Avril to play Metro Pop rocker latest addition to busy Moncton concert schedule
By Eric Lewis Times & Transcript Staff Published Wednesday April 23rd, 2008
Appeared on page A1
Hot on the heels of the announcement that rocker Lenny Kravitz is making his first trip to the Hub City, promoter Gillett Entertainment Group of Montreal announced yesterday yet another concert headed to the city.
Pop-punk princess Avril Lavigne is returning to the Moncton Coliseum on Saturday, Aug. 9. Tickets for the show go on sale this Saturday, one day after tickets go on sale for Kravitz's show, scheduled for Oct. 20.
If you haven't noticed, it's shaping up to be a busy year for Moncton music fans.
In addition to the crown jewel of Metro concerts this year, The Eagles performing at the Magnetic Hill Music Festival on Aug. 2, Alice Cooper, Avril Lavigne, Lenny Kravitz, Johnny Reid, Bob Dylan, Sarah Slean, George Thorogood & The Destroyers and Matthew Good are all scheduled to perform in the city over the next several months.
In addition, pop-punk band Simple Plan is expected to announce a summer show at the Moncton Coliseum in the next week or so, and a source at one of the major concert promoters in the country tells the Times & Transcript that at least one other "big, big name" is in talks to perform here as well, but they wouldn't divulge any details.
Could it be Sir Elton John? Speculation that the music legend was eyeing the East Coast was stirred up in February when concert promoter Live Nation said John was considering playing "three or four" concerts in Atlantic Canada this year.
We'll have to wait and see on that one, but Simple Plan's show is looking like it will take place.
On the band's myspace web page, the Moncton Coliseum is listed on Aug. 22 alongside dates in Saint John, Halifax and St. John's.
A spokesperson for GEG in Montreal says the Simple Plan show is likely going to happen but hasn't yet been confirmed. They anticipated the show, if it indeed is to take place, will be announced within the next week or so.
Taking a quick glance at 2008 so far in Moncton yields several other heavyweight acts. George Jones, Anne Murray, Blue Rodeo, Ozzy Osbourne, Sum 41 and Michael Bublé have all performed here in the last few months.
All of this isn't even counting the other major events coming to the city in the next few months. The Coliseum is playing host to World Wrestling Entertainment and the Monster Spectacular show next month. In June, Fabuleux Cirque Estival will take over the building, and in September the ever-popular Blue Man Group will perform.
It's a far cry from three or four years ago when letters regularly appeared in the Times & Transcript's Forum pages decrying the lack of music in the Hub City.
Jeff Cormier was one of those letter writers, but he says he won't be writing more of those letters anytime soon.
"I wouldn't call (Moncton) a concert mecca, but it's really nice to be able to pick and choose between concerts," says the longtime local musician. "I never would have thought in my wildest dreams we'd have The Eagles coming. And Lenny Kravitz was just announced, Alice Cooper is coming... it's great."
As a music fan, Cormier says it's nice to not have to travel to Montreal, Toronto or Boston and spend hundreds of dollars just to see a quality live act. Plus, he notes, all of the money stays in Moncton.
"And they're bringing in different acts," he says. "It's not just Def Leppard coming here once a year anymore."
Cormier says the Coliseum selling out in record time for Ozzy Osbourne in January was evidence that music fans are clamouring for something different.
So what's changed in the last few years and turned Moncton's conc
ert fortunes around?
Shane Porter, coordinator for major events and concerts for Recreation, Parks, Tourism and Culture with the City of Moncton, says a few factors have turned the tide.
"There are more acts on tour now for longer periods, it seems," he says. "And a lot of people are attributing that to record sales and the way people sell music is completely changing, and therefore artists are having to tour more."
Also worthy of credit, he says, are the music fans among us. Moncton was always known as a place that bought tickets at the last minute, something concert promoters don't like. But in recent years, Moncton has picked up the pace.
"We're a hot location to sell tickets to right now, and the promoters know that," he says. "We're starting to see more shows because of that."
Country, rock, folk and pop are all represented in the coming months.
But it begs the question -- how much is too much? Is Moncton at risk of oversaturating the market with all of these shows we have coming up?
"That's a valid question, and it's one we've been wrestling with for a while now," Porter continues. "We're definitely going to know what the market will bear after a year like this. We're not quite finished yet, there's still a few more announcements to come."
Porter says he doesn't think the city can keep this number of concerts up forever, but he says this year should give the city an idea how many the market can stand.
He admits though, just about every show has done quite well so far this year.
"We're trying very hard not to (overdo it), but when opportunity arises, it's hard to turn them down."
While he won't be writing any more letters of complaint over the city's lack of big-time concerts, Jeff Cormier says he may still write about our concert venue, the Coliseum.
"It's a 35-year-old building," he says, noting that the ceiling is simply too small to house big shows.
In January, "I saw Ozzy in Moncton, and I saw him in Halifax, and the Halifax show had a lot of things Moncton didn't. It had a big cross with Ozzy's name across it in lights and two big video screens to the sides of the stage."
The Coliseum's low ceiling makes it difficult for acts to set up their entire stage show. Cormier, like many music fans, would like to see a new arena in the city for major shows.
Porter says the new track stadium that is coming will be an option for concerts going forward, so it's possible music fans will get more and more chances to try out a modern venue.
Avril Lavigne is the latest big concert announcement. Currently on a world tour for her third album The Best Damn Thing, Lavigne will perform in Moncton, Saint John, Halifax and St. John's on this tour.
This will be her second performance in Moncton. Her first took place on Sept. 1, 2005. Tickets to her August date go on sale this Saturday, April 26, at 9 a.m. Special guest at the show will be rockers Boys Like Girls.
Lavigne's latest album has yielded the hits "Girlfriend", "When You're Gone", "Hot" and newest single "The Best Damn Thing". Some of her previous hits include "Complicated", "My Happy Ending" and "Don't Tell Me".
The 23-year-old's last show in Moncton sold out quickly, so anyone wanting to go should purchase their tickets early.
n Tickets to Avril Lavigne's show on Saturday, Aug. 9, go on sale this Saturday, April 26. Tickets are $49.50-$54.50 plus service charges. They will be available at the Moncton Coliseum box office, online at
www.tickets.moncton.ca or
GEG.ca or by phone at 857-4100.