Smart Araneta Coliseum — Attraction in Quezon City

This structure has been a part of my life since the '80s. I was brought here by my mom to see a prayer vigil when I was 7yrs old. Years later, I visited this place for even more intense experiences and it doesn't even involve anything about religion. They started calling this place many names like The Big Dome, etc. As time goes by, the building itself started morphing into a more connective structure showing great developments like what they have now(Gateway Malls, Kia Theater, Farmer's Plaza, etc.). Even the carpark underground was fascinatingly built under one of the roads for easy access. The coliseum itself is hardly recognizable nowadays - you won't see a dome anymore. You'll only see a building with interesting designs filled with colorful lights and a connecting access with huge digital screens playing a graphics loop of artists or acts scheduled to perform. Just like everyone else, I may not have seen all the performances by great acts or celebrities who appeared in Araneta as their chosen venue though. But I did get to see one of my highschool rock gods show up here. By June of 2008 - Nine-Inch Nails - in particular I'm still blown away just recalling the memory of sitting not very far behind mr. Ylan Rubin when he was playin' the drums - on the right side of the stage - and the extremely bright backdrop filled with about a hundred pieces of powerful 30-inch floodlights stacked together that brought the blinding daylights on Earth covering every surface and corner of the entire venue during that night for their Wave Goodbye Tour. What else can we expect from the boys like the genius mr. Trent Reznor, Robin Fink or mr Rubin? Right? 🤘😆

Fast-track, February 11th 2025.

I was so happy that I get to see The Script perform once again this time for their Satellites World Tour - much closer to home and most of all to my workplace since my office is just a 5min ride from Araneta right across Highway 54 (a.k.a EDSA). Many thanks to my companion for making a fast move on securing the tickets thru SM Tickenet that quickly sell-out in a matter of minutes everytime they make an announcement of their coming several months - like last year - before their arrival.

The space, the hall entrance, the stairs, the staff - all excellent! "So clean - so good", like what a local popular business slogan say out there, IF I may share. 😁 Smart Araneta may not be as huge as it's other rivals when it comes to size but it's a great option when it comes to audience inter-action; gives a better feel and view for the audience than having a large space but somehow make the fans feel "distant" from their idols. The seat spacing are okay for my size and height of 5ft 8in. The backrest height won't make the ladies wearing skirts feel like they'll need to keep their knees closed nor force the person in front of them to freeze and not turn the heads about pace to their direction. And the most impressive of them all is the sound-blocking treatment from the inside. I wonder how much they spent on materials put on the inner surfaces of the entire coliseum that keeps all that very loud noise on the inside from being heard anywhere outside - near or far. I just wish they will someday allow me to become their official "resident concert photographer" to do the documentation - FOR FREE! I SWEAR!

This is not gonna be the last time I'll come visit this place to see my favorite acts. You just wait there, Smart...

HISTORY OF ARANETA COLOSEUM In 1952, J. Amado Araneta, a member of the Araneta family, purchased from Radio Corporation of America (RCA) 35 hectares (86 acres) of land in Cubao which includes the Araneta family home and is bounded by Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue or EDSA, Aurora Boulevard, P. Tuazon and 15th Avenue.

During this time, Araneta envisioned a multi-events venue inspired by the Madison Square Garden in New York City and the Roman Colosseum in Rome, Italy, which drew criticisms from his business advisers and even Amado's personal friends. This vision led to the development of business and lifestyle buildings surrounding the coliseum, which ultimately gave rise to the Araneta Center, now renamed as the Araneta City.

The Araneta Coliseum was constructed from 1957 to late 1959 and designed and built by Architect Dominador Lacson Lugtu and Engineer Leonardo Onjunco Lugtu. From 1960 to 1963, the Coliseum was recognized as the largest covered coliseum in the world. Today, it remains one of the largest clear span domes in the world with a dome diameter of 108 meters.

The coliseum opened on March 16, 1960, with Gabriel "Flash" Elorde boxing for the World Junior Lightweight crown against Harold Gomes. General admission then was 80 centavos, and the reserve section was five pesos. The total demand for people who wished to enter the coliseum to watch the boxing match live breached its capacity, wherein the total capacity of the coliseum was only 36,000 people, while the total number of people who came to the coliseum totaled to around 50,000 people.

The coliseum also featured a swimming pool and a gazebo during its opening, located to the current site of the Araneta City Parking Garage South and the Novotel Manila Araneta City. However, the featured facilities closed down a few years later.

Among the notable events to take place at the arena were the 11th and 34th FAMAS Awards, the 1975 "Thrilla in Manila" boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, in which the arena was renamed into the "Philippine Coliseum", and the annual Binibining Pilipinas beauty pageant. During the Thrilla in Manila, all of the 36,000 seats to watch the event live were sold out.

Aside from boxing marches, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) has played most of their games at the Araneta Coliseum since its creation in 1975. Other basketball events hosted by the arena were the 1978 FIBA World Championship, a game between the 1978 NBA champions Washington Bullets and a PBA selection in 1979, and the 1982 Asian Youth Basketball Championship where the Philippines defeated China...

Hi there,

I'm a foreign visitor who specially flew over just to catch the VNL games. My stay is from 17 June to 20 June at Novotel which we specially booked it so we could conveniently go back in between matches if we needed a rest.

I was appalled to know that there is no reentry once we exit the venue and there are usually 3 women's games in the day - 11am, 3pm, and 7pm.

It makes no sense to implement this policy. If you wish to do this, you might as well sell the tickets on a per match basis. Or a day pass basis. This is not indicated on the website when we purchased our tickets online. The signboards indicating no re-entry was not outside the coliseum but inside. So customers are only aware after they stepped in and tries to get out but are stopped. The get around to this if you wish to step outside in between matches - staff said is to purchase the cheapest ticket to regain entry (because your system can only scan tickets once) but we can take back our original seats because that's been allocated for us. About this, if assuming the tickets were sold out for the day, it means customers are 'forced' to stay inside cos there's no way we can regain entry without another ticket. Second, if I buy another ticket just to regain entry, it is a waste of money and also taking up another person's chance to watch (which I believe shouldn't be your intention as you should be encouraging more spectators?) We are volleyball fans and have previously been to Thailand to watch games and what they do for spectators who wish to leave and come back is that they do a chop on the spectator's hands and with that being shown it is a valid 'ticket' for reentry.

I know it is a long-standing policy of the coliseum but most definitely one that needs to be changed in order to meet customer's expectations and not disappoint them.

Fyi, I do have the means to pay for additional tickets to regain entry but I simply don't see why I should do so. I hope my genuine feedback is taken and something can be done to...