A 50mm lens is considered "normal" for shooting events

A 50mm lens on 35mm film or a full frame DSLR is considered "normal" during event photography. "Normal" meaning it approximately covers the primary area of your vision, excluding your peripheral vision. That lens gives about 45 degrees diagonal coverage. However, since most venues are only about 1/2 degree wide, that would only give you about 80 pixels on a 24 MP image. Starting to appreciate how good your eye is yet? Someone was kind enough to share details about the photo in a discussion in an photography website I sometimes visit. He used a 600mm lens on a Canon crop-frame DSLR. Equivalent to 960mm on a full-frame body. An expensive setup but takes truly extraordinary photos. Not only did he have the focal length to make the stage really appear big, but what really makes it an awesome photo is he didn't leave it just the target. He frames it against those details to make a complete scene. It's a good lesson in composition. You can use framing to make a photo of the event venue much more interesting even if you don't have enough zoom to fill the picture with it.