In live entertainment, there are several possible schemes for the seating assignment of spectators—including completely unassigned seating. There are several schemes which are most commonly used, though there are no hard and fast rules and alternate or modified schemes are sometimes used as is suitable to the event.

Reserved seating

In a purely reserved seating (also known as allocated seating or assigned seating) scheme, each

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is assigned a specific seat in the venue at the time of purchase. Seats are typically identified by row number/letter, seat number, and sometimes by section. Reserved seating is the most common scheme used for large indoor venues such as stadia,

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

s, and larger

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s. It is also common at other venues, as are other seating schemes, such as outdoor

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

General admission

In a general admission (also known as open seating or free seating) scheme, each spectator has a ticket. However, the location from which they will watch the event is determined upon arrival at the venue. General admission is most commonly employed in seat-less venues, such as outdoor festival shows and smaller club shows. It is also sometimes used in seat-less sections of events that would otherwise have reserved seating (

standing-room only An event is described as standing-room only when it is so well-attended that all of the chairs in the venue are occupied, leaving only flat spaces of pavement or flooring for other attendees to stand, at least those spaces not restricted by occup ...

sections, including the floor section(s) at some

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s). In some general admission events, a ticket may still assign the holder a specific section of the venue (e.g., balcony or floor), with the choice of seat within that section. General admission can also refer to a scheme in which seating is available; however, it is not pre-assigned. Typically in this scheme, seat selection is on a

first-come, first-served Queueing theory is the mathematical study of waiting lines, or queues. A queueing model is constructed so that queue lengths and waiting time can be predicted. Queueing theory is generally considered a branch of operations research because the ...

basis. A common example of this scheme is most

movie theatre A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

s in the United States. General admission events may be ticketed with no assigned seat number, or it may be purely first-come, first-served, in which the first certain number of people in line are admitted (either as a free event, or paying at the door/gate). Due to the first-come, first-served nature of the seating selection, line-ups may still form for pre-ticketed events.

Festival seating

Festival seating typically refers to the form of general admission (first-come, first-served) in which there is a large open area (generally outdoors) and all spectators must stand (unless they are permitted to bring their own portable seating). Many music acts use festival seating because it allows the most enthusiastic fans to get near the stage and generate excitement for the rest of the crowd. Some performers and bands insist on a festival seating area near the stage. On December 3, 1979, the

Riverfront Coliseum Heritage Bank Center is an indoor arena located in downtown Cincinnati, next to the Great American Ball Park. It was completed in September 1975 and named Riverfront Coliseum because of its placement next to Riverfront Stadium. In 1997, the fa ...

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...

, was the site of one of the worst rock concert tragedies in

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

history. Eleven fans were killed and several dozen others injured in the rush for seating at the opening of a sold-out concert by

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

. The concert was using festival seating. When the crowds waiting outside heard the band performing a

soundcheck A sound check is the preparation that takes place before a concert, speech, or similar performance to adjust the sound on the venue's sound reinforcement or public address system. The performer and the audio engineers run through a small p ...

, they thought the concert was beginning and rammed the still-closed doors, trampling those at the front of the crowd. The tragedy was blamed on poor

crowd control Crowd control is a public security practice in which large crowds are managed in order to prevent the outbreak of crowd crushes, affray, fights involving drunk and disorderly people or riots. Crowd crushes in particular can cause many hundre ...

, mainly the failure of arena management to open enough doors to deal with the crowd outside. As a result, concert venues across North America switched to assigned seating or changed their rules about festival seating. Cincinnati immediately outlawed festival seating at concerts, although it overturned the ban on August 4, 2004, since the ban was making it difficult for Cincinnati to book concerts. (In 2002, the city had made a one-time exception to the ban, allowing festival seating for a Bruce Springsteen concert; no problems were experienced.) Cincinnati was the only city in the U.S. to outlaw festival seating altogether.

Lawn seating

"Lawn seating" refers to a seating method where concert-goers sit on the grass in the rear of the venue. Attendees can sometimes bring their own chairs, or rent them from vendors at the concert.

Reserved seating

General admission

Festival seating

Lawn seating

See also

References

Further reading