The Olympic Concert Hall is the largest stage in Russian show business. Tickets to the Olympic Concert Hall How many people can the Olympic Hall accommodate?

In January, the country's main concert venue, the Olimpiysky sports complex, closed for two years of reconstruction. But everything is not so simple and positive. We spoke to people from the music industry about what this event means for the entire industry and whether it will be harder to bring in big artists now .

In December 2017, the Alliance Group holding of businessman Musa Bazhaev sold the Olimpiysky sports complex to the Kievskaya Ploshchad company, created by entrepreneurs God Nisanov and Zarakh Iliev (they also own the Evropeisky shopping center, the Ukraine Hotel and other buildings in Moscow). The amount of the transaction was not disclosed, but the new owners immediately stated that they were going to spend at least 300-400 million dollars on the development of the complex.

To begin with, it is worth explaining that the “Olympic” is not only a concert venue, but a multifunctional facility, which consists of a huge indoor stadium, various gyms, an ice rink, a recreation center, as well as several swimming pools, which are located in a separate building nearby.

On January 1, 2019, Olimpiysky was officially closed for reconstruction, which was said to last two years. The pool will remain open until July. The New Coliseum shopping center and the book fair located in the complex will also close.

They are going to carry out the reconstruction according to the system that was used in Luzhniki - the entire span of the building along the facade wall will remain, everything inside will be demolished and rebuilt, the lower, stylobate part, and the roof will be rebuilt. The Polish company APA Wojciechowski, which is already building a hotel in Zaryadye, is responsible for the entire project.

Instead of the well-known 6-millimeter-thick membrane roof, mounted on an outer reinforced concrete ring without intermediate supports, a glass dome will be made, which will be invisible from the ground, but will add free space inside the complex. The area will also change from the current 213,000 sq. m up to 300,000 sq. m by optimizing internal spaces.

photo: stroi.mos.ru

By 2021, the Olimpiyskiy should have:

health and rehabilitation complex;
swimming and diving pools;
training diving center (height about 30 meters);
gymnasiums;
water park;
running center;
extreme sports center;
indoor skating rink;
tennis courts;
exhibition and conference center;
small planetarium;
cinema;
children's entertainment center;
spa and fitness areas;
restaurants;
parking for 5,000 cars (including underground);
concert hall.

photo: stroi.mos.ru

It feels like the emphasis is mainly on the sports component, since this is what gets the most attention in all the stories about the reconstruction. But for the majority, “Olympic” is still associated with big performances and the already iconic “Hello, “Olympic”!” And you can say that everything is in order, because above we wrote that there will also be a concert hall, but we did not specify one detail.

TASS reports that the reconstruction project provides for the appearance of a multifunctional transforming hall with a new sound system, but bad luck - the capacity will be reduced by almost three times. If earlier up to 30,000 people could come to a concert at the Olimpiysky, now no more than 10,000.

As Galina Gordyushina, design director of the sports complex, stated:

Just seven years ago, the issue of reducing the area of the concert hall would have been acute, then the Olimpiysky was almost the only venue. Now concerts are successfully held at the Luzhniki, Otkritie Arena, and VTB Arena stadiums.

Again, the announcements seem to confirm her words, but there is that same “but” that always spoils everything. Luzhniki, Otkritie Arena, VEB Arena (CSKA) and the central Dynamo stadium are large open-air venues. They can host performances by major artists only in the summer, which in Moscow lasts at most 5 months. What to do in the remaining 7 months?

There is no clear answer to this question, and promoters will have to decide this in the near future. The title of the largest indoor concert venue in the capital now goes to VTB Arena. It seats up to 13,000 people, of which 5,000-6,000 can be on the dance floor. For comparison, the country's largest club concert venue, Adrenaline Stadium, seats about 7,000.

If you think that 13,000 is a big number and that it should be enough, then here are some examples of why this is not so. In 2016, British rockers Muse gathered about 20,000 people at the Olimpiysky, and this is taking into account that a large 360° stage took up a lot of space. This summer they will already perform at the 55,000-seat Luzhniki Stadium. Another example is the most “popular” group in the country - “Leningrad”. In mid-December last year, they held two sold-out concerts in a row at the Olimpiyskiy, attracting a total of almost 60,000 people.

photo: stroi.mos.ru

We decided to ask the organizers themselves, who directly held the concerts at the Olimpiysky, how they reacted to the news about the reconstruction.

"Olympic", as we knew it recent years, is a very outdated venue where it was almost impossible to achieve a level of comfort and sound quality that meets modern industry requirements. Therefore, it’s not a pity, but its closure is a completely logical phenomenon

- Sergey Melnikov, General Director of the Melnitsa concert agency

Time moves forward. Despite a completely unique technology with a roof, with a huge iron curtain that divides the site into two parts, with a capacity of up to 30+ thousand seats per circle, “Olympic” is very outdated. All public areas, unfortunately, leave much to be desired; it has become very difficult for people to receive aesthetic pleasure in the Olimpiysky. Also, the situation in the 90s, when the sale and rental of the lobby in the northern part of the Olimpiysky was left to chance, made it impossible to work on the entire circle of the site. Plus, in engineering terms, all solutions are very outdated. Therefore, I say goodbye to Olimpiyskiy without regret, but with gratitude for all the years that it has served people.

- Eduard Ratnikov, founder of the concert agency T.C.I.

In addition, we decided to find out if they tried to make contact with the new owners of the site so that they would adjust their plan and leave the large concert hall.

No. The new owners of the building will figure out for themselves what they want to get from the project. Neither I nor other promoters can have even a microscopic influence on their intentions

- Sergey Melnikov

We tried to make contact, but, to be honest, people there have other priorities and goals. Therefore, I would not be surprised if even the hall that they undertake to build will not be very relevant

- Eduard Ratnikov

photo: stroi.mos.ru

We also asked whether we should expect big artists during the “cold” season and whether it is realistic to replace one concert at the Olimpiysky with two at the VTB Arena.

There will be fewer big artists in cold weather. They will shift visits to the summer. In some places it’s possible to replace it, but in rare cases, in others it’s not.
We always act from a specific project, and not from a site (except when the site belongs to us or we are its contract promoters). This question doesn't bother me much, to be honest. Moreover, there is information about the reconstruction of another famous arena with the goal of achieving a capacity of 20-22 thousand.

- Sergey Melnikov

Yes, of course, it is realistic to replace one concert at the Olimpiysky with two at the VTB Arena. If this is unrealistic, then tickets will simply be more expensive, because you know that money is taken only from ticket sales. Not all artists can give two concerts, not everyone can afford it for the money we offer, because more money is always needed. Artists try to give fewer concerts for maximum money

- Eduard Ratnikov

Finally, we tried to find out how promoters think the whole situation will affect the industry in the short and long term.

Nobody knows this. There are many options in the industry for solving any issue, in each specific case there are many details, let's see how it goes

- Sergey Melnikov

A holy place is never empty. Today, quite a lot of sites have been built in the city. It is also planned to build a complex with 20+ thousand seats on the territory of Luzhniki. When this project will be launched is still unknown, however. Today we will work with what we have, and these are quite solid platforms. The same “VTB Arena Park” with an indoor one for 12-13 thousand seats and an open one for 32-33 thousand seats. In principle, we have something to work with.

"Olympic" is a legendary sports facility, one of the main attractions of Moscow. The history of the sports complex goes back four decades. It was built for the 1980 Olympic Games and for a long time was the largest indoor sports facility in Europe.

At the end of 2017, the property was acquired by the Kyiv Ploshchad group of companies owned by God Nisanov and Zarakh Iliev. The holding is currently reconstructing the complex, which is scheduled to be completed in 2023.

The new Olimpiysky will be equipped with a multifunctional arena intended for concerts, sports and circus events, space for exhibitions and conferences, a multiplex cinema, a children's entertainment center, electronic library, a medical diagnostic center; the project also includes a planetarium. Moving panoramic restaurants will operate on its roof.

After reconstruction, Olimpiyskiy will retain its sports function. The renovated Olimpiyskiy will again feature swimming and diving pools, an indoor ice skating rink, gymnasiums, as well as a water park, diving center, tennis courts, spa and fitness areas, etc. In addition, parking will be expanded, which will make visiting the Olympic Stadium more comfortable.

The large-scale Olympic sports complex, whose concert hall capacity reaches thirty-five thousand people, is a multifunctional and unique structure. Olympic is truly located near the historical center of our capital, in the Meshchansky district.
The Olympic complex was opened for the Moscow Olympics in 1980; the complex was built in just three years on the site of the Burevestnik stadium. The sports complex includes two sports facilities in the form of oval-shaped buildings. One of them has an indoor stadium, and the other has swimming pools. There is a book fair in the southwestern part of the complex, and every winter an outdoor skating rink is opened next to the Olympic Stadium.
The area of the entire complex is almost 55 thousand sq.m. Various sports championships in boxing, bandy, swimming, etc. are held on the territory. Twenty Russian teams regularly train in various types sports on the territory of the complex. Various sports sections operate daily at the Olimpiyskiy, in which more than six thousand people train.
Since 1982, the Olympic Stadium has also become a music arena. Concerts of Russian and foreign performers and musical groups regularly take place here. In 2009, a musical concert was held here, and in 1986, a large-scale charity concert “Score 904” was held at the Olimpiysky, designed to raise funds to help the victims of the terrible accident in Chernobyl.
It should be noted that the Olympic Stadium provides high-level comfortable conditions for athletes, artists, and spectators.
Did you know that when the Olympic Palace opened in 1980, it had no equal in the world? And now few cities have similar indoor arenas - Manchester, Belgrade. But the Olympic Sports Complex, whose concert hall capacity is simply enormous, still has the status of the largest indoor European stadium!
Capacity of the Olympic
The central arena in Olimpiyskiy seats from thirty thousand spectators (sometimes they indicate up to thirty-five thousand spectators), and its size corresponds to the size of a football field. The building with the indoor stadium has unique feature in the form of a soundproof partition, which has the height of almost a nine-story building, can be disassembled and assembled in two and a half hours and makes it possible to simultaneously hold several events.
It is difficult to say how many sporting or cultural events take place at the Olympic Stadium each year. Statistics indicate a figure of almost three hundred such events, and about 3.5 million spectators attend them!
For any artist, a concert at the Olimpiysky is the most important, significant event. This is the largest indoor arena in Russia and only the most popular and beloved artists can fill the hall. After all, the capacity of the Olympic Stadium in Moscow for the concert is more than thirty thousand spectators.
There is a similar sports complex in St. Petersburg. In addition to the exterior (in the St. Petersburg sports complex - the facade white), there are a number of differences between the two structures of different nature. For example, the capacity of the Olympic Stadium in Moscow is officially ten thousand more spectators; in St. Petersburg it is twenty-five thousand people.
I have been to various events at the Olympic Palace several times, including large concerts where the hall was (as it seemed to me) full. You always think about how important it is to properly organize this entire flow that is still moving through the streets towards the Olympic, to comply with all safety measures and not create a crush. In my visits everything was fine top level, although the information about the capacity of the Olympic Stadium for more than thirty thousand people (in one place!) makes you think.

The new Olimpiysky will be equipped with a multifunctional arena designed for concerts, sports and circus events, space for exhibitions and conferences, a multiplex cinema, a children's entertainment center, an electronic library, a medical diagnostic center, and the project also includes a planetarium. Moving panoramic restaurants will operate on its roof.