Chaos at Rogers Stadium in Toronto has fans fuming after Coldplay shows: 'Nobody thought this through'
Billed as a game-changer for the city's entertainment scene, the massive venue has instead drawn criticism from concertgoers who say it was woefully unprepared to host events of its size. Which perhaps isn't altogether a surprise as it was built rather hastily, in an unheard-of nine-month span.
Complaints came to a head after consecutive shows by K-pop supergroup Stray Kids on June 29 and British stadium rockers Coldplay, in Toronto for four shows between July 8 and 12, both of which ended in logistical mayhem.
'I just don't think anyone thought this through,' said Shannon Spencer, a local resident who attended both concerts. 'It was clear to me after the Stray Kids show that transit capacity — stations, subway, GO Train — wasn't considered when planning and building this place.'
Spencer's concerns echo those of many attendees who documented their frustration online, sharing photos of crowd surges, shaky seats that many described as 'bleachers,' overwhelmed station platforms, limited signage and a shocking lack of access to basics like water and food. The result was not just inconvenience, but real safety concerns. Forget accessibility standards. Many said it took them at least two hours to exit the venue at Downsview Park.
Rogers stadium is by far the worst music venue ever constructed. DO NOT BUY TICKETS TO A CONCERT HERE EVER! Worst traffic I've ever seen. Just sat in traffic for 2 hours to go .5 miles, and missed all the opening acts and now might miss Coldplay.No signage just a nightmare
— Rick outkalt (@RickOutkalt) July 7, 2025
Still can't believe THIS is the Rogers Stadium. Walking to my seat was so damn scary and you could feel the structure swaying during the show 😬💀 pic.twitter.com/uSE1oi42D6
— Daphne 🐿️ • ILY reunion 🤟🐿️🤍🌠 (@ArthurNoIro) July 1, 2025
.@Rogers_Stadium this is not safe. Not enough security to check to checking tickets I guess. Major choke point pic.twitter.com/jTe6l05Jso
— Joey Doster (@joeydoster) July 7, 2025
'After the Stray Kids concert, the venue staff let us out in slow-moving groups to prevent station overcrowding, leading to some people missing the last GO Train and connections. Despite them using this strategy, there was still overcrowding,' Spencer said. 'The issue was compounded by the fact that there wasn't enough communication between staff and concert-goers, leaving a lot of confusion, pushing and irritability.'
The heat didn't help.
'There was a lack of water stations and food,' she added. 'So many people were fainting. We had to call for medical assistance multiple times.'
Live Nation Canada, which operates Rogers Stadium, said in a statement that it was 'making adjustments' ahead of Coldplay's four-night stint following Stray Kids. That included more signage, lighting, staff and water stations, but it seems the larger issues remained.
Even frontman Chris Martin took notice. At the band's first show on Monday, calling the venue a 'weird stadium in the middle of nowhere.' Later, at Tuesday's show, he addressed it again, telling the crowd, 'Thank you for being here, and especially thank you for travelling on the strange quest that you had to travel on to get to this very bizarre stadium, a million miles from Earth.'
Chris Martin greets Toronto on night 2 👋🏼#Coldplay #ColdplayToronto pic.twitter.com/8wJil4obxW
— MuchMusic (@Much) July 9, 2025
Leaders Bang Chan of Stray Kids and Chris Martin of Coldplay on the new Rogers Stadium in Toronto😭 pic.twitter.com/7OweS7WtU5
— MuchMusic (@Much) July 9, 2025
While attending the Coldplay show later in the week, knowing what she might face, Spencer said she initially considered leaving early but ultimately chose to stay for the full experience in hopes of getting her money's worth, opting to skip the convoluted transit system entirely.
'I took a Hopp ride-share home,' she shared. 'I am aware that not everyone has the privilege to do that, especially out-of-city folks. [Still,] more signs are needed at and around the venue, especially for drivers. My Hopp driver was totally confused. There was also a lot of traffic since most of the routes to the stadium were closed.'
She's not alone in wondering why Toronto's largest venue was greenlit without better infrastructure to support it.
'I wish there had been real coordination between the developers, the City, TTC, GO Transit during the planning and development stages of the stadium,' Spencer said.
The TTC has since said it will add more staff to its Downsview Park and Wilson stations and Metrolinx will 'closely monitor' GO train ridership levels on concert nights.
In a statement on Wednesday, Councillor James Pasternak said noise levels and neighbourhood disruptions in Downsview on concert nights are being taken 'very seriously,' and that all bylaws are being followed. In addition, he said, 'We continue to be concerned about the partial street closures, the noise levels, community safety and traffic management. If many of these issues are not resolved, we will bring them to City Council. … We understand the frustration.'
Still, no formal statement has been issued about what went wrong, or what major steps are being taken to fix the many structural and logistical issues plaguing the stadium. All of which also raises broader questions about whether Toronto's transit network is even capable of supporting mega-events like this without significant upgrades. (And free transit is certainly not enough to assuage the chaos.)
Whatever the case, the pressure is on; Coldplay is set to perform two more shows this week, on Friday and Saturday. If the stadium doesn't address the transit, accessibility and crowd-control concerns, it could lose public trust and putting concertgoers at real risk. Rogers Stadium is hosting two highly anticipated shows by band Oasis on August 24 and 25, the group's first tour in 16 years. K-pop group Blackpink and R&B singer Chris Brown also headline two shows each at the Rogers Stadium this summer.
As for Spencer, she's still hoping for better: 'I wish for more transparency and communication with the surrounding community. It seems [everyone] was excluded from consultation and planning processes.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
My girlfriend loves me more than I love her. Should I settle at 27, or move on?
Welcome back to 'Ask Amy & T.J.' In this week's column, Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes learn what a Zoomer is — and share some lessons learned in their 20s. We want to hear your questions about being newly single. When is it OK to bring a date around friends who knew your ex? Or post about your new partner on social media? If you have a question for Amy and T.J. about dipping your toes back into the dating pool, email it to askamyandtj@ If you want to hear more from our advice columnists, check out their podcast. Amy and T.J., I realize I might sound like a jerk, but here's my question: Should I be with someone who's really into me if I don't want them as much back? Or should I wait to find someone I'd really like to be with, but will have to work to win over? I'm a 27-year-old Zoomer deciding whether to settle for my current partner or start over and keep looking. What should I do?Gut reaction T.J. Holmes: What's that sound like? Amy Robach: It sounds like he's just not that into his partner! On further thought … AR: By the time I was 27, I'd been married for four years. TJH: Me too. We both got married at 23. AR: And we shouldn't have! TJH: And we shouldn't have! It's not that you can't have your ish together at age 27. But for many people at that age, you haven't necessarily figured out who you want to be yet. So how are you going to be ready to know what you want in a partner long-term? It isn't always a matter of age, though; it's a matter of where you are now and whether you can grow from there. Because by the time you're 34, you might not be the same person you are now. Your partner may not be either — by then they may not like you! AR: I also think that 27 is too young to settle. I know when you're 27, you feel like you've lived so much life — I did when I was 27; I thought I had figured most of it out. But you haven't. And you can't have. So if you aren't already in a relationship where you are so excited about taking the next step with that person, you should wait until you find that person. You've got plenty of time at 27. On the other hand, I do think that your generation — I didn't know you were called Zoomers — is far more picky, and that's not a bad thing. But there is no such thing as a perfect mate. You're never going to find the perfect person. What you want is to find the person who you love and respect enough that you will want to grow with them and be willing to change and evolve with them. You want to find the right person to be on that journey with you, but it's not going to be the perfect person. TJH: It's all about realistic vs. idealistic. A lot of people have this idea — we see it in Love Island USA — this fantasy of someone who makes their heart flutter, who's going to be their Prince or Princess Charming. It's OK to have standards, but if you get too attached to this idealistic expectation, now, any time you date someone, if they're not perfect, you think, 'I shouldn't settle for less.' Settling for less is not the same as being realistic about what you really want in a relationship. Don't let perfect get in the way of good. And sometimes what you have is perfectly good. So, before you make a decision, maybe ask yourself whether you want to throw away the relationship you have to try to get the perfect one. Maybe you can grow to be head over heels? If this woman cares about you that much, maybe eventually you'll realize that you have something special? AR: I think that might be possible. And it's why you need to be honest with your partner. Explain that you're not where they are emotionally yet, but you're not ready to end things. Ask for patience, but make it clear that you can't promise a ring at the end of this. And honestly, your partner might say 'bye' when you come clean. But I think anyone you're dating should get that opportunity to know where your head is and make a decision for themselves. It's not just you making this decision; your partner is in this relationship too. The final word TJH: The key word, though, is settle. Any time you insert that into a sentence regarding the person you're with, I think that's a wrap. That's done, it's over. You can think about being realistic vs. idealistic. But the word 'settle' is a big problem. AR: You should never settle. You can talk to your partner honestly about seeing if your feelings might grow. But don't settle. Because it might just feel like 'settling' right now, early on in the relationship. But if you stay together and you really feel like you're settling, it will turn into resentment and full-blown anger and depression. It can lead to a lot of really negative things. If your relationship is starting at settling, it's not going to end well. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
How to handle a PR crisis: Astronomer embraces viral Coldplay kiss cam scandal with Gwyneth Paltrow
It's the scandal that has pushed the internet into overdrive. Now, instead of crumbling, the company impacted by the now-infamous 'kiss-cam' Coldplay incident has decided to put a positive spin on their CEO's on-screen transgression. After being thrust into the spotlight, Astronomer has released a new promo video featuring none other than actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who has become the temporary spokesperson for company. The Hollywood actress, who used to be married to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, agreed to join in on the viral moment, which caught married Astronomer CEO Andy Byron with his arms around Kristin Cabot, the company's HR chief, during a Coldplay gig. Paltrow can be seen in the new one-minute Astronomer video, thanking the public for their interest in the company – which up until recently was largely unknown to the general public. 'I've been hired on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of the 300-plus employees at Astronomer,' she says in the clip. 'Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days – and they wanted me to answer the most common ones.' A question is then typed out on the screen that reads: 'OMG, what the actual…' Before the final four-letter-word-beginning-with-an-F-and-ending-with-an-UCK appears, the video cuts back to Paltrow, who goes on to promote some of the services Astronomer offers. 'We've been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation.' Another question then pops up on the screen: 'How is your social media team holding up?' Again, before the sentence fully appears, Paltrow interrupts to say that Astronomer still has tickets for an upcoming conference in September. 'We'll now be returning to what we do best: delivering game-changing results for our customers,' she adds at the end of the video. It's a canny move from Astronomer, which has clearly understood that the viral 'Coldplaygate' needn't be a source of (total) ridicule and that the now-pop culture phenomenon could be spun to their advantage. Instead of ignoring the issue and dodging questions, their strategy has been to embrace the embarrassment and own it. And Paltrow is not the only celebrity attached to the company's cheeky retort, as Ryan Reynold's company, Maximum Effort, announced its involvement in the video. "Thank you for your interest in Maximum Effort, @astronomerio! We'll now get back to what we do best: motion pictures with Hugh Jackman, Fastvertising and Wrexham football," Maximum Effort's X post read. "We'll leave data workflow automation to Gwyneth Pa... Astronomer." Maximum Effort makes ads and movies - often with an irreverent tone that mirrors Reynold's comedic style. Astronomer's co-founder and new CEO, Pete DeJoy, thanked Maximum Effort in a LinkedIn post on Sunday. "I'd also like to thank the team at Maximum Effort for their remarkable work with our very temporary spokesperson," DeJoy said. "As Gwyneth Paltrow said, now it's time for us to return to what we do best: delivering game-changing results for our customers. We look forward to what this next chapter holds for Astronomer." Days after the Coldplaygate clip went viral, it was revealed that Byron had resigned from Astronomer. Then, on 25 July, Cabot also stepped down from her role as chief people officer. Their much-memed transgression has led to online streams of Coldplay's songs jumping by 20 per cent according to Luminate, the industry data and analytics company, as well as increased interest in Astronomer. The company was founded in 2018, and provides services for companies that want to leverage Artificial Intelligence. DeJoy has said that the company has faced an "unusual and surreal" amount of attention since the event. He wrote on LinkedIn: "While I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name." In the wake of Byron's resignation, Chris Martin joked about the situation: 'We'd like to say hello to some of you in the crowd and put some of you on the big screen. How we're going to do that is we're going to use our cameras and put some of you on the big screen. Please, if you haven't done your makeup, do your makeup now!' The moment has also led Liam Gallagher to joke about the incident at a recent Oasis gig, telling fans not to worry as there are no cameras focused on the crowd during their reunion tour. "Don't worry for those who are cheating we don't have that Coldplay camera here," he said. Elsewhere, a new video game inspired by the viral moment is now available to play. Coldplay Canoodlers AKA The Cheating Game sees players take on the role of a kiss-cam operator and have to scan the crowd of a stadium show looking for the loved-up pair. Check it out here. 'I vibe coded a little game called Coldplay Canoodlers. You're the camera operator and you have to find the CEO and HR lady canoodling. 10 points every time you find them,' explained game creator Jonathan Mann on X. 'I wanted to see how fast I could vibe code a simple game based on a viral moment.' As if that weren't enough, the word "Coldplayed" has become a recent addition to the dictionary, courtesy of Ultimate Classic Rock. "Coldplayed" as a verb is defined thusly: "The act of being unintentionally exposed while cheating, especially in public, usually during major events" and "To be seen at the wrong place with the wrong person at the wrong time." Solve the daily Crossword
New York Times
8 minutes ago
- New York Times
‘Real-life Happy Gilmore': Meet the hockey player who inspired the Adam Sandler movies
One day, in early 1995, Kyle McDonough had a catch-up conversation with an old buddy. A star center for the University of Vermont hockey team from 1985-89, McDonough was establishing himself as one of the best players in Norway's top professional league at the time. On the other side of an ocean, the friend was making waves in his own line of work and wanted to share some good news. Advertisement 'Remember that movie that we talked about?' Adam Sandler asked McDonough. 'We're filming it.' Set to shoot in Vancouver that summer, the project starred Sandler as a washed-out hockey player who becomes a world-class golfer after learning that his lone on-ice skill — a booming slap shot — translates to the tee box. It wasn't a huge commercial success upon its February 1996 release, grossing less than $40 million in North American theaters. But 'Happy Gilmore' proved pivotal for Sandler on his path to becoming one of the most bankable, beloved presences in comedic history, starring in projects that earned more than $3 billion at worldwide box offices and signing a recent Netflix deal worth $250 million for four films — including the hotly anticipated 'Happy Gilmore 2,' which debuted last week. And it all might have never happened without the elementary school classmate from New Hampshire known to Sandler as simply 'McD,' the guy who inspired the original 'Happy Gilmore' on a Manchester driving range some five decades ago and remains a close friend. 'You got to talk to Kyle McDonough?' Sandler said at the start of a conversation with The Athletic, a day before the sequel's release. 'The best. The king.' McDonough and Sandler first met in the early 1970s, when Sandler's family moved from New York to Manchester. Sandler was 5, McDonough was six months older. They were tight from the jump; McDonough and another friend, Sandler said, walked him to school each day 'just so I could feel comfortable.' That scored McDonough major points with Sandler's mother, Judy. '(McDonough) was talked about in my house like (he) raised me,' Sandler said. McDonough came from a family of athletes: Older brother Hubie wound up playing 195 NHL games for the Kings, Islanders and Sharks. Their father, also named Hubie, 'was a coach of everything,' Kyle said. Advertisement The family, Sandler said, would drive around Manchester in an old Volkswagen bus filled with sports equipment for seemingly every occasion — and it showed. 'Any sport we did, Kyle became better than everybody,' Sandler said. 'Best baseball player. Best football player when we were screwing around. Best hockey player by far. Could do the most chin-ups. Could do the most push-ups. Was jacked when he was 8. 'He was just the biggest stud and the nicest, humblest guy in the neighborhood. … My family loved Kyle's family. The whole family loved him.' Nobody liked Kyle more than Stan Sandler. When Adam was about 12, a conversation between father and son turned into a discussion about the latter's future. 'I go, 'I dunno Dad, I was thinking maybe a pro baseball player,'' Sandler said. 'And he goes '…Nah. That's not gonna happen. You're too slow. It could happen for Kyle McDonough, though.' 'I was like, 'Yeah, I know (that) could happen. Maybe for the both of us, man.' ''Nah. Just Kyle.'' It made sense, then, that McDonough was invited along for one of the Sandlers' early trips to the local driving range when Stan was just starting to get into golf. The first time McDonough stepped to the tee, to hear Sandler tell the story, was all it took for the seed of a movie premise to plant itself. 'He was hitting them as a young kid far enough for everybody at the range to turn their heads and go, 'What's he doing that I'm not doing?'' Sandler said. Stan Sandler's hypothesis, both that day and as the years went on, was that McDonough's hockey skill and muscles — especially in his wrists — helped him immediately thrive with a club instead of a stick. McDonough continued golfing with the Sandlers. After losing his own driver, he once even borrowed Stan's for a long-shot competition … and won. But his legacy in the sport was cemented years later, when Sandler reached into their shared past and began crafting a script about a hockey player with preternatural driving talents. 'It's a great story,' said Tim Herlihy, Sandler's longtime writing partner. 'It's great that there's a real-life Happy Gilmore.' By 1994, Sandler was acting as a regular cast member on 'Saturday Night Live' and already working with Herlihy on a second movie — even before their first, 'Billy Madison,' had been released. If Sandler's pivot from television sketch comedy to feature films was going to happen, it needed to be then. Advertisement 'They probably wouldn't have let us make another movie if we waited until 'Billy' came out to start 'Happy,'' Herlihy said. 'We needed to come up with an idea for a movie and we had nothing. So (Sandler) said, 'I actually went golfing with Kyle McDonough once. And he was whacking it. It was his first time ever playing, and he was hitting it farther than me. What about a hockey player in the golf world?' 'And that was it. It was right there.' Herlihy, of course, had already heard the lore about the McDonough brothers — he and Sandler roomed together at NYU, an easy drive for some of the latter's New Hampshire buddies. 'They drank the town dry,' Herlihy said. 'But they talked about Kyle and Hubie like they were the superstars of Manchester. These guys were just legendary.' Premiering in summer 1995, 'Billy Madison' underwhelmed at the box office and with critics. But 'Happy Gilmore' was far enough along for Sandler to break the news to McDonough. The film was shot in British Columbia, and McDonough made the trip. He spent a week watching Sandler on set and crashing with him at his hotel. 'I'm going, 'I guess this is really happening',' McDonough said. The movie went on to significantly out-earn its $12 million budget, guaranteeing Sandler and Herlihy more work. Over time, cable channels and DVD sales have turned 'Happy Gilmore' into one of the most beloved comedies of its time — and made the name synonymous with a rage-case, alligator-wrestling golfer who takes a running start on his tee shots and winds up as if preparing to hit a one-timer on the ice. But the real-life and fictional Happy Gilmores are far from perfect analogues. McDonough's hockey resume is proof. At Vermont, he led the Catamounts in scoring three out of four seasons; helped the Division 1 program make the NCAA Tournament for the first time; and earned All-American honors as a senior. Only five players in program history have logged more career points, and one is Hockey Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis. Advertisement Given McDonough's temperament – humble and mild-mannered, a coach's son – some tweaks were necessary for comedy's sake. Sandler pulled from the other hockey players he grew up with in Manchester. 'They were brawlers and ready to go and could knock back drinks, and I thought it would be funny to see that style of a guy on tour with the other dudes,' Sandler said. 'I thought the reason my guy could play was because he bangs them so long that he had an advantage. 'And that was Kyle. His first hit was always 80 yards longer than anyone else.' They also decided to play up what Herlihy called 'the blunt instrument of the temper issue,' which came naturally to Sandler. McDonough, on the other hand, never fought a coach at tryouts: 'I got cut (from a team), but not like that,' he said. Nor did he ever take off his skate and try to stab someone with it. 'We have to draw the line somewhere,' he said. Sandler's knock-kneed skating on camera was another differentiation point. 'God, that was hard to watch,' McDonough said.' I tell everyone, '(Sandler) took poetic license with that.'' Asked to scout himself as a hockey player, McDonough, who was listed at 5-feet-9 in college, showed some of the humility that Sandler mentioned. 'He's quicker than he is fast. He'll beat you to that puck right there, but down the ice, it's not gonna happen. He skates a little funny,' McDonough said. McDonough wound up playing overseas for 13 years. He piled up points across Europe — Denmark, Scotland, Sweden — but made his biggest mark with Frisk Asker in Norway's top league, scoring 33 or more goals in three of his six seasons there and leading the franchise to a championship in 2001-02 before retiring. The closest he came to Gilmore as a hockey player, McDonough said, was during one of those Norway seasons when he led the league in penalties. Naturally, he also won its scoring title. Every year, his students sniff out the Sandler connection. Typically, it doesn't happen until after Christmas. Then someone lands on the correct search results, or sifts through the entirety of the DVD special features on YouTube. And the whispers begin. For his part, McDonough leans in. Now a high school social studies teacher in Manchester, he appreciates the cachet — even if he refuses to directly answer their questions. Advertisement '(I) kind of play it off. I'll deny it,' McDonough said. 'They know that (Sandler) came from here, so it's plausible. All I say is, 'Someone had to go to first grade with him, right?'' Nearly 30 years after Happy Gilmore sank a circus shot with a hockey stick putter to win the gold jacket at the Tour Championship in the original movie, the sequel features a stronger hockey presence. Retired NHLers Sean Avery and Chris Chelios play a pair of bodyguards, credited as Henchman No. 1 and Henchman No. 2. Happy has four sons — all hockey players. He golfs in updated Bruins gear on the screen and, in character at last month's NHL Draft, announced Boston's first-round pick. That player, James Hagens, later met Sandler at the New York premiere of 'Happy Gilmore 2.' The movie also attracted extra attention for its sheer tonnage of celebrity cameos and family-reunion vibes. Bad Bunny is Happy's caddie! John Daly lives in Happy's garage! Travis Kelce gets (redacted) by a (redacted)! Sandler's daughters! Herlihy's son! All pop up, in some fashion. So does McDonough, who made the final cut as a caddie for Charles Howell III. He attended the premiere, too, where he was particularly excited to talk to Judy Sandler. Stan Sandler passed away in 2003 at 68, three years after Sandler released a spoken comedy album called 'Stan and Judy's Kid.' 'I hate to say it, it's so cliché: (Sandler) is one of the guys,' McDonough said. 'I've never been with him where he said no to a picture. And it's everywhere. It's constant. It's so unbelievable. How he's stayed like he is, is just baffling. It comes back to Stan and Judy.' Given the sequel's summer publicity rounds — Sandler mentioned McDonough's name on the Kelce brothers' podcast, for one — the whispers around the real-life Happy Gilmore might start earlier than normal when school begins on Sept. 5. Another recent development for McDonough: After more than 20 years on the bench, including for his former high school and current employer at Manchester Memorial, he's done as a hockey coach. Now, he coaches golf. (Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; Archive Photos / Getty)
