Which Rolling Stone concert that you personally attended had the largest crowd? I was at the July 11, 1995 show at Wembley, but I'm not certain of the crowd size. The largest crowd I personally saw was the December 5, 1981 show at the New Orleans Superdome, 87,500.
To switch things around, I suspect the coolest thing would be to have attended a Stones concert with the fewest people. I wonder what some of their smallest venues have been and who's been there.
You wouldnt get 90,000 in the SDF as it only holds 80,000 for football
I think there were 90,000 at the Longchamps, Paris shows in 1995. Thats probably the biggest I was at.
The smallest show on the Licks tour would have been Palais Royale - a few hundred as it was the only actual club show. Of the theatres, I think Astoria was the smallest at around 1,700. Thats the smallest Stones show I've seen. Most of their shows in the 60's (plus the 71 tour) would have been in places no bigger than that.
The biggest documented paying crowds at Stones shows would be
1) SARStock, Toronto 2003 (430,000 or somewhere around that figure) 2) Knebworth 1976 (200,000)
The only others over 100,000 that I know of would be Leeds 1982, Prague 1990 and 1995 (and maybe the 2003 show as well), Rio de Janeiro 1995 (two shows)
Hyde Park and Altamont were free shows and the crowd figures are only estimated. Both would have been in excess of 250,000. Altamont was probably bigger and on a par with Sarstock.
Officially, I think it's generally considered to be Sars Stock. Bigger doesn't always necessarily mean best tho. Personally , I too, would prefer to see the Stones in a small venue.
davido Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yes, I see what you mean Gazza. > So how would you then estimate > that Altamont was close in size?
because the reported estimates for the show (presumably based on police figures, aerial pictures and other sources generally used in estimated tallies of large crowds) tend to range from 300,000 to 500,000 - most estimates I've read have tended to be upwards of 400,000
Similarly most estimated figures for Hyde Park have been around the 250-300,000 range, although I've read some higher figures...
Shawn20 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Which Rolling Stone concert that you personally > attended had the largest crowd? I was at the July > 11, 1995 show at Wembley, but I'm not certain of > the crowd size. The largest crowd I personally > saw was the December 5, 1981 show at the New > Orleans Superdome, 87,500.
Wembley Stadium held 72,000 people for concerts.
The stadium originally held 100,000 for football matches, but the capacity was reduced to 82,000 in the 1980's when it became an all-seated stadium.
The new stadium which opens next year will seat 90,000. So, I would imagine it would hold around 75-78,000 for concerts
I think the Strahov Stadium in Prague was the biggest sports stadium in the world (even bigger than the Maracana in Rio which is the biggest football stadium) - as it used to hold around 220,000 up to around 30 years ago. Its considerably less now, though, but still seems to hold more for concerts than any other.
I believe that the biggest other stadiums in Europe are currently the Nou Camp in Barcelona, Bernabeu in Madrid and San Siro in Milan. When Croke Park in Dublin (which is a Gaelic football stadium) finishes being redeveloped, it will be one of the four biggest stadiums in Europe.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-03-07 01:16 by Gazza.
I have seen them at Giant Stadium several times and I think we are talking about 75 thousand when sold out...Rich stadium in Buffalo also holds a large amout,say around 85 to 90 thousand...
Giants Stadium holds around 75000 for footbal but for concerts, as is the case for most stadiums, the entire endzone seating behind the stage is gone. Stones 4 shows there in 1994 drew around 220,000. I think for the average 60-70000 seat football stadium, you probably have to subtract around 15-20,000 from the football capacity in order to get a good estimate as to what the concert capacity would be.
I think that the smallest crowd in a stadium must have been Rome 1990: maybe 6,000 at the Flaminio (which is the second stadium of Rome, with a capacity of 25,000, but is always a stadium): almost a club show!
C
p.s. Wasn't the opening of the Uj/SW tour also a huge selling show?
I always thought the capacity enlarges when a concert is played in a stadium. Of course the seats behind the stage can't be sold, but think about all the people on the floor. When the floor is really packed it must be more than the capacity of the seats behind the stage. Or I am wrong?
I agree with you "ThatsWhatISay" - at least that's the case in the Happel Stadium in Vienna. The capacity is normally 48.000 for football games, etc., but there were close to 60.000 people at the last Stones concert.
It certainly would make a difference if they have assigned seats on the field or general admission as you still see in Europe. The last shows in America for general admission was the 81 tour. Everything since then has been reserved seating on the floor. The reserved seating certainly makes for a more gentile evening, but it does impact the crowd response. I've been down in the pit more than a few times and sometimes you couldn't breathe. Yes, it is more exciting, but also more dangerous. I always thought the best of both worlds was what I saw in London in 95. My wife and I arrived the second the doors were open and we ran to our seats in the stands. I was happy not to be on the field when the crowd surged to the front during Not Fade Away. I had a great time in comfort and the rowdy racuious fans down front had a great time...best of both worlds.
" Detroit's Silverdome, December 1, 1981 10,000 people on the floor."
And that was the SECOND of two nights totaling in excess of 180,000 people. To this day there is an argument if this stand, or the one from the New Orleans Superdome that tour, hold the all time world record for attendance at any indoor event(s).
The stadium capacity will vary from the football capacity as I mentioned earlier. Some stadiums don't have much seating on the endzones so in those cases, the floor seating will make up for the difference, but in alot of stadiums, in North America at least, you have a lower bowl, mid and upper bowl with seating the same all around, like a Giants Stadium. In those cases, you're losing alot of seats on the endzones. In my reply earlier I mentioned around 220,000 for the 4 Stones shows in Giants Stadium which was off by 20000, but it is still around 15000 less per show than the football capacity (75k vs. 60k).