How does sound travel? (in a coliseum rock concert)?

Question

in a coliseum rock concert, i understand that sound produced by the instruments and the singer bounces around the coliseum and then to the person's ear, making the sound quality much better as to if the concert were placed in an open area, where no sound bouncing occurs, and the music simply travels everywhere. how does this work - can anyone explain it through physics? (for both closed-venue concerts and open concerts)

Answer 1

In an outdoor venue, no matter how carefully you place the speakers, a lot of sound will go to places where there's no one to hear.  So, right off the bat, you lose energy.

In an indoor venue, you can design the acoustics not only to capture all that energy and reflect it back (so louder music for the same energy investment), but the slight delays caused by the music either coming directly to the ear or bouncing off a wall first makes the sound richer, spreading out the notes just a tiny bit.

Answer 2

its the same concept as light reflecting off of a mirror. although light and sound are two different TYPES of waves, they are still waves and therefore  exhibit similar behavior.