Simple Plan / Kings of Leon......Sault concerts?

[CANVIK]

Once again it is nice to see two large Canadian concert tours being advertised on MCTV. The two seperate tours are Simple Plan and Kings of Leon, each with opening acts travelling to Sault Ste. Marie.........and continuing right on. Stops in major centres, Winnipeg before the Sault then three or four days later in Toronto and the other same length of time but on to London. Maybe it's time for the City to take modern tourism seriously and build a venue for local concerts than can serve that little area between Winnipeg, Detroit, and Toronto. We are right in the middle of "nowhere" but these acts are here already.....regularly, every single year, many acts travelling right through our city, on to the bigger venues. More seats in the Essar, or an amphitheater in this city.....once again, Sault Ste. Marie misses the boats!!!

[Anapeg]

The Essar along with it's predecessor are vaguely akin to listening to some one who is ****se yell into a bucket. Build it. Build it large. Build it well. Five hundred mile radius is a fair draw.

[Karen-Annie]

Are we talking about this AGAIN???? I think that it is a lock that the City of Sault Ste. Marie will NOT be building the kind of venue you're talking about anytime in the near future.....the Essar was downsized from the the original plans because of the $$ and the uproar from a larger segment of the citizenry. And given the attendance figures at a number of the events, I don't see them springing for larger concert/show venue.

The only was there will be a venue like you're talking about for Sault Ste. Marie is for some private entity to build one......and with the global economic situation I doubt anybody will be popping out of the woodwork willing to sink their $$ in such a venture.

[Anapeg]

Come on Karen, what else to do on an otherwise blaw Saturday afternoon.

[verotik66]

just write a letter and thank the small minds at city all for a job mediocre done.

[The 6th Member Of AC/DC]

When other cities that have venues comparable in size or smaller than the Sault get decent entertainment it is more an issue of the competency of the events organizer....

[icemantbi]

More chance of seeing Kings of Leon/Simple Plan playing at 2,000 seat Dream Makers theatre at Kewadin than playing the Essar Center.

Be happy with Joan Jett!

[Mr belsito]

I had this convo last nite about the essar, city council is (blank) insert name !

[jwarner-smith]

Stop your complaining. Sault Ste. Marie is an extremely good "small market" when it comes to this sort of thing.

You will not get Kings of Leon in a small market at this point in their career. They're playing 20,000 seat major arena shows. So buy the O2 arena DVD and watch that instead.

Simple Plan would likely draw what Billy Talent or Hedley drew when they played here. Under 3,000.

The Essar Centre has done an INCREDIBLE job of attracting world class entertainment to this town in the few years it's been open. Elton John, KISS, Mötley Crüe, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, The Backstreet Boys, Blue Man Group, Bryan Adams, David Copperfield, Jerry Seinfeld, Sheryl Crow, The Tragically Hip, Barenaked Ladies, Heaven & Hell, Megadeth and quite a few others.

You guys are probably doing more harm than good to this town's reputation by sitting on here crying over some unresonable expectation that you have and I just wish you'd stop!

[SIMBA]

When other cities that have venues comparable in size or smaller than the Sault get decent entertainment it is more an issue of the competency of the events organizer....

Agreed. If Sault Michigan can get the big names I don't see why this city can't.

[Koss]

Sault Michigan gets the big acts because the Casino is willing to lose money on the shows in order to get people to gamble.

[lynys]

Sault Michigan gets the big acts because the Casino is willing to lose money on the shows in order to get people to gamble.

We have a winner!!!!

[CANVIK]

More wishfull thinking than complaining going on here. This "Small Market" has a large catchment area, which in the past has proven itself succcessful in hosting large events. One only has to look back to the days of Cornfest and Castle Farms to see that with a proper venue, big acts, and the right management, events of this size are attainable. I don't blame any of them for getting out of the business. I don't think the hassles of 20,000 fans is worth the liabilities associated with holding an event in a small village location without accomodations or proper transportation. My view is that there would be no better place in this large catchment area to hold events like this than in the city where we have hotels, transit, etc etc. The city has staff paid to attract events / concerts to this city, why not the odd large outdoor event at the Gateway Site, Topsail Island, Rocky DePietro Field. "Small Market" does not have to equal small mind.

[opinionated]

Unfortunately the Soo sucks when it comes to bringing crowds to concerts. There was a recent FREE concert that had Bedouin Soundclash and Broken Social Scene....COMPLETELY FREE, and the turnout was horrifyingly embarrassing. Mind you, the marketing for that concert was not well done (in my opinion).


Kings of Leon would be awesome, but I could bet that the crowd they draw would be abysmal. Keep in mind that artists do talk to each other as well!

[Mimi]

INXS played here about 4 years ago to about 2,000 people. It was the last concert of their successful come back World Tour with JD Fortune that filled much bigger venues. They had an excellent marketing campaign for that Tour and the turnout was also embarassing. They were fantastic.

[CANVIK]

I agree, quite a few concerts around here have had a poor turn out. I believe though, there is a big difference between dollars spent advetising on Q-104, Rock 101 and MCTV with the in house box office versus the availability of tickets for events through Ticket Master and the world wide customer base they have. Isn't this about bringing artists and tourists to the city??? I do believe a few of our shows have been promoted by Ticket Master at requirement of the artists contracts....KISS, Elton John, etc.......you know, the ones that sold out

[The 6th Member Of AC/DC]

The fans got KISS here, not Essar. The past two summer schedules here have been brutal. Looks like he goes on vacation for 2 months lol. They have missed the boat on several tours, trust me, I know!!