Emirates as a concert venue

[Mr Blobby]

Just been to both Bruce Springsteen gigs at the Emirates. Nice stadium but I would never go back for a concert. No pre-music allowed and a 75 decibel sound restriction so as to not upset the local residents and also a 22.45 curfew!

2 fantastic gigs but let down by the low sound permitted.

Set list for any fans of the boss

May 30, 2008
London, England
Emirates Stadium

Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Radio Nowhere
The Ties That Bind
Lonesome Day
The Promised Land
Magic
Atlantic City
Reason To Believe
Candy's Room
Prove It All Night
Because The Night
Working On The Highway
Cadillac Ranch
Livin' In The Future
Mary's Place
Waitin' On A Sunny Day
Point Blank
Devil's Arcade
The Rising
Last To Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands

Thunder Road
Born To Run
Glory Days
Rosalita
Dancing In The Dark
American Land

May 31, 2008
London, England
Emirates Stadium

Out In The Street
No Surrender
Darkness On The Edge Of Town
Gypsy Biker
Radio Nowhere
4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
Growin' Up
Downbound Train
I'm On Fire
Because The Night
She's The One
Livin' In The Future
Mary's Place
The Promised Land
Backstreets
The Rising
Last To Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands

Jungleland
Born To Run
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
American Land

So 28 songs on Friday and 23 on the Saturday. 39 different songs over the 2 nights. Just 12 songs played both nights. It was brilliant stuff. On the friday the run of Badlands, Thunder Road and Born to Run was superb!

Danny Federici, the original keyboard player of the E-street band, died in April, no mention of him on the Friday but on the Saturday 2 songs played in his memory accompanied by a couple of stories about him from Bruce. A fitting tribute! Bruce was very emotional during Sandy but when you have been mates with somebody for over 40 years it must be difficult infront of 60,000 people.

Roll on Cardiff on the 14th June!

 

[London Calling]

INTERSTINGLY,

We can hear the crowd after an Arsenal goal is scored at Emirates but heard nothing on Sat?

 

[Nibble]

Missed out on tickets to The Emirates Springsteen gig but my friend went and liked it so much she got tickets to the Cardiff show when she got back.

Driven past the Emirates but never been in.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

Just been to both Bruce Springsteen gigs at the Emirates. Nice stadium but I would never go back for a concert. No pre-music allowed and a 75 decibel sound restriction so as to not upset the local residents and also a 22.45 curfew!

Similar conditions will apply at Falmer - 75 decibel limit and any music concerts to finish by 23.00.

 

[bigc]

Similar conditions will apply at Falmer - 75 decibel limit and any music concerts to finish by 23.00.

That will be a blessing, cos it will probably just be SouthernFM trash that play it.

 

[BRIGHT ON Q]

My Brother in law went and he said the same thing.He has seen the Springsteen loads of times and he reckons this was the worst sound.

 

[Kenneth Wattle]

According to a mate in the sound industry that was working at the gig, Arsenal did everything possible to comply with Islington Council to make sure they didn't get into any trouble. Apparently the success of this (the first concert at emirates) will determine whether licenses will be granted in future. Chances are the next concert there will have the sound notched up to 11!

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Why does there need to be a restriction though? Surely the locals can put up with a few gigs during the summer? I appreciate the rights of gig goers have to be balanced with the rights of residents but a better balance would be a specified number of gigs with specific start and end. The locals seem to have a monopoly on peace.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

Why does there need to be a restriction though? Surely the locals can put up with a few gigs during the summer? I appreciate the rights of gig goers have to be balanced with the rights of residents but a better balance would be a specified number of gigs with specific start and end. The locals seem to have a monopoly on peace.

I'm surmising here but it may be a condition of the original planning consent for the building of the Emirates stadium - as it is for Falmer (Annex 1; para 9 & 23). It may even be a standard planning condition that's now applied to all stadia built close to residential property.
Arsenal could try to vary these conditions but I'd expect them to be in for a battle with the local residents. After all, their houses, flats etc were there first so can you really blame them?

 

[fleet]

Very much enjoyed Friday night at Emirates - but sound quality was poor with a major echo from the stadium

 

[Scotty Mac]

The locals seem to have a monopoly on peace.

its not hard to see why when you take into account that they built the new ground in the middle of a housing estate

 

[Kenneth Wattle]

At the end of the day the Emirates is designed for football, not music. If you want to go to a venue for good sound quality then the Albert Hall is the best bet, but big rock acts will tend to play stadia to cram as many people in at once to save them doing a week's run of gigs.

 

[Mr Blobby]

At the end of the day the Emirates is designed for football, not music. If you want to go to a venue for good sound quality then the Albert Hall is the best bet, but big rock acts will tend to play stadia to cram as many people in at once to save them doing a week's run of gigs.

I agree totally. Saw Springsteen at the O2 back in December on the first leg of the tour and the sound was fantastic. We also saw him in The Albert Hall in May 2005 on the Devils and Dust tour and that night was fantastic, just Bruce on his own but his vocals were the best I have ever heard at any gig I have been to! Shame it only holds 4,500 when they make it all seated! The demand for that gig was unreal, we got tickets off a contact for £150 each, on the night the few tickets that were going about were being flogged were about £500.

I think most big venues can get it right, I have been to Twickenham several times and they seam to get it spot on. I saw U2 at Cardiff on the last tour and they put the roof on and the sound was excellent. hoping for the same on the 14th.

I understand that Springsteen (or more likely the promoters) have been fined £80k for breaking what was a 22.30 curfew. He played from about 19.55 to 22.40 the first night - the second night was 20.00 to bang on the 22.30 curfew.

Sadly due to the demand people like Springsteen do do the stadiums. Its usually indoor arenas for the first leg and then stadiums for the return, hence 1 night at the O2 to start with followed by One night at Old Trafford, 2 at the Emirates and 1 at Cardiff. So with the stadium gigs that means 240,000 tickets sold, that equals 14 nights even at the O2! (holds about 18,000)

The Emirates just didnt work for me. We were in the seats at the back opposite the stage on the Friday and the sound was quiet and muffled, but to be fair to the Stewards they let lots of people move round to some empty seats (apparently resricted view because of a speaker tower but people preferred that to bad sound ). Saturday we were on the lower tier of the seats pretty much next to the stage, yes the sounds was much much louder but the echo from the back of the stadium was noticable. So overall I would say its not good for outdoor gigs! The othe good bit of business was Sprinsteen held back a limited number of tickets which were put on sale at 5pm to try and prevent the ticket touts cashing in. I have noticed that the Brighton centre have started doing that for some gigs.

 

[e77]

Didn't Queen want to do Highbury in 82 but it was cancelled after complaints from residents?

Unfortunately Islington is a very up market residential area.

 

[clapham_gull]

Didn't Queen want to do Highbury in 82 but it was cancelled after complaints from residents?

Unfortunately Islington is a very up market residential area.

.. or is it just a "residential area". They'll also be many council owned houses in the area as well.

Totally fair enough as fair as I'm concerned.

 

[trueblue]

I was in the general standing, about halfway back and thought the sound was okay, if a bit quiet at times. No problems with echo when you're out in the middle of the pitch.

 

[NMH]

Danny Federici, the original keyboard player of the E-street band, died in April, no mention of him on the Friday but on the Saturday 2 songs played in his memory accompanied by a couple of stories about him from Bruce. A fitting tribute! Bruce was very emotional during Sandy but when you have been mates with somebody for over 40 years it must be difficult infront of 60,000 people.

oh shit, Danny Federici is a mate of mine's Dad

I haven't heard from him in a while, and didn't know.

 

[e77]

.. or is it just a "residential area". They'll also be many council owned houses in the area as well.

Totally fair enough as fair as I'm concerned.

Might have been in 1982 but I don't think many people living round the stadium now are exactly short of a penny.

My point is that up market areas tend to have more notice taken of them than working class ones. If Falmer had been in Mouslecomb we would probably have been there for five years!

 

[Sir Norman Gull]

I was a Springsteen widower this weekend as wifey went to both concerts. She managed to get in to the Pit for both concerts and had no problems with the sound - she preferred Friday to Saturday as she thought Bruce seemed a lot happier on Friday (no wonder as he got shafted £80K for running late!!).She enjoyed the variety that he played over the two nights. We stayed the weekend in Euston quite close to the Emirates and I had all weekend to entertain the mini SNG's while wifey was gallavanting with Brucey. We did the London touristy bit including the Chelsea Stadium tour which the kids enjoyed. I had great pleasure in pointing out to them the league tables displayed in the museum from 1979 to 1983 showing Chelsea languishing in the second division while we were flying high in Div 1!!

So now on to Cardiff on the 14th- while Mrs SNG is at her concert - myself and the mini SNG's will see the sights we missed in May 2004! and even throw in the Dr Who tour.

 

[Fungus]

I was in the general standing, about halfway back and thought the sound was okay, if a bit quiet at times. No problems with echo when you're out in the middle of the pitch.

You're probably right. I was up at "Club Level", diagonally to the left of the stage, and the sound was distorted and unbalanced.

Also, the stage lighting seemed more designed for the cameras than the crowd. The big screens were much brighter than the band lights.

Oh, and the pit was huge, pushing everyone else back down the pitch.

Definitely not a concert venue, though probably great for footie.