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# Backstage Pass: We Need to Talk About Concert Venue Bathrooms.
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/backstage-pass-we-need-to-talk-about-concert-venue-bathrooms/
- Published: 2026-11-05T09:49:30.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-05T09:49:30.000Z
- Description: We asked Excel Dryer COO Bill Gagnon (we actually did) how restroom design effects the concert experience, and the one bathroom he'll never forget.
- Author: Jeremy Young
- Tags: Backstage Pass, Interviews, bathrooms, concert venues, Venues, music venues, sustainability, environment, #coverstory

You're going to want to read this one...

This interview with **Bill Gagnon**, EVP and COO of [**Excel Dryer**](https://www.exceldryer.com/?ref=hypebot.com), is part of **Hypebot's** [**Backstage Pass**](https://www.hypebot.com/tag/backstage-pass/) series. Here, we feature conversations with people working behind the scenes to help artists and audiences navigate live music industry economics, logistics, and trends.

When thousands of people are arriving, leaving or moving between events, a restroom can quickly become a bottleneck. For stadiums, arenas, airports and entertainment venues, keeping restrooms clean, available and moving efficiently is an important part of the guest experience. We asked Bill about everything from how restroom design and equipment can affect movement of people during peak periods, the carbon footprint of hand dryers versus paper towels, and how a "cool" venue like Brooklyn Bowl changed its mind after seeing inarguable results. 

Backstage Pass is sponsored by venue, festival and promoter marketing solution [**Bandsintown PRO**](https://www.bandsintown.pro/?ref=hypebot.com).

---

**Hypebot: Hi Bill! So, what’s one venue bathroom you’ll never forget?** 

Bill Gagnon: "Fenway Park, mostly because of what it used to be like. Fenway hosts major concerts every summer and holds more than 37,000 fans and 2,000 staff on a sold-out night. Before 2013, the park was spending nearly $57,000 a year on single-use paper towels, before labor and waste hauling. Aramark’s custodial manager said a busy game day felt like a tornado had hit the park, and each restroom needed six to eight trash receptacles to keep up."

As part of the Red Sox’s [Fenway Greening initiative](https://www.exceldryer.com/case-study/fenway-park/?ref=hypebot.com) with the Natural Resources Defense Council, the park installed 100 XLERATOR® Hand Dryers. The results:

- More than $83,000 saved every year, a 97% cost reduction
- Full return on investment, installation included, in just over 12 months
- Waste removal cut by [more than 123 tons](https://www.exceldryer.com/press/game-on-excel-dryer-to-exhibit-at-green-sports-alliance-summit-june-29-july-1/?ref=hypebot.com), a 24% drop in total park waste
- An 82% smaller hand-drying carbon footprint
- One trash receptacle per restroom instead of six to eight."

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3a/95/3a957c06-c825-4057-9939-0a274cc16d23/content/images/2026/11/Excel_Gillette_5.jpg)

**Gillette Stadium.*

**H: At a concert, everybody suddenly gets up between sets, before the encore or the second the headliner finishes. How do you design a restroom experience for those extreme five- or ten-minute surges?**

BG: "You design for the peak, not the average, because the peak is brutal. When consultants timed the restrooms during intermission at [DeVos Performance Hall](https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/7/study-bathroom-wait-longer-for-women-at-hall/?ref=hypebot.com) in Grand Rapids, women spent an average of 14 minutes waiting and using the facilities, compared with 4 minutes for men. Every step has to keep pace: getting in, using a fixture, washing, drying and getting out."

Washing and drying is where a surge often breaks down. Dispensers run empty, bins overflow, and people stand at the sink while the line backs up behind them. The best solution is to put in more washing and drying stations where guests can use them without creating long queues."

If space is not available to add stations, separate drying from washing and add as many drying stations as needed without blocking the sinks or door. It’s important to give the queue somewhere to form that doesn’t cut across the exit."

**H: What actually creates a bathroom line at a concert? Is it usually too few toilets, poor layout, hand-washing bottlenecks or something else?**

BG: "The line forms at whichever step is slowest, and the data shows how quickly that adds up. A 2026 case study shared by the UK’s Sports Grounds Safety Authority found that at one concert, the women’s restrooms had a queue for about 87% of the event. Women spent more than a minute longer per visit than men, who averaged 1 minute 28 seconds, and roughly 126 women ended up using the men’s room before security stepped in."

Sometimes the fix really is more toilets. Often it’s a crowded sink area, a narrow entrance, or a stall that’s closed because crews are busy emptying bins and restocking dispensers instead of cleaning. Before buying anything, watch where the lines form during your busiest interval and provide solutions to support those areas..."

> *"Every minute a fan spends in a restroom line is a minute away from the show, the bar and the merch table... Venues can measure their own version of this by tracking restroom wait times against per-capita sales across comparable shows."*

**H: Is there a measurable relationship between how quickly fans move through a restroom and how much time they spend, and money they spend elsewhere in the venue?**

BG: "Every minute a fan spends in a restroom line is a minute away from the show, the bar and the merch table."

The restroom also shapes whether they come back. In a global survey of more than 4,000 people across the U.S., Europe and Asia, conducted by MetrixLab in partnership with Excel Dryer, 100% of respondents agreed that a dirty restroom reflects poorly on a business, and the number one contributing factor to a “dirty restroom” was unanimously single-use paper towels on the floor or overflowing in receptacles."

Venues can measure their own version of this by tracking restroom wait times against per-capita sales across comparable shows."

**H: One funny detail in the Brooklyn Bowl case study is that their GM openly said he normally hates hand dryers. How important is speed when the person using the product is already impatient because they’re missing the show?**

BG: "It’s everything. If a dryer is slow, people give up and wipe damp hands on their jeans, and [the CDC notes](https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html?ref=hypebot.com) that germs transfer more easily to and from wet hands. So a slow dryer is a hygiene problem, not just an annoyance."

That’s why [Brooklyn Bowl’s GM](https://www.exceldryer.com/case-study/brooklyn-bowl/%5d?ref=hypebot.com) was skeptical. The venue sees 2,000 to 3,000 visitors a day, has hosted acts like Guns N’ Roses and Elvis Costello, and was the first LEED-certified bowling alley in the world. Once the dryers went in, his verdict was simple: cleaner bathrooms and happier guests, with no single-use paper towels scattered across the floor."

Dry time is only part of it. Think about how many units you need, where they go so people aren’t drying in the exit path, and their sound levels. Many high-speed dryers now offer adjustable speed and sound settings, which matters in smaller rooms."

**H: A lot of independent venues operate on very thin margins. Are there small restroom upgrades that can meaningfully lower operating costs without requiring a major renovation?**

BG: "Start with whatever you buy and handle every night. Single-use paper towels are a cost you pay several times over: you buy them, store them, stock them, empty them, haul them away and pick them up off the floor. [At Gillette Stadium](https://www.exceldryer.com/case-study/gillette-stadium/?ref=hypebot.com), where the New England Patriots installed more than 125 hand dryers, the switch cut those costs by 95% and reduced the carbon footprint of hand drying by 70%."

A 500-cap club won’t see stadium-sized dollar figures, but the percentages work the same way, and operators can estimate their own savings and payback period with an [online calculator](https://www.exceldryer.com/calculator-long/?ref=hypebot.com). The typical ROI on upgrading from single-use paper towels to high efficiency hand dryers is less than one year, including installation costs."

Other low-cost fixes include repairing unreliable sensors, moving dispensers or bins that block traffic, and servicing equipment before doors open so everything works when the rush hits."

**H: Do bathrooms need to be designed differently for a 500-cap club, a 3,000-cap theater and a 70,000-seat stadium, or are the basic crowd-flow problems surprisingly similar?**

BG: "The core problem is the same at every size: lots of people need the same facilities at the same moment. In a club, one badly placed drying station can jam the whole room. A theater has to absorb concentrated demand between acts. A stadium has to spread restrooms across seating sections, so lines don’t spill into the concourse."

Code minimums won’t solve it on their own. A [2019 queueing study](https://ir.ymlib.yonsei.ac.kr/handle/22282913/189239?ref=hypebot.com) found that fixture ratios in the Uniform Plumbing Code still leave women waiting longer than men in facilities like theaters and stadiums, so venues should plan around their actual audience, not the minimum."

> *"Pearl Jam. A show like that reminds me why every operational detail matters. People paid to be in that room for the music, and anything that gets them back to it faster is worth getting right."*

**H: Accessibility has become a much bigger part of venue design conversations. What restroom-design mistakes can make the concert experience unnecessarily difficult for fans with disabilities?**

BG: "The most common are dispensers mounted out of reach, objects that block a wheelchair’s approach to the sink, and wall-mounted equipment that sticks out into the path of travel for the visually impaired. The ADA Standards are specific: anything mounted between 27 and 80 inches off the floor can’t protrude more than 4 inches into a circulation path, and controls should sit within a reach range of 15 to 48 inches above the floor. A recessed or low-profile unit is often the easiest way to meet both."

Touchless fixtures help guests who have trouble gripping or twisting controls. Lower sound levels help guests with sensory sensitivities. The best check is to have disabled guests walk through the space, because they’ll find problems a floor plan won’t show."

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3a/95/3a957c06-c825-4057-9939-0a274cc16d23/content/images/2026/11/BrooklynBowl_Mens_4_edited-1.jpg)

**The Brooklyn Bowl.* 

**H: Sustainability is now a major goal for festivals, arenas and touring artists. Of all the things a venue can change backstage and front-of-house, where do restrooms realistically fit into the sustainability equation?**

BG: "Restrooms are a perfect place to start, because the impacts are immediate and repeat with every show. Hand drying should be judged across its full life cycle, including electricity use and the manufacture, shipping and disposal of consumables."

A 2025 cradle-to-grave [life cycle assessment](https://www.exceldryer.com/blog/life-cycle-assessment-confirms-excel-hand-dryers-reduce-carbon-footprint-by-up-to-94-compared-to-100-recycled-paper-towels/?ref=hypebot.com) by independent consultancy TrueNorth Collective found that Excel’s hand dryers have up to a 94% smaller carbon footprint than single-use paper towels, even those made from 100% recycled material. The study also measured water use, smog formation, fossil fuel depletion and water pollution, and the dryers came out ahead in each category."

For operators, the simplest first step is in the purchasing records: how much you spend on that paper and how much waste you haul away each month."

**H: What’s one concert you saw recently that blew you away?**

BG: "Pearl Jam. A show like that reminds me why every operational detail matters. People paid to be in that room for the music, and anything that gets them back to it faster is worth getting right."

---

*Learn more about* [***Excel Dryer***](https://www.exceldryer.com/?ref=hypebot.com)***.***

***Hypebot’s*** [***Backstage Pass***](https://www.hypebot.com/tag/backstage-pass/) *series is sponsored by venue, festival and promoter marketing platform* [***Bandsintown PRO***](https://www.bandsintown.pro/?ref=hypebot.com)**.* Join leading live event professionals saving time and selling more tickets with their automated, self-serve and custom solutions.*