The first six concerts booked for Rogers Place have been declared sellouts. Four more still have tickets remaining, although one of them is exceptionally close to seeing the SRO sign go up.
Keith Urban (Sept. 16), Dolly Parton (Sept. 17) Drake (Sept. 20 & 21) Dixie Chicks (Sept. 29) and Kanye West (Oct. 15.) all have the SRO signs up and Amy Schumer (Nov. 30) is real close.
Some tickets remain available for John Fogerty (Oct. 22), Chicago/Earth, Wind & Fire (Nov. 5.) and Florida Georgia Line (Nov. 18).
“In the case of the concerts I think it’s both the building and the act. Looking at the first six shows, they sold out immediately.
“I have to say ‘sellout of available tickets’ because we have to hold back because of waiting to get the stage in and various kill seats that might be created.
“It’s week days. It’s weekends. It’s country. It’s hip-hop. It’s everything. Three of the other four are strong. We have a slow one in there, too. But that’s OK. It’s not until November.
“We haven’t launched the big rock shows that we think tickets will fly. Edmonton is perceived as a rock market but we have over 150,000 tickets sold and none of them are for hard rock. It’s revealed that Edmonton has a great appetite for all music. Edmonton is showing to be comparable to Vancouver and Toronto in diversity.
“Dolly Parton’s first Canadian sellout was Edmonton. Of all the acts we’ve booked and put on sale so far, she’s on top. I think when we get to show night, the age range and demographic will be wider than anything we have seen and will see.
“We have some more shows to be announced that are big shows and that’s the No. 1 driver of the sales. It’s who the artist is and what the ticket price is. I think the speed of the sales relates to the new building.”
Way says if this success isn’t just about the building, then Edmonton is going to be on everybody’s ‘A’ list.
“We have to prove that we can run really good shows in this venue. The people are really buying tickets right now but I think we have to put two years on the map to put us in really good position to show the bands, the agents, the managers and the promoters that this is a ‘must’ stop. That’s our goal.”
Way teases that there’s a very big booking to be announced next week that might have a ticket stampede effect.