Good point. It’s awful though. As a professional musician, I pride myself on my sound. Best sound at any gig I’ve been to up here was the Sage or whatever it’s now called. City hall second, SoL best outdoor (Boro pretty good too from memory), Roker was mint but I was very young when I saw Bowie there so I might think differently now!! Sometimes a venue isn’t built for music. Which is fair enough. But the philharmonic would sound **** at SJP!
I don’t understand how it’s so overcrowded. I used to go to sell outs at the sol, 47k+ week in week out, it was never as crowded. The bars were never as queued up either.
I can remember years ago when the cubicles at the men's toilets in almost every pub were hardly used unless it was somebody having a piss because the urinals were full, Now if you really need a **** you have to queue behind Millenials waiting to stuff a load of Columbian marching dust up their hooters. have even seen them in the stadium doing exactly that and some don't even try and hide it, guess it is almost a normal part of our society now.
The SOL has unusual geometry, which dictates that the concourse areas are much smaller than in other grounds of similar size. In the south and east stands especially, thay are about a third of the size they would have been with traditional design. Roughly a third is lost as the first fifteen rows or so are beneath ground level. Roughly another third is lost as the perimeter turnstile wall is tucked in towards the pitch with seats outside that line and above it. That wall being moved back is the only answer. I can't see that being a cheap job, but I suppose it's all about numbers and intentions. It's fine as it is for me, but I do see that some people like to spend time (and money) at the ground before the game. Even possibly after it I suppose .
Having witnessed massive concourses at Coventry (away end) and Bradford/Doncaster (home end) in recent years it's alarming how short sighted the club were in building the SOL in the current design. Suppose one option could be to remove a lot of the toilet blocks and have portaloos situated outside with metal fencing around the exits etc but that would probably look horrendous. Hopefully any expansion of South/East stands will take this into account and rather than build over the pavement/road like they did in the North stand extension then use that space to bring the turnstiles forward and create a larger concourse
The club must own the car park as the council last year tried to make car park pay and display outside of match days but club refused.
Seen somewhere Twitter i think, a fly through of the new stand at villa, there was a row of self service beer dispensers. Could you not get rid of some of the actual bars and replace with these. We are already a cashless stadium anyway.
All down to cost at the time. It was built at an amazingly door price. Moving the turnstile wall back to the roof perimeter line would gain at a guess about five or six metres. That doesn't sound much, but it would have made a big difference. It won't be a structural wall either, so it does look like an error at the time to me.
Think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. The council certainly consulted with the club on the car parking charges but then again they also consulted with other interested parties. Perhaps the club has a lease on the car park, I don't know. As said previously I was working from ownership documents / details included within the Riverside redevelopment. I've had a quick look but can't trace them at the moment.
Isn't the wall made up of bricks dedicated to loved ones and could cause upset if moved? Or would be very costly to do!
Assuming they could move/recreate the walls then it should be fine. They aren't full bricks anyway, so not structural in this case. Surely they could be chipped off and replaced when a new wall built I've got my name on there somewhere and couldn't give a **** if it's removed
Yep. The bricks, ( including mine!) would be to consider. Can't see anything like that ever being done in all honesty, but I don't have the economics knowledge to know if it could work or not.
Either that or cut the wall so the panel forms the back of the kiosk and is supported. The area then created between the panel / back of kiosk and new outside wall would be purely for people who wished to stand and chat whilst the old concourse would be for those queuing for food or going to the toilet. Plenty of options.
Sage is astounding mind. Built for good acoustics. Even the heating comes from under your seat to keep the noise down. All sorts in there to maximise the sound for different types. I saw Paco Pena there once , maybe 06 or so. Staggering. Just him and his Spanish guitar, no amps. You could hear everything.
I set up at a wedding fair a few years ago. I was 8 feet from the glass wall but the sound was crystal clear and absolutely phenomenal. The entire building is perfect. Seen a few there as well. Absolutely superb
buy the sheepfolds area(eye sore), multi storey car park built there, a 'gig' place near the stadium pre match, south stand extension first then east stand 63,000 to show them up ! escalators in as well.
Was at a pub in Whitby a few weeks ago that had self serve. They had a bouncer watching it all times in case people took the piss. Suggest it might end up being carnage in a football stadium
