UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- No event is ever going to be perfect and, for Beaver Stadium's first time hosting a concert, the 107,000-seat venue was transformed into a lively party headlined by country artist Blake Shelton.
"I don't get to play in Beaver Stadium every day of my life," Shelton said looking out into the crowd about an hour into his set.
While many traded in their blue and white apparel for overalls and cowboy hats, the Happy Valley Jam was the first attempt by Penn State athletics to use the massive stadium more than the standard handful of times per year for football. Moving forward, they will have to continue finding ways to use the stadium and while that likely will mean more concerts, it also could mean the potential for international soccer and, of course, the NHL's Winter Classic that's been discussed for years.
THE GOOD
• Penn State needed to go out on a limb and try this. Could they have done better with a bigger artist? Most likely. Were ticket sales ideal? Probably not and as of Saturday at 11 p.m. Basis Entertainment hadn't released a final number of tickets sold. But, this looked like a solid starting point.
A stadium that seats more than 100,000 is undoubtedly going to have gaps for a concert, so while the capacity was 70,000 -- a number this week Penn State said they never planned to hit -- one has to wonder financially what the gain was. That remains unclear, but in the future this event and ones like it showed promise. In the days leading up the the show, Penn Stat's goal was 30,000 tickets sold. It would seem likely that they were in that range, but we'll have to wait for a final count in the coming days.
People showed up early in the afternoon and set up tailgates that lasted well into the evening. Getting people here is half the battle given the location. The crowd was loud and the concert kept schedule with Shelton taking the stage at 9:30 p.m. sharp. That's not always the case with shows like this that have four artists ahead of the headliner.
There's certainly room for improvement, but maybe Penn State should tell the students kickoff is at 11 a.m. and not noon so they too will show up early like this crowd did.
• The views were fantastic. While the stage didn't feature an elaborate catwalk like some stadium shows do -- and somewhere the football grounds crew is likely thankful for that -- the stadium looked good. Penn State got a perfect night for it. Check out this view from the roof around 7 p.m.:
And the same view around 10:15 p.m.:
• Cowboy Troy, a key part of Big & Rich's shows, pumped up the crowd with this line: "Ain’t no party like a Penn State party cause a Penn State party don’t ever stop." The crowd broke out some 'We Are!' chants throughout the evening and none of the artists called State College by the wrong name -- as in College Station -- so that's a plus.
• Given the size of the crowd and people tailgating through the day traffic to and from was manageable. That's not always the case during football season so that was a pleasant surprise even given all the construction that's underway on campus.
• Penn State's new security group was also used, the second time they've used them, the first being the Blue-White Game.
• Solid ending after Shelton's two-song encore:
Fireworks on top of the Beaver Stadium scoreboard to close it out. Playing Sweet Caroline as people leave. Next up? Football season. pic.twitter.com/R41BCe3EO2
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) July 9, 2017
• Hey, I had fun getting out and checking out something different so I can't ask for much more in July. It's good to bring some other events to this area, especially this time of year when it's pretty quiet otherwise with only summer classes going on. Only eight more Saturdays until there's meaningful football played back in here.
THE BAD
• Getting on and off of the floor, where an estimated 7,000 guests were supposed to be was a constant traffic jam. Everyone had to use the same entrance and exit, which is Penn State's usual tunnel for home games. It's a narrow space to begin with and trying to move thousands of people in and out, while checking wristbands and having others walking off the floor created a line that extended well into the concourse.
Interestingly enough, earlier this week when I asked Basis Entertainment President and CEO Gary DeWaard what challenges this particular venue presented compared to those at other stadiums he also mentioned that pesky entrance way in front of the student section. All of the equipment to set up the stage and the floor -- a process that began on July 4th -- had to be moved in through that space. When it's all broken down and moved out of town that too will go through the same place.
Remember that facility master plan? Well, we'll have to see if this is something that comes into play with it.
• No seat is ever going to be perfect, but if one pays $85-plus and is on the back of the floor they should have a better view than this half side of the stage with the soundboard in front of them:
• I took a stroll around the stadium something I've maybe done once or twice before. My goal was to see if the acoustics were good or if there was an echo in some spots. There definitely was an echo on the sides which is one of the worst ways to experience a show, but I've heard worse. As the crowd thinned toward the end the echo grew worse, as expected.
As the friendly usher told me "Hey, it's the first one. The trial run."
Indeed.
• At one point, the beer line was at least 50 people deep. Granted this was toward the end of Chris Young's set so right before Shelton hit the stage, but that's how most of these stadium shows are anyway.
THE UGLY
• We'll have to wait and see if there was an uptick in alcohol-related incidents inside the stadium since Beaver Stadium allowed beer sales to the public. While those in suites are allowed to consume alcohol during football games the $8 beers and the lines that went with them were a new experience for many. Given that it was a beautiful night the beers looked to be flowing pretty freely we'll have to see if that results in football-weekend type numbers or if this was a more reserved crowd.
Penn State won't allow alcohol sales for football games in the concourse, but I'm curious to see how this goes because maybe one day that will be a thing. Maybe.