What Is It Like to See a Concert at PPG Paints Arena?
Built on the old Civic Arena footprint at the top of the hill above downtown, this Penguins hockey barn curtains off roughly a fifth of its bowl for concerts, so the seat map you scroll through on Ticketmaster is smaller than the building actually holds.
What to Know Before You Go
- 1Ride the T for free across downtown
The T light rail lets Steel Plaza out about a five-minute walk from the doors, and travel between downtown stations is fare-free, so you can park at an outer station and ride in for nothing. It is the cleanest way to skip the hill entirely, and this arena sits in the wider [Pittsburgh](/cities/pittsburgh) concert scene worth a night around.
- 2Pick your parking by exit speed or by wallet
Prepay the reserved South Lot and you can clear out in about five minutes; the downtown city garages a ten-minute walk away cost a fraction of that but leave you in the post-show crowd. Full breakdown in [Getting There](#getting-there).
- 3The concert floor is a sightline gamble
Floor seats are flat-set, so a tall person in front can wall off your view even in a good row. If you want a guaranteed sightline, the lower club sections beat the floor.
- 4Do not buy the far opposite side
For end-stage shows, the far upper deck around section 208 is too far to see faces even from the front row of the section.
- 5Bags must be clear and small
Clear bags no bigger than 12 by 6 by 12 inches, or a non-clear clutch under 4.5 by 6.5 inches. There is no bag check, so an oversized bag means a walk back to the car.
- 6Phone tickets only
The arena does not accept printed tickets. Have yours loaded before you get to the gate.
- 7It runs card and mobile
Plan to pay by card or phone at concessions and merch rather than counting on cash.
- 8No re-entry, and no smoking area
Once you step outside you are done for the night, and there is nowhere inside to smoke. Handle the car and the cigarette before you scan in.
- 9Eat local
The concessions lean Pittsburgh, with Burgatory, Primanti Bros, and tako inside, and the markup over street prices is smaller than you expect.
- 10Rideshare has one real corner
Pickup is at Fullerton Street and Wylie Avenue, reached out the Verizon Gate. Walk a block or two past it to beat the surge.
At a Glance
- Capacity
- About 19,000 (concerts)
- Venue Type
- Arena
- Year Opened
- 2010
- Seating
- Reserved + GA Floor
- Cashless
- Card and mobile
- Climate
- Indoor, AC
- Parking
- On-site lots ($35) + downtown garages ($8-30)
- Transit
- The T to Steel Plaza (5 min walk)
Newer than most of the 54 arenas we have documented.
What It's Actually Like
The Building Is Hockey First, and Concerts Pay for It
This is the Penguins' house, a steep bowl built for a rink, and the concert setup works around that shape. For end-stage shows the crew curtains off roughly a fifth of the seats behind the stage, so the map you buy from is smaller than the building's full capacity. The bowl seats 18,387 for hockey; concert configurations open it up to about 19,000. What that means for you is that the "cheap" far side is not really a bargain, it is the part of the room the layout is fighting.
The Floor Looks Great and Plays Rough
Floor tickets feel like the prize until the person in front of you stands up. The surface is level, not tiered, so from the front rows of floor sections 1 through 6 you are genuinely close, but past there you are betting on the heights of strangers standing between you and the stage. The Section-by-Section guide below spells out exactly why the flat floor is the highest-variance ticket in the building. If the floor is sold as standing general admission, expect the usual compression toward the barrier.
“Seats on the opposing side of the arena are too far from the stage.”
The Sound Is Good Until the Tour Gets in the Way
Fans and local reviewers consistently call the room clear and loud without being harsh, and legacy-act shows in particular draw praise for clean vocals. When the sound does go sideways, it tends to be the touring crew's mix, not the building. One attendee at a 2017 arena show reported the vocals were buried half the night and made a point of blaming the road crew rather than the venue. Treat the acoustics as a strong baseline that a bad tour can still spoil.
The Far Side Is Farther Than It Looks
The single most useful thing to know before you pick a seat is that the upper deck on the opposite side of an end-stage setup, around section 208, sits far enough back that you will struggle to see faces even in the first row of the section. The lesson fans repeat is counterintuitive: on the far end, moving a few sections closer to the stage beats moving down a row. Distance across the bowl costs you more than height does.
Getting Out Means Beating the Hill
Because the arena sits up the hill from downtown, the post-show move is really a traffic problem. Police manually direct traffic at each stoplight to drain the lots, which works but is slow. Your two good outs are the prepaid arena lot that dumps you onto the road first, or a downtown garage you walk down to on foot, away from the cars entirely. The outdoor sheds like The Pavilion at Star Lake out in Burgettstown have their own parking-crawl reputation, but downtown at least gives you the walk-away option.
Section-by-Section Guide
Floor / GA
Floor seats are set per show, and for a fully seated end-stage concert the best of them are the front rows of floor sections 1, 2, 3 and then 4, 5, 6. The catch is the surface: the concert floor is flat rather than raked, so a tall person in front of you can block your view no matter which floor row you paid for. That makes the floor the highest-variance ticket in the building. If a tour sells the floor as standing general admission instead, it behaves like any arena floor, compressing toward the front barrier as the room fills.
Lower Club (100 Level: Sections 101-103 and 111-113)
The 100 level is the lower tier, and for end-stage shows sections 101 and 113 land closest to the stage. The club band of sections 101 to 103 and 111 to 113 is what fans point to as the best seats in the house for almost any event, and there is a structural reason: each row in that band has a few built-in steps, so you see over the people in front of you even when the whole section stands. If you are choosing between a floor seat and a lower-club seat at a similar price, the club is the safer sightline every time.
Upper Bowl (200 Level: Sections 201-234)
The 200 level rings the top of the bowl, and a center-facing 200 gives you a clean full-stage view for less money than the floor. The trouble is on the edges. The sideline sections, roughly 210 to 214 and 221 to 225, are steep and off-angle, steep enough that some fans call them vertigo-inducing. Known obstructed seats cluster in sections 205, 210, and 215, where safety rails and structural columns get in the way, and the back rows of the 200 level generally give the most limited views. Aim center, avoid the far end, and skip the flagged obstruction sections.
Club Seats and Suites
Beyond the lower-club band, the arena carries suite and premium levels aimed at corporate and season buyers. For a concert-goer choosing on their own dime, the lower-club sections 101 to 103 and 111 to 113 are the premium spend that actually earns its keep, so treat the suites as a splurge rather than a sightline upgrade.
Accessibility Seating
Accessible and companion seating is spread across levels in what is a 2010 ADA-era building with elevator access throughout. Accessible parking is directed to the Jim Shorkey Chrysler East Lot on Centre Avenue, with overflow sent to the Dodge South Lot. Fan reports did not surface a recurring complaint about accessible-seating views or enforcement, which for an arena this age is a reasonable sign the setup holds up.
Going to a Show?
Heading to PPG Paints Arena? Add the show to Concerts Remembered before you go and it's on your phone whether or not you have signal inside. Afterward you'll have the setlist, your seat, and what you thought of it.
PPG Paints Arena · what fans report
Everything fans report about PPG Paints Arena is normal for an arena
Measured against 54 arenas we have documented. Every fault below is carried by most arenas, so none of them single this room out.
Normal for an arena
- Sightlines go when it fills70% of arenas
Floor seats are flat-set, so a tall person in front can wall off your view even in a good row.
Common for arenas, not reported here
- Getting out is punishing67% of arenas
- Sound falls apart at the back54% of arenas
Concerts Remembered Venue Index · 54 arenas tagged against a closed seven-category taxonomy · every row cites this guide · reviewed August 2026
Getting There
Driving and Parking
The fastest way out and the cheapest way in are two different plans. Roughly seven arena-owned surface lots (branded the Jim Shorkey lots) ring the building on the old Civic Arena site, and the closest, the South Lot, ran about $35 for a recent concert. Prepaying a reserved South Lot spot is the escape play: one fan who prepaid parked in the second row and cleared the lot in about five minutes after the show, even sitting in the top balcony, well ahead of the garage crowd. The budget play is the downtown city garages at Grant Street, First Avenue, and Mellon Square, around $8 on nights and weekends with no event-day inflation, about a ten-minute walk up the hill. Private garages a couple blocks closer can jump to $20 or $30 on event days, so they are the worst of both worlds. After the show, police direct traffic at each stoplight to drain the hill, which is why walking down to a downtown garage often beats sitting in the lot line.
Transit
The T, Pittsburgh's light rail, is the move if you would rather not drive at all. Steel Plaza is the closest station, about a five-minute walk from the arena at Ross Street and Sixth Avenue. The trick locals use: travel between the downtown T stations (Steel Plaza, Wood Street, First Avenue) inside the Golden Triangle is fare-free at all times, so you can drive to an outer park-and-ride, take the T in, and cross downtown for nothing.
Rideshare
The designated Uber and Lyft zone is the corner of Fullerton Street and Wylie Avenue. To reach it, exit through the Verizon Gate, cross Centre Avenue, and walk one block up Fullerton; the zone is on Wylie on your right. Demand and surge spike the instant a show lets out, so walking a few blocks past the corner before you request cuts both the wait and the price.
Food, Drink, and Merch
Worth Getting
The arena has leaned into Pittsburgh names, and that is the reason to eat here rather than before. Burgatory runs a burger stand inside, and the markup is only about $2 to $3 over what the same burger costs at its street locations, a smaller bump than arena prices usually inflict. Primanti Bros brings the city's fries-and-slaw-stacked sandwich, and tako and Quaker Steak & Lube round out the local roster. For a quick grab so you miss less of the set, GetGo Cafe and Market is the fast stop.
The Strategy
Beer skews regional, with Iron City and Yuengling on hand alongside Southern Tier and Victory, and a canned beer ran about $14 to $16 as of 2023. If a headliner is one you will not leave your seat for, eat on the way in, because the local stands draw lines once doors settle.
Merch
Venue-level merch here is standard arena setup with no distinctive booth quirk worth planning around. Tour merch, its prices, and any exclusives live with the artist, not the building, so check the specific tour for those.
Venue History
The arena opened on August 18, 2010, as Consol Energy Center, replacing the beloved Civic Arena (the "Igloo") next door as home of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Consol Energy had bought the naming rights in 2008, reportedly for around $4 to $5 million a year, then opted out in 2016. PPG Industries took over in October 2016 and renamed it PPG Paints Arena under a roughly 20-year deal, though plenty of locals still call it Consol.
It was the first NHL arena to earn LEED certification, at the Gold level, a build-era distinction more than something you feel from a seat. What you do feel is that the bowl was designed hockey-first, which is why concert configurations curtain off part of the room. Pollstar has ranked it among the busiest concert arenas in the world by ticket sales in individual years, and it remains the region's flagship indoor room for major rock, pop, country, and hip-hop tours.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, and it is predictable. The far upper deck on the opposite side of an end-stage setup, around section 208, is too far back to see faces even from the front row of the section. Steep sideline sections in the 200 level (210 to 214 and 221 to 225) are off-angle, and sections 205, 210, and 215 carry rail or column obstructions. Aim center, and avoid the far end.
The lower-club sections 101 to 103 and 111 to 113 are the fan favorite, because each row has built-in steps that let you see over standing crowds. A center-facing 200-level section is the value pick for a full-stage view. The floor is close but flat, so it is a gamble on the height of whoever stands in front of you.
Effectively yes: plan to pay by card or phone at concessions and merch rather than counting on cash. Load your ticket on your phone too, because the arena does not accept printed tickets at the gate.
The clear-bag rule and mobile ticketing are the two that catch people. Bags must be clear and no larger than 12 by 6 by 12 inches, or a non-clear clutch under 4.5 by 6.5 inches, and there is no bag check, so an oversized bag sends you back to the car. Printed tickets are not accepted; load yours on your phone before the gate.
It depends on whether you value speed or money. A prepaid reserved South Lot spot is the fastest exit, with fans reporting a five-minute getaway, while downtown garages around $8 cost far less but leave you walking up the hill. See [Getting There](#getting-there) for the full lot-by-lot breakdown.
No. There is no re-entry once you exit, and there is no smoking area inside, so a smoke break or a run to the car ends your night. Handle anything you need outside before you scan in.
Beat the hill rather than the building. Police direct traffic at each stoplight, so the cars crawl; a prepaid arena lot dumps you onto the road first, and walking down to a downtown garage lets you leave the traffic behind entirely. The T from Steel Plaza is the no-car version of the same escape.
Take the T to Steel Plaza, about a five-minute walk from the doors, and use the fare-free downtown zone to cross the Golden Triangle for nothing. For a rideshare home, the pickup corner is Fullerton Street and Wylie Avenue out the Verizon Gate. For first-show basics beyond the venue, see our [concert-goer's guide](/resources/concert-101).
PPG Paints Arena Links
Already Seen a Show Here?
Been to PPG Paints Arena? Add it to your concert history in the Concerts Remembered app. Which section were you in, and was it worth it?
This guide is based on fan reports, public records, and community discussion. Claims we can’t source are left out rather than estimated, and the charts render only where the sample is large enough to trust. It is not sponsored by or affiliated with PPG Paints Arena.
Cite this guide
Concerts Remembered, "PPG Paints Arena," concertsremembered.app/venues/ppg-paints-arena, updated August 2026.