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.
'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.'
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.'
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