After Metallica weekend, here’s some lessons learned for Edmonton’s next big show

August 30, 2024 Canuck

If you’re heading to Commonwealth Stadium for the Pink concert Saturday, there are some lessons learned from Edmonton’s big Metallica weekend.

At last Friday and Sunday’s concerts, the City of Edmonton issued 549 parking tickets in resident-only parking areas — and is ramping up enforcement for this weekend. Meanwhile, the city is reminding people of the stadium’s clear bag policy after some Metallica-goers had their bags unexpectedly surrendered.

Coun. Anne Stevenson said there will be enhanced enforcement this weekend at the Pink concert, with four additional officers and unlike the Metallica concert, there will be tow trucks.

“Just a reminder to concert goers: do not drive and expect to find parking in the surrounding areas.”

In Wednesday’s executive committee meeting, councillors considered a future incentive to encourage more transit usage during special events. The recommendation was to add a $1.50 fee to event ticket prices to allow concert-goers to ride for free — a similar system is already in place for Edmonton Elks games.

According to the committee report, the change would also allow for easier crowd management as users would not need to stop to tap their transit cards.

“I think that’s a really great approach to just remove any barriers people might feel in terms of buying a ticket, having the right cash on hand — it would just be built into their event ticket,” Stevenson said.

In the meantime, concert-goers ahead of Pink are asked to walk, take the bus, LRT, bike or use a ride-hailing service to get to the venue.

No bags

For Erica Nelson, the lesson was to not bring a bag. Metallica was her first event at the stadium, and the purse that she always takes to Rogers Place, violates the stadium’s clear bag policy, implemented in 2021.

Nelson said a security agent stopped her at the gate and she was told while her bag couldn’t go inside, it wasn’t necessary to return home — she could take a photo, leave it with him and return after the concert.

When she got back, Nelson said she was met with no bag, and a chaotic situation — hundreds of purses had been placed in a pile for people to sort through.

“All the women were sort of mulling about trying to find their purses. People were crying. People were walking away with purses under their arms — like dozens of purses.”

In an emailed statement to CBC, the City of Edmonton said a notice was sent out outlining the policy before the concert. Nelson said she did not receive an email — perhaps because she bought her ticket the day before the show.

The city recommends concert-goers check its events page prior to attending events.

“I’m not mad at the policy,” said Nelson. “It was more the communication that happened after I found out about the policy, where I mentioned I can take it home and was told: ‘No, no, leave it here.'”

Nelson said she was told to phone 311 to find out about her missing bag. When she did, the response she got was that the security was privately contracted so the city is not liable.

In an email, the city declined to disclose the name of the security company, as “this is a human resources related question and the city does not disclose this contract information.”

“Commonwealth Stadium does not offer a coat/bag check in or retrieval system,” the statement read.

“They are surrendered by the individuals at the gate by their choice and are not returned.”

Nelson said she was not told she surrendered her bag.

The city said it did not receive any bag-specific complaints and that its bag policy follows best practices used at stadiums across Canada and the United States.

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