Problems were evident at Shakira’s Fresno concert. How venue could improve it

Fresno State has had several weeks now to piece through Shakira’s concert performance at Valley Children’s Stadium.

There have been some key takeaways in terms of economic impacts.

The concert was listed as a sell-out at 27,835 tickets and $2,709,872, according to industry trade publication Pollstar.

It made $400,000 for the university, mostly in concessions, parking and the 22 suites on the east side of the stadium (available for a premium).

The region’s restaurants, hotels and the like saw more than $2 million spent on all ancillary things that come with hosting a pop star’s world tour.

Those numbers are enough to call the the concert a success, or at least ensure the university will make good on its promise to diversify the offerings at Valley Children’s Stadium, which is in need of an upgrade and (side note) has its football home opener against Georgia Southern on Saturday.

Athletics director Garrett Klassy confirmed as much in an interview with The Bee this week.

“The reality is, if we can get a few of these a year that’s going to be really helpful.”

That’s not to say Shakira’s Fresno debut went off without a hitch or that there aren’t lessons the university should keep in mind as it fields calls from national and local promoters interested in booking the next big act at the stadium.

Here are three:

The hype starts early

Shakira was in the middle of a massively popular world tour when the Fresno concert was announced. She was trending just below Coldplay at the top of Billboard magazine’s midyear boxscore report, with 1 million tickets sold at venues like Allegiant Stadium and Oracle Park.

Fresno was a late addition to the tour and would be her final U.S. stop before heading into a long run of shows in Mexico. It was to be the first live concert at Fresno’s largest entertainment venue and had the potential to be the largest single-night draw in the city’s history.

All of which made the rollout of the concert feel lackluster; to the point where local media outlets were questioning whether people even knew the peformance was happening. The official announcement came in a standard press release and was marred by an online leak and rumors that went unconfirmed for several days.

Contrast that to the massive media event in 2016 to announce that Paul McCartney would open his “One on One” tour at the Save Mart Center.

Mary Castro, wife of the late-president Joseph Castro, spoke on behalf of the university (and her husband, a huge Beatles fan) as did then-Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin (the city gave McCartney his own day). The streets around the arena were even renamed to mark the occasion: Penny Lane and Abbey Road (and the Long and Winding Road to hit the pun).

Van Halen got similar treatment when it announced a tour stop in 2012 (for a show that ultimately got canceled). The band had already played the arena twice and still got a four-day tease and press conference that included Live Nation’s executive vice president of booking, who drove up from Los Angeles. Eddie Van Halen even donated an autographed guitar to be auctioned off for Fresno State’s music program.

Of course, those concerts likley had more lead time.

Shakira’s concert did come quick; just two weeks from securing the date to making the announcement, according to the university.

Still, “every artist has an audience,” says Jamie Loeb, senior vice president for marketing with Nederlander Concerts, which operates venues across Californina, including Vina Robles Ampitheater. “It’s the marketing team’s job to figure out who those fans are, where they are and how to reach them in the most cost-effective way possible.”

That can include a simple video collaboration with the artist, something that can be turned into an ad to help reach those fans.

“The thought is to create FOMO,” Loeb says.

“We want people to feel like they have to be there. If they’re not there, they’re missing out.”

Food, drink and merchandise

Even after the tickets are sold, venues can find benefit in communicating with fans, Loeb says. Her company does this through KBYG emails, or “Know Before You Go.”

“For venues that serve food, we will call out certain menu items or even just let people know that there’s food served in the venue and it is of quality,” she says. “So that they can have their entire evening in the building as opposed to going somewhere first to eat and then have to travel in.”

Consessions at the Shakira concert appeared to be the standard football game fair, with food available from the stadium’s concessions stands, though there was a taco trailer on the east side of the stadium.

It had the longest line, snaking down the concourse for the majority of the night.

Drinks (water, soda and beer) were readily available (read, no long lines) at booths set up throughout the stadium.

While Shakira merchandise was available from vendors trolling the lines outside the stadium (branded T-shirts, along with colorful hats and jangly hip scarves), it was unclear if they were officially part of the tour. If there were merchandise booths inside the stadium, they were certainly more difficult to find.

This is in contrast to Pearl Jam’s 2022 tour stop at the Save Mart Center, which had an official merch booth set up in the parking lot outside the arena all afternoon. The band even teased it on its Instagram account. It also had several items specifically branded for the Fresno concert.

Getting into (and out of) the stadium

Of course, any revenue from the concessions at Shakira’s concert was surely hurt by the fact that much of crowd was stuck outside the stadium until just before the singer took the stage.

Those who arrived before the gates opened at 6 p.m. had little trouble getting in at entrances on the north and east of the stadium. But it became evident quickly something was amiss and that Shakira wasn’t going to hit her listed start time of 7:30.

At 8:45 p.m. people were still in line to get into the stadium and several sections of the venue were fairly empty.

There were still people finding seats when Shakira took the stage at 9:30 p.m.

Fans reported spending hours in lines that were “complete chaos.” In comments online, several people reported fans being let through the gates without showing tickets or going through security checks.

Fresno State’s Collegian newspaper reported at least one fan left after nearly two hours of waiting, fearing for her safety.

“People were shouting, women near me (were) crying (and) having panic attacks and some people were discussing and pushing their way through,” she told the paper.

Fresno State issued an apology for the delayed start time and long lines.

“This was our first-ever concert at VCS, and while we are committed to delivering a world-class experience, tonight we fell short. That’s on us,” it wrote in a message posted to its social media.

There was no metion of specific or cause of the delays, and messages to the department for this story were not immedaitely returned.

In its apology to fans, it wrote: “We will learn from this, make the necessary changes and ensure that the next time we bring a world-class act to Fresno, the experience from start to finish matches the excitement on stage.”

This story was originally published August 31, 2025 at 5:30 AM.