As recently as a week ago, Rogers Stadium in Downsview Park looked to be little more than three hulking blue grandstands, lying among billowing grass and baking in the humid air of a Toronto heatwave.
It was not listed on the park’s sprawling directory map, even as a daycare centre and a TTC warehouse were given top billing on signage.
But that sleepiness transformed into glee Sunday evening when K-pop superstars Stray Kids bounded out onto the stage and sent 50,000 screaming fans into a state of near-hysteria.
A once sleepy, open concrete runway became a bustling hub of excitement.
The performance was more than just an opportunity for excitable concertgoers to see their favourite artist; it was the opening night for a venue that had long been anticipated.
Parking and logistics have dominated conversations about the venue’s viability and experience, and the early moments of opening night showed why. Lines were long and often confusingly arranged, and getting to the venue was a challenge for some.
The 632-space parking lot at the nearby Sheppard West subway station filled up by 4:30 p.m., a full three hours before the performance was due to begin, and the stadium’s ride-share and pick-up spot — which itself was a 12-minute walk to the nearest gate — likewise, was flooded with cars, spilling some traffic onto nearby Wilson Avenue.
Some, like Marcia Bodner, had their Ubers try to access closed entrances, leaving them to make awkward U-turns amidst traffic.
This was after the 58-year-old mistakenly booked a hotel close to Rogers Centre, not realizing that the site of the Stray Kids show was at a different venue than the similarly named home of the Blue Jays.
Once she realized the error and planned accordingly, however, it was smooth sailing.
“There was no problem,” said the 58-year-old Bodner, who drove from Murrysville, Pa., for the show. “I just followed the crowd of young ladies till I got here.”
It’s been three decades since a new, 10,000-person-plus venue opened in Toronto, and Rogers Stadium far exceeds that threshold, with 32,000 fixed seats and a vast floor that can hold over 17,000 between seated sections and the general admission pit.
As expected, concessions were pricey, with the cheapest beer coming in at $14.75 and Randy’s Patties — normally $2.85 a pop at their Eglinton Avenue West location — going for $8.
Most fans, though, spent the pre-show hours excitedly buzzing about and it appeared as though most of the issues were restricted to the venue’s exterior.
Christine Anderson, a high school teacher from Sudbury, Ont., said that the venue’s staff was well-prepared both for the show itself and the exclusive pre-show merchandise sale Saturday morning.
“It was super easy,” Anderson, 52, told the Star. “They were super prepared.”
Perhaps Mikus Peirhas, a 21-year-old Torontonian who arrived well ahead of the fan plaza’s opening, put it best when describing the venue’s opening night. The set-up wasn’t perfect — and there were factors that the venue’s staff simply couldn’t control, like the soggy lawns caused by the previous day’s rain — but it worked for the hordes of enthusiastic concertgoers.
“Honestly, for the first time, it’s pretty OK,” Peirhas said. “The first time, there’s going to be problems. It’s not — pardon my French — a s—-show as I thought it would be.”
Live Nation will hope to keep the good times rolling with a four-night run from Coldplay in July, back-to-back performances from K-pop quartet Blackpink and appearances by Chris Brown and Oasis in August. System of a Down and Hozier also appear in late-summer shows.
