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For Drake, Beyoncé And Others On Tour, Venue Choice A Weighty Decision

This article is more than 7 years old.

Planning a major concert tour is a challenge from both a business and operational standpoint. Over the course of several months - and on occasion, years - each stop in every city and country can present a host of new complications from ticketing to audio to crowd control. But before the planning can begin, artists, management, and promoters must make an important decision: what type of venue the shows will take place in.

For major summer tours with the option to perform outdoors, artists have the choice of scheduling at either arenas or stadiums. This can often become a complex analysis and estimation game of expected attendance and fan demand for tickets, and two of the summer’s biggest touring acts, Beyoncé and Drake, have come to different conclusions on venue choice. Drake and fellow rapper Future will be playing the country’s biggest arenas, such as Madison Square Garden (18,200 seating capacity) and the United Center (20,500), while Beyoncé will be performing at stadiums that, in some cases, can hold three times as many people, including Soldier Field (61,500) and Levi’s Stadium (68,500).

The factors in this decision, of course, go beyond ticket sales. In 2011, as he kicked off his Club Paradise Tour in support of the album Take Care, Drake said that he “fought” to perform in venues that he considered more intimate for his fans. He played mainly college arenas for the first leg of the tour, and in an interview with MTV News, the rapper said “I fought for this tour, I fought really hard for this tour because, of course, they want me to go get the big bucks, go into the stadiums and cash out...But I was just like, ‘I really made this album for the same people that supported me since day one.’” Two albums later, Drake’s stardom has risen to a different planet than it was on five years ago, but his arena over stadium choice again this summer can be seen as a similar decision.

The counterpoint to this argument comes in a simple examination of supply and demand. With three times as many seats available at each tour stop, more of Beyoncé’s fans might have the opportunity to catch a show - and possibly at a more reasonable price point. Logistically, too, the schedule might be easier to manage for everyone involved in show production. Beyoncé’s Formation Tour, for example, will play two Citi Field shows in New York in early June. When Drake and Future’s Summer Sixteen Tour comes to town in August, the duo will play what will surely be an exhausting four shows in five nights at MSG, and will still fall short of the combined seating capacity available at the Citi shows.

There is also an issue of optics and public perception at play. The smaller arena shows are typically in what is seen as more intense demand - many of Drake’s shows sold out in minutes and are now a pricey ticket on the secondary market - which supports the notion that these concerts are hot events. Some of Beyoncé’s stadium stops, on the other hand, did not sell out, and in many cases the media has made this out to be a sign of decreased interest. However, there is no guarantee that Drake would have sold out stadium shows, as he’s never tested that market - and while a less-than-full audience may not be great for appearances, some short-term media scrutiny may be worth the greater ticket inventory available for sale.

Venue choice is only one factor among a wide variety of decisions that need to be made for each major concert tour, and this summer’s biggest acts have settled on different directions: Drake, Adele, and Justin Bieber will play arenas, while Beyoncé, Coldplay, and Guns N’ Roses will play stadiums. Fans, media members, and artists all have their preferences, but comparing the bottom lines of each tour at the end of the summer will be the best way to measure success.