Empty Seats

[57pogues]

Attended Toronto 1&2 this week and was quite dismayed by the empty seats on night 2 and the relatively small GA crowds for both nights. Especially frustrating being stuck with 300 level seats the second show due to the pre-sale purchase policy (covered at length in many other threads). Anyway, my wife and I had amazing seats for show 1 and had to settle for the 300 level with our daughters the second night (purchasing 4 tickets in general sale was a nightmare). Before the show started on night two I couldn't help but notice the 300 level seating was filled well before 8pm but large sections of the lower bowls (gold and platnum seating for those familiar with the ACC seating) were empty. Even as the show kicked in there were seats that never filled. The GA's were noticeably thin for both shows. I've been going to shows since 1992 and the GA's appeared half full in comparison to other arena tours. U2 put on back to back stellar performances but I am left wondering days later if any other venues are experiencing the same??

[jeffwalsh]

I think GA has to be somewhat thinned out due to the amount of stage U2 has on the floor, compared to other bands, based on fire regulations and such. So with an arena-length stage, that reduces the number of seats they can sell at all, so that it isn't completely jam-packed. Whereas a band with an end stage and no runways or anything can get a lot more people in there.

 

People have been saying all along that you should head to this part of the floor around this point, and on and on, which leads me to think that is pretty standard.

Edited July 11, 2015 by jeffwalsh

[peterdiaz]

I was GA in Toronto and Montreal and I have to say that I was pretty happy that the floor was NOT packed in Toronto. Like jeffwalsh speculates, I also chalk this up to different fire code regulations and the staging.