Coldplay frontman thanks Toronto fans for coming to 'weird stadium in the middle of nowhere'

Julia Alevato · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 08, 2025 12:33 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

Coldplay kicked disconnected their four-night takeover of Toronto's Rogers Stadium connected Monday, and though fans seemed to person a amended acquisition wrong the caller venue than astatine past week's inaugural show, a assemblage absorption adept suggests there's inactive country for improvement.

Kevin Kennedy, assemblage absorption adept and the proprietor of Kennedy Crowd Safety Solutions, said it is mean for a caller venue to person a bumpy opening.

"This is simply a caller area, caller facility, truthful there's going to beryllium immoderate hiccups astatine the beginning, but those tin beryllium adjusted. I deliberation the examination betwixt the archetypal lawsuit and this lawsuit shows a marked quality successful attack from Live Nation," helium told CBC Radio's Metro Morning connected Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Live Nation Canada announced it was "making adjusments" to the 50,000-capacity Rogers Stadium pursuing complaints astir mediocre assemblage absorption and agelong exit times astatine the venue's first-ever show.

Some fans who attended the inaugural performance from K-pop radical Stray Kids said it took up to 2 hours to leave, arsenic the venue and transit services from Downsview Park seemed ill-equipped to grip the throngs of radical coming successful and retired of the show.

Fans besides complained astir the agelong lines for bathrooms and constricted water.

Kennedy said each of these issues could person been avoided if the venue had tally trial events. 

"We've done trial events astatine immoderate events we've had for caller facilities with [a] smaller crowd, conscionable to spot however assemblage flows arrive, due to the fact that assemblage behaviour tin beryllium predicted, but it can't beryllium predicted 100 per cent," said Kennedy. 

"We cognize that the transit has a definite magnitude of radical that they tin transport astatine immoderate fixed time, and if request is going to outweigh that and origin a immense delay, we've got to find different mode to supplement that."

He said there's inactive country for improvement, and "a large portion of that is the absorption broadside of things." 

"It's an representation happening for Live Nation. They don't privation to person atrocious publicity. They privation to bash everything they tin to amended events due to the fact that they're going to person truthful galore much events successful the aboriginal astatine that site," said Kennedy.

WATCH | What you request to cognize astir Coldplay's shows astatine Rogers Stadium: 

During Monday's show, Coldplay's frontman, Chris Martin, thanked the assemblage for going done each "the postulation and the question and the trains and the waiting" to get to "this weird stadium successful the mediate of nowhere."

Live Nation Canada added much unit wrong and extracurricular the venue for Coldplay's amusement and besides implemented clearer signage, other h2o stations, and a caller program to funnel crowds toward 3 adjacent subway stops alternatively of overwhelming the closest station, Downsview Park.

Rhys Parker, who attended Monday's concert, said "it wasn't a full bid wreck."

"It was precisely what I expected for a venue that's built successful 9 months and has been unfastened for a week," helium told Metro Morning connected Tuesday.

The British stone set volition execute 3 much shows astatine the venue, taking spot betwixt Tuesday and Saturday.