Where Los Angeles and New York have multiple sports/entertainment arenas, Toronto gets by with the extremely busy Scotiabank Arena .That was the takeaway from a panel discussion on the state of the live music industry at Canadian Music Week inthis week. The country’s biggest cities apparently need more arenas and amphitheatres to meet the demands of fans and promoters.
Pistore said the overhaul of the Hamilton barn built in 1985 will make it a “world class venue” that will revitalize the Hammer’s downtown core and handle Toronto’s live music overflow: “We expect it will do for Hamilton what Staples Center did for Los Angeles,” he says, referring to what is now Crypto.com Arena.
The state of the live music – at least for big names –is more or less hunky-dory. Led by Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, the industry had a record-breaking summer in 2023. Still, recent tour cancellations by the Black Keys and Jennifer Lopez raised alarm bells. Have audiences had enough of escalating ticket prices? Are too many bands touring too often? Are Lopez fans finally coming to their senses?brought by U.S. Department of Justice last month against Live Nation Entertainment Inc.
The Ticketmaster issue was not brought up in the CMW discussion by the moderator, music journalist Karen Bliss. Which was odd, given that Patti-Anne Tarlton, executive vice president with Ticketmaster Global, wasAs was Debra Rathwell, executive vice president of global touring and talent with Live Nation rival AEG Presents.