Stage AE is a venue which opened in December of 2010 that is known in Pittsburgh because it is right across the street from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Heinz Field. It is a multi-purpose entertainment complex, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ran by PromoWest Productions that includes an indoor concert hall, outdoor amphitheater, and even sometimes a night club. The indoor club can hold up to 400 people, the indoor music hall can hold from 1,300-2,300 people depending on whether they’re using just the main floor or the main floor and the balcony, and the outdoor stage can hold up to 5,500 people.
The artist that come to Stage AE are often artist who may have a smaller fan base and aren’t sure they can fill up a whole arena like the Consol Energy Center. Other artists come to Stage AE because the venue is very intimate and good for acoustic performances. Most of the concerts are general admission so if you pass by the venue you may be able to see people queuing to be in the front row, some people will even spend the night in a tent. If you couldn’t get a ticket to the concert you wanted to go to, usually on the day of the concert there’s almost always someone outside selling tickets if you’re willing to spend, but authentic tickets can be purchased through the Ticket Master’s web site.
In my opinion the venue was very nice, but if you’re in the floor section it gets a bit rough. Security does as good as they can but once 1,300 people are packed into a small space it gets very sticky and hard to breathe, so I recommend bring water and not going to the floor section if you easily pass out. I did enjoy, it was a nice environment.