Concerts returned to Camp Randall this summer for the first time in almost 30 years, with country pop singer Morgan Wallen and British pop rock group Coldplay headlining shows in June and July.
Between two shows on June 28 and 29, Wallen brought over 100,000 fans to Madison, selling out Camp Randall Stadium. Less than one month later on July 19, Coldplay performed to another sold-out Camp Randall crowd. These were the first concerts at the venue in almost 30 years, when the Rolling Stones rocked Camp Randall in 1997.
The first musician to play Camp Randall was Duke Ellington and his jazz orchestra in 1972, 55 years after the stadium was built in 1917. Throughout the day before the orchestra played, members of the orchestra led workshops, and Ellington himself taught master classes. This tied the performance to the educational purpose of the university, in addition to the entertainment and economic value the performance brought to campus.
The golden era of Camp Randall performances ranged from 1988-1997, featuring seven summer shows between 1988, 1992, 1994 and 1997 from some of the biggest names in music. Pink Floyd, U2 and the Rolling Stones all played multiple concerts at the venue during that time. Because it’s an outdoor stadium, concerts at Camp Randall only ever occurred during the summer months, never earlier than late May or later than early October.
However, the last few shows at the stadium in the nineties slowly waned in attendance and income. In particular, the U2 and Rolling Stones shows in 1997 brought in far fewer fans than expected. In 1997, the Rolling Stones earned the UW athletic department $150,000 from utility fees, which combined with their portion of ticket sales, netted 1.4 million dollars.
Following these performances, Camp Randall took a 28 year break from its role as a music venue.
Yet recently, the venue has been experimenting with new streams of revenue, including last year when they began permitting the sale of alcohol during football games. This is because of a new need since 2021 to allocate funding towards Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) payouts for college athletes.
This year, Camp Randall was paid $520,000 to host Coldplay’s only stop in the Midwest. Official attendance numbers have not been posted for this summer yet, but all dates were sold out.
This tourism filled seats at many local businesses, outside one of which Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin gave some fans tickets after bumping into them.
While in Madison, Coldplay and Wallen both embraced the state in their performances. “It was fun, they brought out four people in cheese hats. And then Chris Martin wore one,” said Elliot Novak, a concertgoer who recently graduated from UW-Madison.
Given the relative success of this year's concerts for both Camp Randall and Madison, many are hoping that this summer’s concerts are more than a one-off, and that this might be the first glimpse of a new direction for the stadium.
Oliver Gerharz is the arts editor and former podcast director for the Daily Cardinal. He is a journalism major and former host of the Cardinal Call. Follow him on Twitter @OliverGerharz.
