What Is It Like to See a Concert at RAC Arena?
Perth's downtown arena hides inside a folded, angular shell modelled on a jigsaw, and its roof can peel open in about fourteen minutes, though for concerts it stays shut and the room plays like a tight, modern bowl.
What to Know Before You Go
- 1Take the train, and it might be free
Perth Underground station is about a 10-minute walk down Wellington Street, and if your ticket carries the Transperth logo, the train or bus is free for three hours either side of the show. Check your ticket before you pay to park.
- 2Parking is a flat $30 and card-only
the 680-bay car park sits under the arena and charges a flat $30 on event nights, entered from Market or Milligan Street. Full parking detail is in [Getting There](#getting-there).
- 3Know your rideshare spot
pickups and drop-offs run from the yellow totem locals call the Pineapple, on Milligan Street about 60 metres from the doors.
- 4It's fully cashless
every bar, food outlet and the car park take card only. If you turn up with cash, staff will swap it for a Cash Voucher to spend inside.
- 5Pack an A4 bag or smaller
anything bigger, handbags and baby bags included, gets turned away at the door, and there's an external cloakroom to the right of the main entry for whatever won't fit.
- 6Cameras up to a 55mm lens are welcome, selfie sticks are not
the camera rule can tighten for a given tour, so check the event page if you're bringing anything beyond a phone.
- 7Water is free inside
filtered fountains are dotted through the concourses, so you don't have to buy water at the bar.
- 8Drinks are steep and the food is patchy
fans flag arena pricing, with one citing roughly $28 for two beers, and the food quality gets mixed reviews, so eat in the CBD first if you're particular.
- 9On the floor, think twice before a mid-floor seat
the concert floor is one flat level, so a raised centre seat can beat a mid-floor ticket once the crowd stands. See the [Section-by-Section Guide](#section-by-section-guide).
- 10There's a Quiet Room
if it all gets too loud, Level 1 opposite door 17 is a sensory time-out space open to anyone who needs it.
At a Glance
- Capacity
- Up to 15,000 (concerts)
- Venue Type
- Arena
- Year Opened
- 2012
- Seating
- Mixed (flat floor + lower / upper tiers + suites)
- Cashless
- Yes (100% cashless)
- Climate
- Indoor, retractable roof (closed for concerts)
- Parking
- Underground car park, flat $30 on event nights
- Transit
- Perth Underground station, 10-minute walk
Newer than most of the 59 arenas we have documented.
What It's Actually Like
A Folded Shell Around a Tight Modern Bowl
From the outside RAC Arena looks like someone froze a jigsaw mid-collapse, all sharp folded planes, and the inside is a compact, steep bowl rather than a cavern. It's the default Perth stop for touring internationals, so a sold-out concert packs a room built for up to 15,000 and the noise stacks up fast. Reviewers keep landing on a "very modern" building with efficient facilities and a "terrific" atmosphere on a full night. It feels engineered rather than characterful, which is fine, because the character comes from the crowd and the production.
The Sound Holds Up Head-On
The venue was built with concert acoustics as a selling point, and most fans back that up: clean and powerful from the floor through the upper tier when you're square to the stage. The honest caveat is that it's tour-dependent. One 2023 attendee at The Corrs found the mix "way too loud" with voices "distorted" enough to leave early, which reads as that night's engineer rather than a built-in dead zone. Head-on is where the PA is at its best.
“Entry and exit was very quick... access to seats is exceptionally efficient.”
The Flat Floor Is the Real Catch
The one sightline issue worth knowing before you buy is the floor. It's a single flat level with no rake, so a mid-floor seat can lose the stage the second the people ahead of you stand up. It's the same flat-floor catch you'll find at Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena, and it's exactly why a raised centre seat is often the smarter buy for the same money.
Fast In, Fast Out
The building has a genuine reputation for moving people. Fans describe entry and exit as "very quick" and bag checks as fast even with the strict size rule, and one reviewer coming out of a Michael Buble show called the access to seats "exceptionally efficient." It's not universal, one tennis-night review reported a 40-minute wait to reach seats, but for concerts the flow through the doors is a strength, not a stress.
Section-by-Section Guide
How the Bowl Is Laid Out
The room stacks a flat concert floor under a lower seated tier, an upper seated tier, and a ring of private suites. The main public concourse is Level 1, with doors 5 to 22, the merch counters, the food and drink outlets and the Backstage Bar; Level 2 is the private suite level; upper doors and more suites sit above that. For an end-stage concert, the head-on positions at each level are the ones to chase.
Floor (End-Stage Seated, Sections 001 to 009)
For a fully seated end-stage show, the floor breaks into sections 001 to 009. The front rows of section 002 are dead centre and the pick of the room, with 001 and 003 the next best; sections 004 to 009 are fine but sit wider and further back. The whole floor sits on one flat level with no rake, so the moment the crowd stands, a taller person in front can wipe out a shorter fan's view. For a general-admission standing show the floor is where the energy concentrates, but if you're seated and not near the front, a raised centre seat is the safer call.
Lower Tier (Rows A to T)
The lower seated tier runs rows A to T and is the quiet value play. Because it's raised off the floor, it clears the stand-up sightline problem while keeping you reasonably close, and the head-on sections here give you a clean, stable view of the whole stage. If you're shorter or you just don't want to gamble on the heads in front of you, this beats a mid-floor ticket more often than not.
Upper Tier (200-Level Sections)
The top tier runs rows A to Y in the 200-numbered sections, and it's better than "cheap seats" suggests. The head-on sections 206 to 212 give you the full stage, though at enough distance that you won't read faces, so bring that expectation. Front-row section 203 is a standout that fans single out: nobody directly in front of you except the pit below, plus a wooden ledge to rest a phone or a drink on. Watch the seat number within a "restricted view" row, because the railing clips the view from seat 16 but leaves seat 15 clear, and several fans report their restricted-view seats turned out fine, blocked only briefly when everyone stands for the big songs. Even the very back row keeps a usable view thanks to the steep pitch; the trade is a stiff climb up.
Corporate Suites and Premium (Level 2)
The arena carries 36 private suites on Level 2, plus branded premium products like the Crown Concert Club, Vantage, UP at The Suites and The Terrace. There's no independent fan verdict on suite value for concerts, so treat these as a hospitality-package decision rather than a fan-recommended seat. If a suite comes attached to a work night, the access is private and the view is central; if you're buying purely on view-for-money, the raised head-on tiers are the stronger call.
Accessibility Seating
Wheelchair and companion positions are booked through the Ticketek Accessibility Hotline on 1300 665 915 rather than the standard checkout. If you'd rather transfer into a regular seat, front-of-house staff will help you across and cloak the wheelchair so you can settle in. Specific fan reporting on accessible-seat sightlines is thin, so confirm placement and companion seating with the venue when you book rather than trusting the general map.
Going to a Show?
Heading to RAC 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.
RAC Arena · what fans report
Everything fans report about RAC Arena is normal for an arena
Measured against 59 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 fills73% of arenas
The whole floor sits on one flat level with no rake, so the moment the crowd stands, a taller person in front can wipe out a shorter fan's view.
Common for arenas, not reported here
- Getting out is punishing61% of arenas
- Sound falls apart at the back51% of arenas
Concerts Remembered Venue Index · 59 arenas tagged against a closed seven-category taxonomy · every row cites this guide · reviewed August 2026
Getting There
Driving and Parking
The 680-bay car park sits directly under the arena, entered from Market Street or Milligan Street, with a 2.3-metre height limit. Event parking is a flat $30, and you can pre-pay at the pay stations five minutes after you park. Outside event rate periods the usual tariffs apply, from $7 for the first hour up to a $18 weekday flat rate, so an early-arriving weekday show can cost less if you beat the event window. The car park is cashless, EFT only, with 14 ACROD accessible bays and two EV charging bays near the Milligan Street entrance. Fans think the flat $30 is steep, and it's the higher-stress choice given the surrounding CBD roads clog with cars, buses and foot traffic around events.
Transit
RAC Arena sits in the heart of the Perth CBD, so the train is the easy way in. Perth Underground station is about a 10-minute walk down Wellington Street, fed by lines from across the network. The best part: if your event ticket carries the Transperth logo, the train and bus are free for three hours before and after the event, so show it and skip the fare. Free CAT buses also stop nearby, though some timetabled services stop running after late evening events, so check the last service before you rely on it.
Rideshare
Rideshare pickups and drop-offs work from a fixed, easy-to-name point: the yellow totem locals call the Pineapple, on the corner of Wellington and Milligan Street, about 60 metres from the front doors. That saves the usual after-show scramble of pin-dropping in a moving crowd. The nearest taxi rank is on Wellington Street outside the Four Points by Sheraton.
Getting Out
The train out of Perth Underground clears faster than the car park after a sellout, because the CBD roads around the arena back up with cars and buses at once. If you drove, budget extra time; if you're on a Transperth-logo ticket, the free ride home is also the quick one.
Food, Drink, and Merch
Worth Getting
The concourse spread is standard arena fare with gluten-free and vegetarian options, and the venue's own signature pick is its beer-battered chips. The genuinely useful freebie is water: filtered fountains run through the concourses, so you never need to buy a bottle.
Skip It
The coffee and hot drinks draw repeat complaints, with one 2026 review calling an overpriced coffee and hot chocolate not even hot. Broadly, fans rate the food expensive for what it is and the quality inconsistent, so keep expectations low and your best eating for before the show.
The Strategy
Everything inside is cashless, so bring a card or phone; if you only have notes, staff will convert them to a Cash Voucher. Expect captive-audience pricing at the bars, with fans citing roughly $28 for two beers, which is the main argument for eating and drinking in the CBD before you walk over.
Merch
Merch counters are on the Level 1 concourse, and the cashless rule applies there too. Expect the heaviest queues right before the headliner and immediately after the encore, so hit the counter early if a shirt matters to you.
Venue History
RAC Arena opened on 10 November 2012 as Perth Arena, the first stage of the Perth City Link project that sank the eastern railway to reconnect the CBD with Northbridge. It gave Western Australia a large indoor arena for the first time since the old Perth Entertainment Centre closed. Designed by ARM Architecture with Cameron Chisholm Nicol, its folded, angular facade is built on the 209-piece Eternity puzzle and nods to Fremantle's Round House, and the build famously ran from an early estimate near $150 million to roughly $550 million. The signature retractable roof opens or closes in about fourteen minutes, though for concerts it stays shut and climate-controlled.
The room quickly became Perth's marquee stop. Beyoncé played two sold-out nights in November 2013, and The Rolling Stones followed with two shows in late 2014, their first Perth dates since 1995.
Billie Eilish closed her Australian run here across two nights in September 2022, and the calendar since has spanned pop, rock and heavy touring alongside the Perth Wildcats basketball season and the United Cup tennis each January.
The building carried its plain name for six years before the Royal Automobile Club of WA bought naming rights in September 2018 in a deal worth about $10 million over five years, renewed in November 2025 through to 2030. It's owned by the state through VenuesWest, which takes over direct management from July 2026. Older seat maps and ticket stubs still say Perth Arena, so don't be thrown if that name follows you around.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most head-on seats are good, and the venue's steep bowl earns "not a bad seat in the house" comments even from the back row. The two real cautions are the flat floor, where a taller person in front can block you once everyone stands, and the far upper 200-level sections, where you keep the full stage but lose the ability to read faces. Square to the stage on a raised tier is the safest bet.
The sleeper value is the raised lower tier, head-on, which clears the flat-floor problem while staying close. On the floor itself, the front rows of section 002 are dead centre, with 001 and 003 next. Full detail is in the [Section-by-Section Guide](#section-by-section-guide), but the short version is: if you're not near the front of the floor, go raised.
The A4 bag rule and the cashless policy are the two that catch people. Nothing bigger than A4 gets in, handbags and baby bags included, with an external cloakroom to the right of the main entry for anything larger. Cameras are allowed up to a 55mm lens but selfie sticks never are, and inside it's card only. Bag checks themselves are reported as fast.
Take the train unless you have a reason to drive. It's the faster and cheaper way in and out, and it's often free with your event ticket, while driving means a flat parking fee and congested CBD roads once the show lets out. The full parking and transit breakdown is in [Getting There](#getting-there).
Yes, completely. Every bar, food outlet and merch counter takes card only, and so does the car park. If you arrive with only cash, staff will exchange it for a Cash Voucher you can spend inside, but bringing a card or phone saves you that step.
Re-entry is not a guaranteed right and depends on the event, so don't plan on stepping out for a break and coming back. If you need to leave for a genuine reason, ask front-of-house before you exit rather than assuming, and note that any bag bigger than A4 will still need to clear the cloakroom on the way back in.
The train from Perth Underground beats the car, since the CBD roads around the arena clog with traffic the moment a full house empties. If you're on a Transperth-logo ticket, the ride home is free as well as fast. See [Getting There](#getting-there) for the full breakdown; if you drove, expect a slow crawl out of the car park.
Yes, the roof retracts and can open or close in about fourteen minutes, but for concerts it stays shut so the room runs as a climate-controlled indoor arena. Like Melbourne's [Rod Laver Arena](/venues/rod-laver-arena), the retractable roof is mostly a tennis and daytime feature, not something you'll feel on a concert night.
Yes, with good facilities. Wheelchair and companion seating is booked through the Ticketek Accessibility Hotline on 1300 665 915, staff will help you transfer into a standard seat and cloak a wheelchair if you prefer, and there are 14 ACROD parking bays plus a WiFi-based hearing-assistance system from the ground-floor info desk. There's also a Quiet Room on Level 1 opposite door 17 for a sensory break.
RAC Arena Links
Already Seen a Show Here?
Been to RAC 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 RAC Arena.
Cite this guide
Concerts Remembered, "RAC Arena," concertsremembered.app/venues/rac-arena, updated August 2026.