Concert Production Throughout Artists and Venues

Madison Square Garden has been a staple in my life before I’d even been to my first show. When I was younger, I’d managed to get my hands on the Justin Bieber: Never Say Never DVD, and I’ll never forget my first time seeing the inside of MSG. I thought it was a beautiful area, and even though at that age I didn’t understand the concept of concerts and how performing worked, growing up in Brooklyn helped me understand that MSG was a magical place.

My first ever concert was at Madison Square Garden, and I’ll always remember the feeling of walking into the arena. I’ve now seen over five shows at MSG, and the feeling never changes. A big thing that I noticed as I got older was the differences in production throughout the artists I’d seen, from their stage layout to even the number of screens they use. No artist is identical. There was one point where I had two shows at MSG two days apart, Hozier and then Boygenies. I was sitting in similar sections, and the difference in how both artists used the area was fascinating to observe back to back. Hozier had two screens, one on the right side and one on the left. I was sitting in Section 102, which gave me a perfect view of not only the stage but also the screens. Additionally, there was a screen positioned behind the band, which displayed different visuals depending on the song being played. He didn’t have a ‘B-stage’ for his show, and GA consisted of standing room and no seats.

For Boygenies, though, while they also had screens on the left and right, their screen in the middle was used as a third as a way to show each of the members' faces since their a group of three. Their GA was also standing room, but they had a ‘B-stage’ for their show and openers. I was in Section 101, and by the time they had moved from the main stage to the second one, they were directly in front of me. Having a ‘B-stage’ is something that I realized not all artists do. I saw Billie Eilish at MSG the following year, and even though her stage was in the shape of a rectangle in the middle of the floor, she also had a smaller stage on the right side that she performed a couple of songs on. Harry Styles is another artist I got to see perform at Madison Square Garden and while his stage layout was similar to Billie’s in the sense that it was in the middle and not on the far end of the arena he didn’t have a B-stage and instead would perform on different sides of his stage for different parts of his set and then he would also perform in the middle.

Another artist that I saw at MSG was Renee Rapp, and her stage layout gave the illusion that it was shaped as a star. I remember avoiding TikTok when going into her show because I wanted to be 

surprised, and it was definitely worth it. She had the classic main stage, but instead of a regular catwalk like other artists, to her was the point of a star because a set piece for her was a platform of stars. Renee didn't have a B-stage, and the show was still amazing. Another example of a catwalk at a show I went to was Shawn Mendes, my most recent concert, and while I talked about my experience going to this show in my previous blog post, I didn't get into what the stage looked like. Another artist that I remember having an interesting setup was Tyler the Creator during the Call Me If You Get Lost tour, who had a boat that parted through General Admission and led to his B-stage, he performed a couple of songs directly in the middle of the audience on the floor.

Shawn and Renee were on an end-stage with a catwalk (or star walk in Renee's case), Tyler was the usual end-stage, and Billie and Harry were center stage. With all of these shows, the artists did a great job at interacting with all sides of the crowd that were not only on the floor but also up in the stands. Shawn, at one point during the show went into the audience himself and performed a song since Forest Hills is a stadium with not enough room on the floor for a B stage like Billie, I remember when I realized where he was during the show, being in shock because I’d never seen an artists on the stands directly surrounded by their fans like that. 

Not every concert you go to is going to be the same, and that’s what makes them so magical. Walking into a venue that you’re familiar with and being able to see the transformation of what each artist wants for themselves and their fans is an experience that I will always appreciate. I never know what to expect when I go to a show, and I'm excited for my upcoming ones to see what ideas the artists come up with. If you want to see videos from any of these shows, check out my TikTok!