Discussion for article #233122
It depends on the venue, and for the most part, smaller is better, acoustically designed for music is also better. When I was in college in Pittsburgh, PA, in the early 1980s, I went to quite a few concerts.
The ones in the old Three Rivers Stadium sucked, even if the audience energy was high. Why? Couldn’t see a damned thing and the sound echoed into unintelligibility. The Civic Arena wasn’t much better. However, I had the pleasure of seeing a bunch of performances at the Stanley Theater and those were almost always awesome. I particularly remember Peter Gabriel in '82, I think.
The point was the place wasn’t so big you couldn’t see the performer, even the cheap seats weren’t bad. Plus it had acoustics made for music and theater performances, which makes a HUGE difference.