Not that I am a fan of country music, but I was keeping an eye on this rumour because I knew Halifax was bidding on this concert as well and I wanted Moncton to get it. Mainly because Halifax has been trying to be like Moncton ever since our badass Rolling Stones concert. That city just couldn’t handle the fact that a smaller city like us could get an act that big and draw THAT many fans. Well Halifax, we got another one, and it looks like this is going to lead us once again into new possibilities. Moncton is now becoming a major force in the Atlantic region when it comes to large outdoor concerts.
If you want to read all the details, and some good info about Moncton’s concert future and status, click the Read More link and read the article from the Times Transcript.
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You-all can dust off thet cowboy hat, Moncton; the Hill’s gonna rock agin.
The Times & Transcript has learned the city will host what is expected to be the biggest country-and-western tour in the world this year with country sweethearts Faith Hill and Tim McGraw headlining Country Rocks the Hill II on Saturday, Sept. 1.
The two hottest stars in country music today are said to be headlining seven big supporting acts for a show set for the Labour Day weekend, with tickets starting at $130 to go on sale April 13.
Supporting acts remained a mystery yesterday although they may be revealed at a news conference set for the Moncton Coliseum and Agrena Complex this morning if it turns out, as suspected, that it is to serve as the official announcement for the show.
According to sources the news conference will get a little help from the two biggest country acts in Metro this year, the Divorcees and Shirley Albert.
The Divorcees completed a national tour in December and are already booked to head out for more of the same through the summer, returning to Moncton from the west coast just in time for the Hill.
Albert, meanwhile, was nominated for Country Album of the Year at the 2007 East Coast Music Awards in Halifax this winter.
Word has it the Divorcees and Albert will be the opening acts for a show that starts at 2 p.m. and goes to about 10:30 p.m. barring encores.
The main act is set for about 8 p.m.
Details such as food concessions are in the hands of the promoters, who weren’t confirming anything yesterday.
However, sources say the official beer is Budweiser, the official soft drink is Coca Cola and like last year, there will be designated parking, viewing and dining areas for VIP ticket holders.
Today’s announcement signals the Metro area’s emergence as the premier outdoor venue for music in Atlantic Canada, despite a drive from Halifax to compete for the business.
Halifax’s World Trade Centre Inc. tried to wrest the Brooks & Dunn-led country show from Moncton last year and earlier in 2006 brought the Rolling Stones to Halifax, drawing about 25,000 people to its main outdoor site at the Halifax Commons, compared to the 80,000-plus who showed up at Magnetic Hill for the Stones in the summer of 2005.
Halifax also submitted a last-minute bid this year to take the Hill/McGraw-led show from Moncton, even applying to the provincial government for a grant.
The grant, said by sources to be at least $100,000, was intended to be applied directly to Halifax’s bid to the promoters in an attempt to undercut Moncton’s bid.
Evidently it didn’t work and it seems likely that, with Halifax still attempting to repair the ground at the Commons after it was damaged during the Stones show almost a year ago, Magnetic Hill’s performance over the last two years made the difference.
Moncton has also taken a different approach to financing its re-entry into the outdoor music scene after several off again, on again attempts to use a sprawling natural amphitheatre located near the Magnetic Hill tourism facility, first used for the visit of Pope John Paul II to Moncton in 1984.
As soon as the Stones were confirmed in the spring of 2005 the city launched a modest investment strategy designed to improve Moncton’s position in bidding for all shows by improving site infrastructure, rather than blowing public cash on undercutting the competition for one specific show.
That way the money stays here rather than just going to the promoters.
Thus, the city’s entire investment this year is $250,000, set down in the 2007-08 capital works budget, so music-lovers can expect to see a gradually improving site at Magnetic Hill.
For example the city’s initial investment in 2005 improved drainage and security fencing at the site and, as a bonus, TNA and DKD spent about $200,000 tamping gravel into the upper end of the site for a permanent concert pad, forgoing the ground problems currently plaguing the Halifax Commons.
This year’s $250,000 is earmarked for improved parking, washrooms and backstage facilities.
Those are great for concertgoers, but they are also great for the bands, which tend to shy away from outdoor sites due to complex problems like security and surprisingly straightforward ones like simply having enough well-tamped parking space for the fleet of tractor-trailers that accompany the really big shows.
Country Rocks the Hill II is being put together by Halifax-based promoter Harold MacKay of Power Promotional Concepts, in partnership with Ron Sakamoto of Gold & Gold Productions of Lethbridge, Alberta. The same two partners put together the first Country Rocks the Hill show last summer with headliners Brooks & Dunn and Alan Jackson drawing 40,000 people to Metro.
Those promoters, along with the Stones ‘A Bigger Bang’ world tour promoter The Next Adventure of Toronto and Donald K. Donald of Montreal – TNA’s partner for the Canadian leg of the tour that included Moncton — took a lot of photographs and promotional material with them when they left.
That material ended up in the hands of band managers and record companies in places like Nashville, Toronto, New York and London and it appears that effort has produced a lot of global interest in Moncton as an outdoor site capable of accommodating the big shows and geographically located to draw people from a wider region.
For example most of the 80,000 draw for the Stones came from outside a metropolitan area with a total population barely exceeding 140,000.
However, much of Metro’s attraction to the global music business is based simply on its reputation, having already proven over the past two years that it has the right attitude, public participation, volunteerism and other intangibles to pull off the big outdoor show.
According to Poll Star Magazine, the three biggest grossing world tours on the planet in 2006 were Barbra Streisand, the second year of the Stones A Bigger Bang tour and the first year of the McGraw/Hill Soul 2 Soul tour, which continues this summer including Moncton, which is the only outdoor venue for the Soul 2 Soul tour which has already sold out its six other Canadian stops, several of them with two shows.
That means after Labour Day Magnetic Hill will have hosted two of the top three biggest grossing tours on the planet in 2006.
Closer to home, if you haven’t seen our local stars yet the Divorcees’ next local stop is Riverview’s Fox n’ Hound April 7.
Albert is playing all over the province this spring but remains a regular at the Bayou in Shediac, where her next gig is April 13.
