Pitch perfect: Stadium report 2022
Stadium operators discuss recovering from the pandemic, dealing with a congested calendar, and their plans for a bright future
Feature By | 1 November 2022
Keen to make up for two years of inactivity and to meet public – and artist – demand for huge concerts, the 2022 stadium show schedule was packed like never before. Derek Robertson talks to stadium operators about recovering from the pandemic, dealing with a congested calendar, and their plans for a bright future.
It was a statement that had become inevitable but was still dreaded – 13 words that nobody in the live music industry wanted to hear. “We collectively recommend large-scale events through the end of March be postponed.” The date was 12 March 2020; those words came from a joint statement issued by Live Nation, AEG, CAA, WME, Paradigm, and UTA. That same night, the last four arena shows in the US – Billie Eilish,…