Quote:
Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger
As I've said before though, it isn't like Calgary and Edmonton used to both get every concert.
It wasn't uncommon for some acts to skip Calgary and some to skip Edmonton. It is unfair to say we lost all of those to the arena issue, as some of them may have not played here regardless.
That being said, the new arena in Edmonton is clearly the difference in the recent bias toward our neighbors in the north.
The interesting part will be what happens when we get our new arena. The cities are big enough that most acts will play both, but the really big hitters will probably still only pick one.
How depressing would it be if we did get a new arena but still didn't get the concerts?
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The thing is that Edmonton is in a really bad location if you're an act planning out a route to go on tour. Logistically it's a massive detour to take your bus convoy out on no matter what direction you approach it from and it's not cheap to haul everything there and back without any logical venues to bridge the distance in between. When I was living out in Halifax it was a big talking point about how massive acts like U2 or Bruce Springsteen would opt to perform in Moncton instead because Nova Scotia is a massive geographical cul-de-sac that's a pain in the ass to get in and out of for most artists. It's essentially the same deal with Edmonton.
Calgary ought to make a lot more sense for big tours if you're performing dates to cross the PNW into the Midwest, the fact that it's routinely skipped over to take a big northward spike regardless of the logistical hurdle it creates to do so speaks to something significant being up.