Club vs. Arenas: Show experiences

Onhell

Infinite Dreamer
It appears Facebook is down and to kill some time at work I started reading the Commentary again and read an old Rant: http://www.ironmaidencommentary.com/?url=rants/rant08&lang=eng&link=features, about the future of Metal.

In it, Bæleron relates his awesome experience at an Iced Earth show in a small San Francisco Club and how great the intimacy of the small venue was and how much he laments not having that opportunity with Iron Maiden.

While small venue vs. giant arena may have to do with the popularity of the band I argue it is mainly geographical. When I saw Metallica for the first time in '99 it was in Mexico City's Foro Sol, a HUGE venue, my friends and I were so high up the band looked like a bunch of ants. When I saw Iron Maiden in Phoenix (a city of 5 million people, 5th or so largest in the U.S), at the Dessert Pavilion, again I was so far back the band was kinda sorta discernible.

I currently live in Tucson, Arizona, a Town (I think of it more of a village), of about a million people, but it feels like there's only 45,000. We are the second largest urban center in the state. Think about that for a second... It is Phoenix, Tucson... and the rest... scary thought, at least to me. Because we do have that distinction bands visit, usually, both places. For example, I got to see Apocalyptica (in a small club setting) in Mesa, a Phoenix suburb, and the very next day at the Pima County Fair Grounds in Tucson when opening for Metallica, a crowd of 50,000 showed up from all over the Southwest and Mexico making it the largest concert since Elvis in the 70's.

Do to the fact that metal is not what it used to be even Dream Theater performed in a small venue for their ADTOE in Scottsdale (another PHX suburb). Yet many "big" international acts (Opeth, Epica, Gojira, etc) come to tucson and perform in "small" venues. I was 4 feet away from Mikel Akenfeld when Opeth performed at the Rialto Theater, I missed Epica, but they performed at the Rock...twice, a club no bigger than a 10x10 cell. I've seen Megadeth at the Rialto AND at our "big" venue at the Indian Casino's Ava Amphitheater which is a miniaturized version of the Dessert Pavilion in PHX. Even with lawn tickets the band is no more than 50/60 feet away. I saw Heaven and Hell perform there too as well as Alice Cooper.

In other words Small town USUALLY means small venues thus a more intimate setting. So "huge" acts like Opeth perform in small venues. Even the "big" venues we have like the amphitheater or the Tucson Convention Center pale in size to the PHX venues or those in larger cities like New York, Mexico City or Tokyo. At times the popularity of the genre has something to do with it. When I Saw, finally, Rhapsody of Fire in San Diego, I saw them in the BASEMENT of a well known restaurant/club a long with... 200 people at best.

So is the future of metal in terms of performances have anything to do with the size of the band? Possibly, Maiden is yet to tour Tucson, but does the city have the facilities as well....
 
It always strikes me as incredible that after the World Slavery Tour, and playing four nights at Long Beach, etc --Maiden played some pretty funny small venues in the UK on Somewhere on Tour. If you look at photographs (or better still, you were there) some of the venues (that looked like little theatres) had all seating, for example; unusual for a UK metal concert I'd have thought. Some had no barrier at the front, & you can see the people right at the front actually leaning on/over the front of the stage. (E.g. I'm thinking Oxford, Sheffield, Bradford, Hanley, etc.) In a picture I saw, a fan had their arm & hand flat on the stage about a foot away from Dave's pedal board. As I said, this strikes me as kind of funny, after the big places they'd played in America. I know it happened again (although not quite to those small venues) in the Blaze era; but still, it would have been pretty cool being there. I very much compare it to the experience I had seeing Steve with British Lion. Really incredible seeing Steve a few metres away on his bass.

Well, that's my tuppence worth! Aside from this, I was pretty lucky to see, what I thought, were some pretty big bands (e.g. like Metallica, Faith No More, Sepultura, Megadeth, etc) in The Barrowlands in Glasgow (UK) back in the nineties. It's about 2000 capacity, all standing --& really is a great, great venue. That venue (which is pretty small) really cemented for me what a crowd should look & behave like. I'm not sure if it's all the phone filming, or me getting older, or what --but crowds don't really seem to be what they used to be. It really was (literally) a riot back then (--in the goods old days.) Now, there's just too many people standing around not doing much. Atmosphere is pretty important --no wonder Maiden love playing in South America.
 
Metallica in a 2000 capacity venue? And Maiden as well? Wow.

I have seen quite a few bands in smaller venues, but never the huge names Cried just mentioned. A.o. I saw Bad Religion (that's not a small name though!), Halford, Gamma Ray, Helloween, Blind Guardian, Iced Earth, Candlemass, Bruce Dickinson, Skunkworks, Nightwish, Scar Symmetry, After Forever, Autumn, The Gathering, Blaze, Paul Di'Anno, Saxon, My Dying Bride, Gorefest, God Dethroned, Vader and Bolt Thrower.

I have even seen Epica with an audience of a dozen people or something. They were not known then. And later, while they sold out in Belgium and France, they still had to work hard in Germany where people would hardly show up in the first years.

Best memories I have from club shows is when there's contact with the acts involved, not only on stage but also when they get into the venue before or after the show.
 
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Indeed Forostar --I thought the Barrowlands was bigger, but I just looked it up & it's definitely about 2000 capacity. Saw Metallica in 1996; so around the release of Load. (I can't really remember who else, other than who I mentioned above, I saw; Korn, Slipnot, Pitchshifter maybe; some dance acts like The Chemical Brothers & Orbital, Groove Armada, etc.) Even then, it was a little surprising Metallica played it; but it had/has a reputation as a great venue atmosphere & acoustic wise. The earliest I'd have been able to see Maiden there was in '95 or '98 --neither of which I attended. Before ('93) & after (2000 onwards) they've always played the S.E.C.C. in Glasgow --which is an exhibition centre, capacity 10,000-12,500. It would have been amazing to have seen Maiden back then... but I was pretty upset Brucie left! :D
 
I hate the Barrowlands! I've been to three gigs there but not since 2007. I much prefer the Academy on Eglinton Street.
 
I hate the Barrowlands! I've been to three gigs there but not since 2007. I much prefer the Academy on Eglinton Street.
The Academy/O2 (or whatever it now is) is good too, although the upstairs is a bit odd. I think atmosphere & sound wise they're pretty comparable. What's with the Barras hate? Who did you see there? I mean, I accept I haven't been there in ages, but it doesn't strike me as the sort of place that would have changed much...

Is it one of those places that you hate because people are always telling you how "amazing" it is? :D
 
Well I guess there is that aspect to it as the Barras was a bit of a let down after hearing people talk about it so highly. I still hear people talk about how "amazing" it is and I'm like "WTF guys?" I think I had that issue with King Tuts as well.

I think the main thing I didn't like about the Barrowlands is that it's just not a concert venue. It's a bloody ballroom dancing venue for Christ's sake. It's too old and stuffy for my liking.
 
Yeh, but back in the day, the band played on... that stage. The Academy was far less of a music venue; it's an old cinema/theatre, is it not?
Too old & stuffy!? :eek:
 
I love small venues. Maiden's big stage shows are great but I feel a greater disconnect between the band and the audience in a bigger venue. I imagine that I wouldn't like one of those huge European festivals as much as most do.

I went to two concerts earlier this year: Opeth and Doro. Opeth was a relatively small club that was pretty much filled to the brim, it was perfect size. There was enough space and it had good sound, but it was also intimate. Doro was in a bar with less than 50 people, one of the coolest concert going experiences ever, though not an ideal place to hear music. Kinda sucks that she can't score a bigger venue, but she gave it her all anyway and the whole thing was just very very cool.

It's a bit conflicting for me. I want these bands to be successful and play huge venues to oodles of people, but at the same time, that club experience is something that can't be beat.
 
That sort of place is cosy. Club type venues I've been to have often had problems like small stages and quite a bit of restricted viewing, though.
 
The spectacle of a big show like Maiden England is an amazing thing to be a part of.
But it doesn't beat being three feet away from a talent like Michael Schenker when he reels off solo after amazing solo, which I did this year. I might feel differently if I hadn't seen as many big Maiden shows as I have.
But the music comes first.
I was so jealous of those who got to see Steve Harris up close last year, even if it was just British Lion.
I would kill to see Maiden in a 300-person club.
 
But the music comes first.
Agreed, and I think the music sounds better in clubs too. The outdoor venue that Iron Maiden always plays out here has pretty bad sound, everything is very muddy. The places where I saw Opeth and Iced Earth had great, crystal clear sound.
 
Years later, I remember the club shows. The arena and amphitheater shows tend to blur together.

Mosh hit it on the head. I love seeing that these bands can pack a huge venue, but I'd much rather see them in a medium-sized club where I can be five feet from the band.

I've seen Megadeth, Iced Earth, Satriani, Dream Theater, Symphony X, Anthrax, Armored Saint, Nightwish, Kamelot, Opeth, etc. etc. in small to medium sized venues and the experience is unforgettable. The Maiden, Dio, Metallica shows I've seen major arenas and outdoor venues just don't compare. They are still special and awesome and I loved every second of those shows, but they do not have the intimacy and thus the experience is drastically different.

@Onhell - you're in Tucson? I'm in Tucson! I was at that Opeth show! If we happen to go to the same show any time soon, I propose meeting up for a beer.
 
@Onhell - you're in Tucson? I'm in Tucson! I was at that Opeth show! If we happen to go to the same show any time soon, I propose meeting up for a beer.

Agreed! I was at the Watershed show, I missed the Heritage tour... family night out. As we get older priorities shift lol. In fact that is why I've missed Epica. I don't follow bands as much anymore and when they're in town I miss them.
 
Make it a Trooper beer! :D
(--if you can get hold of one...)

I wish! Tucson is officially out of Trooper until the next US shipment.

Agreed! I was at the Watershed show, I missed the Heritage tour... family night out. As we get older priorities shift lol. In fact that is why I've missed Epica. I don't follow bands as much anymore and when they're in town I miss them.

I don't make it out to very many shows, either. A lot of bands only go through Phoenix and those are even harder to get to. Next on my list is Clutch at the Rialto.
 
The club atmosphere is a big reason why I like to watch Raising Hell and Maiden England DVD's for example. Getting tired of watching Festival DVDs...
 
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