Are Stadium Shows A Thing Of The Past? Consumers Are Moving Toward Smaller, More Intimate Venues

(From For the Record of Wednesday, January 31, 1996): Al Green, pictured on Tuesday’s Comment page, is not a member of the band Hootie & The Blowfish.

Several years ago, English rocker Pete Townshend vowed loudly that stadium shows were “dead.” The recent breakup of the Grateful Dead - the only stadium act on the road nationally last summer - suggests a more serious threat, even a symbolic climax, to the stadium era. While the Rolling Stones, U2 and Pink Floyd remain popular enough to play stadiums, their tours are increasingly rare. And fewer acts appear willing - or able - to fill the gap.

Many top-name performers, such as R.E.M., Pearl Jam and now Bruce Springsteen, avoid 50,000-seat-plus stadiums for their lack of intimacy. This is the same complaint from many consumers who now opt for smaller, more personal venues - definitely the trend of the ‘90s - rather than face the traffic jams, anonymity and almost neurotic need by stadium acts to out-spend and out-duel each other to the point of diminishing returns.

The absurdly high touring costs of trucking million-dollar stadium stages - with special effects such as U2’s computerized “Zoo TV” station, the Stones’ multi-tiered ramps and Pink Floyd’s blinding mirror ball - have likewise required high ticket prices (up to $85 each) that anger consumers despite the momentary thrills.

Every dedicated rock fan can recall exciting stadium moments, but the era has clearly peaked as more fans flock to smaller outdoor amphitheaters, indoor arenas, theaters and clubs instead. The stadium show is becoming a dinosaur.

“People want to go out and be comfortable. That’s what they want today. And that’s hard to find in a stadium,” says Ted Kurland, who manages Pat Metheny and runs an Allston-based agency that books 45 acts. “Besides, when you keep raising the threshold of the stadium thrill, it’s harder and harder to get off.”

Yet should we shed a tear? Probably not.

“We may not be developing the next generation of stadium headliners, but maybe that’s not so bad because music was never meant for stadiums,” says Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the trade magazine Pollstar. “Artistically, I don’t think even the acts themselves feel that stadiums are an ideal situation. They have to worry about appearing larger than life with so many lights and visuals. It puts a lot of pressure on them.”

Apart from consumer demands for more intimacy is the fact that it’s getting harder to build acts into stadium attractions because of the splintering nature of the music business. Radio formats have become divided and reshaped to the point of laughability. To become a stadium act, a band generally needs across-the-board, multiple-format airplay - and that’s becoming elusive.

Radio stations are instead fractionalizing the airwaves into “modern rock,” “classic rock,” “album rock,” “college rock,” “urban,” “adult contemporary” or myriad new formats such as “adult album alternative” and “adult contemporary recurrent.” It all gets confusing and works against a band developing a large, national consensus.

Enhancing this trend is today’s revival of stripped-down punk bands, amid an atmosphere in which bloated superstars are once again being attacked, much as they were during the last punk invasion in the late ‘70s. One thing for sure: Punk bands prefer small venues to spending a fortune on a stadium stage set.

“It’s a tricky time today for emerging bands and for established acts as well. And it’s certainly a tricky time for promoters,” adds Dave Marsden, director of events for the Don Law Agency, the No. 1 concert agency in New England.

Still, it can be viewed as a positive time for consumers. More bands and more styles of music are being exposed; and more fans can see these acts in venues which don’t require binoculars.

Today’s more educated consumer demands a high-caliber viewing experience, which you can’t get while stuck in the upper reaches of a stadium. But you can get it in the sites that registered the greatest gains last year. And given present trends, there’s every reason to feel this will continue, as more artists start to appreciate the intimacy as well.