Rogers Stadium is ‘on track' to open this month, Live Nation Canada confirms, after images of the concert mega-venue emerge on social media
We're just weeks away from the official opening date for Rogers Stadium, a massive open-air — and temporary — music venue that is set to host some of Toronto's biggest concerts this summer, including highly anticipated shows from Oasis and K-pop supergroup Blackpink.
The 50,000-seat colossus — not to be confused with Rogers Centre (the downtown baseball stadium that also hosts dozens of live music events) — under construction at the former site of Downsview Airport will kick the summer concert season off with the Korean boy band Stray Kids on June 29. The stadium will host a total of 14 concerts between June and September.
Work continues behind Downsview Park's Rogers Stadium, an upcoming 50,000 capacity outdoor venue set to arrive later this year. https://t.co/QCosKazdsl #Toronto #construction #development #UTForum pic.twitter.com/93e3thmBnx
— UrbanToronto (@Urban_Toronto) May 29, 2025
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Winnipeg Free Press
5 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
National Arts Centre Orchestra's tour to Korea and Japan serves up Beethoven, Oscar Peterson, and some cultural diplomacy
TOKYO – The daily operation of an orchestra typically runs like clockwork — every minute is meticulously scheduled, rehearsals are tightly run, and the search for precision is constant. What better way to test the strength of this refined apparatus than to take it out on the road, and bring it to an audience that may be very familiar with the music, but not with the musicians? The National Arts Centre Orchestra is at the tail end of an 11-day tour to South Korea and Japan that included stops in Busan, Gumi, Seoul, Tokyo, and Tsu, wrapping up with a performance in Osaka on Saturday. Some 2,500 patrons showed up to their performance at the Seoul Arts Center. Approximately 60 world-class musicians are on this trip, and at the centre of this musical gyre is conductor Alexander Shelley. Squeezing in time in-between rehearsals to meet in the lobby of a Tokyo hotel, Shelley laughed when asked if he had time to explore the city. Shelley described the trip as a mission of cultural diplomacy as much as one that brings the orchestra to new audiences. ' The most exciting part of it for me is not demonstrating how special — even when it's true — the country of origin is that we are representing, but in fact how much the things that we're all looking to experience and articulate are shared,' he said. This was the orchestra's first appearance in Seoul, and its first time back in Japan in 40 years. An international orchestra tour is a mighty expensive endeavour. The tour came with a budget of approximately $2 million, funded in part by philanthropic donations, said Annabelle Cloutier, strategy, governance and public affairs executive at the National Arts Centre. It mobilized more than 110 artists and musicians, and engaged over 16 regional partners across 47 unique community events. It took three years to meticulously plan for this titanic trip field, accounting for the more than 50,000 cubic metres of cargo that made the trip over. These metrics might seem like a high price tag even for the long string of concerts presented. But this tour also coincided with a few diplomatic projects. The concert in Seoul, for example, closed out the Korea-Canada Year of Cultural Exchanges ─ a joint effort to commemorate 60 years of diplomatic relations. Likewise, the Japan leg of the tour featured quite a few engagements with the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, wherein the embassy's Oscar Peterson Theatre serves as the venue for the ongoing centennial celebration of the legendary Canadian jazz pianist. Shelley said tours like these help to establish cultural common ground. ' I don't think I could do my job unless I believed at the most profound level that the human experience is constant across time and across culture. A Korean woman born 300 years ago would've had a very different experience of life to me growing up in London in the ''80s. But I think that the underlying motivations and experiences would've been identical: hope and fear, ambition and love, loss and melancholy.' The contrast between hope and fear is one that Shelley particularly savours in Beethoven's Fifth symphony, which made several appearances in programs along this tour. As he notes regularly, it is the first symphony that starts in a dark minor key and ends in a more hopeful major. Shelley makes the case that Canada's national orchestra performing the German composer's work to Korean and Japanese audiences does more to strengthen the ties that bind than emphasize the differences that divide. 'If we do it right, this man who lived in Germany a long time ago, whose life is completely different from ours, tapped into something that we can all recognize. When we connect with each other properly, we recognize this deep current that courses through human history. And that for me is what real cultural diplomacy is about.' The tour included compositions by Canadians including Kelly-Marie Murphy, Keiko Devaux, and Oscar Peterson, while among the standout homegrown performers are the emerging British Columbia pianist Jaeden Izik-Dzurko and established violinist Adrian Anantawan from Ontario. Shelley will leave his role as music director with NACO at the end of the 2025/26 season. After more than 10 years on the podium, he will become Music and Artistic Director of Pacific Symphony in California. Shelley's words of advice for his eventual successor are to urge them to contemplate the question: 'Why an orchestra? What role does it serve?' Michael Zarathus-Cook is a Toronto-based freelance writer, the chief editor of 'Cannopy Magazine,' and a medical student at the University of Toronto. The National Arts Centre sponsored his trip to South Korea and Japan. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6.
Toronto Star
17 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Rogers Stadium is ‘on track' to open this month, Live Nation Canada confirms, after images of the concert mega-venue emerge on social media
We're just weeks away from the official opening date for Rogers Stadium, a massive open-air — and temporary — music venue that is set to host some of Toronto's biggest concerts this summer, including highly anticipated shows from Oasis and K-pop supergroup Blackpink. The 50,000-seat colossus — not to be confused with Rogers Centre (the downtown baseball stadium that also hosts dozens of live music events) — under construction at the former site of Downsview Airport will kick the summer concert season off with the Korean boy band Stray Kids on June 29. The stadium will host a total of 14 concerts between June and September. Work continues behind Downsview Park's Rogers Stadium, an upcoming 50,000 capacity outdoor venue set to arrive later this year. #Toronto #construction #development #UTForum — UrbanToronto (@Urban_Toronto) May 29, 2025
CTV News
2 days ago
- CTV News
Part toy, part fashion, the arrival of the viral Labubu was a long time in the making
Labubu, the plush toy from China's Pop Mart is a social media darling, but the toothy little monsters are far from an overnight success. Having appeared a decade ago, Labubus may have finally cemented their place in the collectible toy market for years to come. The Labubu, by artist and illustrator Kasing Lung, first appeared with pointed ears and pointy teeth, in three picture books inspired by Nordic mythology in 2015. In 2019 Lung struck a deal with Pop Mart, a company that caters to toy connoisseurs and influencers, to sell Labubu figurines. But it wasn't until Pop Mart started selling Labubu plush toys on key rings in 2023 that the toothy monsters suddenly seemed to be everywhere, including in the hands of Rihanna, Kim Kardashian and NBA star Dillon Brooks. K-pop singer Lisa of Blackpink began posting images of hers for her more than 100 million followers on Instagram and on TikTok, where Labubu pandemonium has broken out. There are 1.4 million #Labubu TikTok posts and counting, videos of fans unboxing them, showing styles inspired by them, and of course, Labubu cosplay. Fans have latched on to Labubu's mashup of play and fashion, making them accessories on handbags, backpacks and belts, or hanging them from car mirrors. 'The character has evolved into a collectible and style symbol, resonating with fans who connect with its quirky aesthetic and unique backstory,' Emily Brough, Popmart's head of IP licensing in the Americas, said. Labubu has been a bonanza for Pop Mart. Its revenue more than doubled in 2024 to 13.04 billion yuan (US$1.81 billion), thanks in part to its elvish monster. Revenue from Pop Mart's plush toys soared more than 1,200% in 2024, nearly 22% of its overall revenue, according to the company's annual report. Aside from their ability to pique the interest of toy aficionados and fashionistas, Labubu latched on to the blind box phenomenon, where the purchaser doesn't know exactly which version of the plush toy they'll get. And Pop Mart made sure there is a Labubu for everyone, regardless of income. Most are priced in a wide rage between $20 and $300, with certain collaborations or limited editions priced higher, according to Brough. Unlike many toys, Labubu devotees include a large number of adults. Buyers ages 18 and over drove a year-over-year increase of more than $800 million in the U.S. toy market in 2024, according to market research firm Circana. Adult shoppers, mostly female, bought the toys for themselves. In 2025's first quarter, toy sales for those ages 18 and over rose 12% from the prior-year period. At $1.8 billion, adults also accounted for the highest spending among all age groups in the quarter. Like many retailers, Pop Mart is actively monitoring negotiations between the U.S. and just about every one of its trading partners as prices may be impacted. The situation with China is at the forefront, with President Donald Trump saying on Friday that the country 'violated' an agreement with the United States on trade talks. Right now Pop Mart, whose products are manufactured across Asia, says that it is continuously scaling production and expanding distribution across its online shop, retail stores and blind box vending machines to meet increasing demand. Short supply has led to long lines at stores and at least one physical fight at a shopping center in the United Kingdom. Pop Mart said in an Instagram post late last month that it was temporarily suspending all in-store and blind box machine sales in the U.K. Peter Shipman, head of Europe, said in a Facebook post that the company is currently working on a new method to distribute toys to stores. Resellers have become problematic and many Labubu fans are still willing to pay exorbitant price markups. Kena Flynn was at The Grove shopping center in Los Angeles recently when she stumbled upon some Labubus being sold at a kiosk. Flynn said in a TikTok on Sunday that the prices were 'really bad,' but her boyfriend bought two anyway. 'At a certain point, you can't buy them,' Flynn said in her video. 'I just want a Labubu and I cannot buy one from Pop Mart, so here we are.' Looking to keep up with the overwhelming demand, Pop Mart says it's on track for 50 more retail locations in the U.S. by the end of the year. That'll give shoppers more chances to hunt for Labubus, as Pop Mart says it's planning multiple new Labubu releases tied to seasonal moments and holidays throughout the rest of the year. Michelle Chapman, The Associated Press
