Pop superstar Adele can have it all—at least when it comes to a bespoke stadium assembled in Munich for an upcoming series of concerts.
Set to accommodate 80,000 fans, the arena boasts a $43 million, 721-by-98-foot LED screen as well as “Adeleworld,” which includes a re-created English pub. The temporary megastadium underscores the changing nature of high-stakes touring, and the expanding use of temporary venues for sports and cultural events. For big-name stars promoting ever-more elaborate and complicated stage shows—think Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, or Kanye West—there’s definitely an advantage to staging a series of shows at a fixed venue.
But does a temporary stadium make sense, given sustainability concerns in the music industry? Concert experts estimate that 50% to 80% of the carbon emissions from touring come from fan travel, which would be significant for residency-type shows, and a single-use stage stadium sounds like a misuse of resources. Still, representatives of Live Nation Germany claim a vast majority of the stage and seating will be reused, and that public transit for concertgoers will be included in their ticket, mitigating some travel emissions.
Marek Lieberberg, head of Live Nation Germany, has compared the stage to the Coliseum, and says that it was deliberately designed with Adele in mind. It’s part of an experiment for the concert promoter, and perhaps the industry; can these kinds of setups prove popular enough with audiences and artists to be repeated?
“We knew Adele wasn’t interested in going on tour, so we thought, What else might excite her?” said venue designer Florian Wieder, who has also worked on stage shows for Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, and U2. “We gave her a venue that reflects her as a talent in the best possible way.”
