretty closely and would often see them play at clubs. After the show we could go talk to them and hang for a bit. I get it, these are not major national acts, but there is something special about walking up to a band or singer and telling them how much they kicked ass and seeing their face light up. I love that kind of personal connection in music. I think its more than just seeing a flashy stage show, but actually feeling something and making a connection.

Maybe I'm too old school and over thinking things. And despite what some troll on Threads had said, I'm not advocating for getting rid of big venue shows. I realize there are thousands of workers whose income relies on those shows.

We just saw Ghost 2 Big to Rig in the theater and Its amazing how much Ghost's stage show has grown since we saw them in 2018. Once again, we saw them in Bass Concert Hall in Austin, a venue of around 2500 people. In a place that size there is no bad seat. As elaborate as their new production was, I'm not sure I'd have enjoyed this massive arena with 20-30,000 people packed in.

I think even Tobias Forge feels its gotten too big as he's taking an extended hiatus. I could be wrong, but sometimes bigger isn't always better. I've never been in a band or performed at a show, so I could just be talking out of my ass here. But in listening to a lot of musicians, not everyone wants to aspire to levels of the Eras tour.

I just love house shows and small venues. I'm seeing an indie band, Gold Steps coming up (I know I've talked about some of this before). But its been in the media a lot lately. Also, it could be unrelated and I know the economy factors in, but there has been a LOT of tours cancelled this summer due to low ticket sales. That's a whole different issue. Ticketmaster/Livenation has exclusivity on ticketing with all the major venues. So prices have just gotten stupid.

Then you have the bot problem of buying up all the tickets in 2 seconds and flooding them onto the secondary market. For some shows I've seen nosebleeds going or 300-500.00 for larger shows. Who can afford that? I can't even think of anyone I want to see that badly if it doesn't include a meet and greet.

Something has to give, and I'm not sure what that is. I think ultimately not every act can headline a stadium or arena. I think bands that start small and stay small for awhile are onto the right thing. I get it, when some songs blow up and popularity gets massive, its hard to just do clubs and concert halls. So they have to meet demand. I just think there is room for balance.

Once again, I am far from an expert on all this, but in my old age here when we go to see live music, we are focusing on smaller acts in local clubs and concert halls and just skipping the stadiums. Both because of my cardio and because I just want to feel something. Its hard to do from a half mile away.

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