Time for American stadium gigs

[Alexander DeLarge]

Filling up the Staples Center three times in a row, Madison Square Garden twice along with Toronto and almost the second night too, getting pretty damn close in Vegas, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston and Seattle. Headlining multiple American festivals multiple times. I think it's time for the US to get the stadium treatment along with the 25-song set lists, massive productions and the amazing atmosphere.

 

I know it's too late to do anything like this for the current tour but maybe something in 2014 or Album #7? I realize Muse is not at the same level, commercially speaking, as bands like U2 or Coldplay over here, but they certainly deserve to be and I recognize that some of these gigs probably wouldn't sell out. Hell, they may not even be profitable given the costs of transporting the equipment and distance between gigs. Business-wise, I'm sure the band makes one hell of a lot more out of arena shows/smaller productions than they would doing a bunch of stadiums that may or may not sell out BUT this would turn Muse into a stadium band here in the states.

 

While it's over here, bring it up to Canada, down to Mexico/Southern America. Since it'd eventually end up in Los Angeles, might as well ship it over to Australia/New Zealand.

 

According to Wikipedia, the Ricoh Stadium seats 32,600 people. A good portion of the "arena" was blocked off today, account for the amount of people in the pit and I'd estimate around 25,000 people? Not much more than the capacity of MSG/Staples Center which sold out multiple dates in a row. I know that this is a smaller venue on the stadium tour but I mean if they can fit this massive stage in a soccer arena, why not bring it over here? Why not bring that experience over and blow both hardcore fans and casual listeners away?

 

When people talk to me about Muse over here in America, they always say "they're pretty big right? They played Saturday Night Live and an arena here a couple years back". Don't think that mistake would be made if they were headlining coliseums and larger arenas and that's a reputation worth having.

 

Anyways, I don't know if it's economically feasible or not and I'm sure their management responsible for scheduling tour dates know a hell of a lot more about it than I would but I'd definitely like to get a conversation started about this.

[JessicaSarahS]

I think they could only get away with it in NY or LA.

[kueller]

I can't help but think,

 

1. Only a few shows would be possible as they're not nearly as popular nationwide to warrant a full stadium tour. This could probably leave some fans feeling left out.

 

2. They might be ready for a few bigger gigs in number of possible ticket buyers, but the costs to get everything overseas would be much larger than over land and would need a pretty strong reassurance that they could sell out. I don't know what the effects will be of the current stadium tour not selling as much as was probably expected.

 

3. Atmosphere and whatnot has to do with the audience more than the band. The two performances of Dead Star were stunning but felt much weaker than SBE for the shit crowd. Having 20,000 cardboard cutouts vs. 80,000 doesn't change much. And there's no telling what setlist changes might happen either (inb4 larger stage production but no Dead Star, Bliss, or Sunburn).

 

I still say one or two off gigs is possible and would be cool though.

[lordofbaraddur]

NY and LA would be a sure hit if they were to bring the stadium production here. There's also Ricoh sized stadiums in Chicago and Dallas they could use as well. I think there would probably need to be some big, well coordinated push from the fanbase here to get their attention, if it's not already being considered by the band for maybe next summer.

[Frakkles]

If Muse do Stadium tours in America, it will need to be in big markets like New York and California. I'm convinced they could sell out (or at least come close to selling out) 4 stadium shows if they spread them across the four corners of America (California, New York, Florida, Washington). Those are all strong markets for the band and are also holiday destinations so if people want to travel to see the shows, they have more than just the band to see.

 

I could be wrong and the chances of them actually doing this (especially for a handful of shows) makes this all very unlikely.

[mskatie]

As much as I'd love for this to happen, I don't think there's enough of a demand for it here to make such an endeavor financially viable. They'd have to play the Superbowl or something first and become a household name.

[sidious911]

It could be doable soon in some places, but some things to keep in mind. Transporting such a massive stage to the US, is incredibly expensive, and it wouldn't be worth doing so, if they can only confidently sell out 3-4 stadiums.

 

Then you have to remember, Musers are crazy. Toronto x2, MSG x2, Bell Centre x2... How many of those who attended probably saw both nights? Probably a fair bit! ACC is roughly 20,000 people.. The Rogers Centre (Stadium) next door is roughly 54,000 people. Now you need 54,000 individuals, not 20,000 x2 where a good percentage are the same person seeing both nights.

 

Also, I don't know about the US, but our big stadium for Music is Rogers Centre, which is a Baseball stadium, not a Soccer stadium, different shape and such. Possibly requires a different stage design for the field shape/stadium seating shape?

 

I'm sure it is something that'll happen, but I think they need another big US album release, to build a bigger popularity, where they can sell out stadiums in more places confidently.

 

It would also be a weird tour system... Would they still tour NA arenas, then come back and play Stadiums in select cities? Would they Travel two stages as once, playing Stadiums where they can, arenas where they can't? That would feel disappointing for fans in the smaller areas that don't get a stadium gig.

[Museman8989]

Given all your facts, it makes a stadium tour in the summer for America very plausible. I think the demand in the big markets would definitely be big enough for places like LA, NY and maybe Vegas or another area or two. Plus when you look at the way they play their stadium tour now they play 4 shows in the UK, 3 in Italy and France and most other countries only get 1 or 2 gigs.

 

If they were to tour for stadium gigs here i imagine something like playing 4-5 shows in the US, one in Mexico and 2-3 in Canada. I think that would absolutely be profitable (unless like you said the transportation is really expensive).

 

I think the fanbase here has been growing and with another album release that has a song with "Madness" like popularity, could really get it going. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

Regardless, I'm planning on going to Europe on the next tour to see them there to get in on this madness

[iwillbechasingastarlight]

My idea was doing co-headlining stadium shows in the US with another arena-sized band such as Coldplay for a tour.

[Luigi.]

I don't think I would bother to go to a stadium show. It's become too theatrical for my liking.

[kueller]

The setlists and longer shows would make it worth it for me though. Otherwise I would also prefer arenas.

[JessicaSarahS]

Yeah, I'd prefer arenas or smaller as well. I appreciate the spectacle and I think the stadium setup they have now looks fantastic, but stadium gigs just aren't my thing.

[dylb88]

If Muse can do 2 shows in Toronto, then surely they can fill out BMO field here. It's a smaller football stadium that the MLS team plays in. Seats about 22k, wikipedia says it can fit 28k for concerts, and would be perfect.

[Alexander DeLarge]

It could be doable soon in some places, but some things to keep in mind. Transporting such a massive stage to the US, is incredibly expensive, and it wouldn't be worth doing so, if they can only confidently sell out 3-4 stadiums.

 

Then you have to remember, Musers are crazy. Toronto x2, MSG x2, Bell Centre x2... How many of those who attended probably saw both nights? Probably a fair bit! ACC is roughly 20,000 people.. The Rogers Centre (Stadium) next door is roughly 54,000 people. Now you need 54,000 individuals, not 20,000 x2 where a good percentage are the same person seeing both nights.

 

Also, I don't know about the US, but our big stadium for Music is Rogers Centre, which is a Baseball stadium, not a Soccer stadium, different shape and such. Possibly requires a different stage design for the field shape/stadium seating shape?

 

I'm sure it is something that'll happen, but I think they need another big US album release, to build a bigger popularity, where they can sell out stadiums in more places confidently.

 

It would also be a weird tour system... Would they still tour NA arenas, then come back and play Stadiums in select cities? Would they Travel two stages as once, playing Stadiums where they can, arenas where they can't? That would feel disappointing for fans in the smaller areas that don't get a stadium gig.

 

Thing is though, the Ricoh is hardly any bigger than the arenas they're playing in the United States (and like they did with the Ricoh, they can artificially make it seem full by bringing the stage closer) and material-wise I don't think the stage is honestly that much bigger. The biggest things are the robot, the walkway/b-stage, the screen and the pyro.

[FabriPav]

I don't think the stage is honestly that much bigger-

The biggest things are the robot, the walkway/b-stage, the screen and the pyro.

[Alexander DeLarge]

 

Well I mean material-wise they're using a lot of the same elements. They don't have the walkway behind the stage, they're still using the roulette panels. They don't have the pyramid. They're reusing old assets from previous tours but essentially it's a huge screen, a bunch of metal for a base, a cage/net/whatever is above Dom, the pyro-shooting things, some see through glass, a robot, a gasoline pump (lolwat) and a big big walk way.

 

They could easily get rid of some of the more "theatrical" elements but I would imagine building two stage designs would be more expensive than touring one around.

[kueller]

The building costs wouldn't be much of an issue as much as the shipping costs.

[serpentsatellite]

Like everyone has said, there just wouldn't be enough areas where this would have been possible. NY and LA maybe.

 

Despite the runaway popularity of Madness, most of the arena gigs didn't sell out, some of them sold quite a bit less than '10, and some cities that did poorly in '10 were eliminated altogether.

 

I can't see them paying the costs for just a few large shows, although it would be awesome to see one once.

And if they did a co-headline, it might be at the cost of stage setup and set length.

 

I would like to see a stadium gig, but overall I'd rather see them either be able to maintain the arena size they are doing now without substantially cutting back on the cities they stop in, or do a theater/smaller venue tour that hits more cities.