‘Herded like cattle’: Toronto’s Rogers Stadium faces crowd control test after Coldplay show

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/07/2025 (430 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – Coldplay fans appeared to experience a smoother exit from Toronto’s Rogers Stadium on Monday night, after complaints of poor crowd control following the outdoor venue’s inaugural show last week.

But some concertgoers were still left feeling lucky to get out without any major incident.

Leigh Marshall and Adam Archdekin said they felt “herded like cattle” as they were held in the venue for 40 minutes after the show ended.

“They have red lights. It’s stop and go,” Marshall said.

As crowds leaving the stadium thickened, staff held up the red lights and instructed people to wait inside the venue before they could proceed to transit areas. A green light meant go.

The practice, which operator Live Nation Canada refers to as “pulsing,” was also in use at the venue’s first show. This time, the operator promised to reconfigure the exit routes so that crowds would be dispersed to multiple nearby subway stations.

While some fans complained about the temporary standstills, the crowd control technique appeared to help prevent overcrowding at Downsview Park, the nearest subway and GO train station, with a limited number of people flowing through at a time.

By 12:30 a.m., transit staff announced the last GO Train of the night had departed. Staff began taking down signs directing fans to the station as the crowd leaving the venue reduced to a trickle.

It appeared to be a significant improvement over the venue’s inaugural show last week, when some attendees said it took up to two hours to exit the 50,000-person capacity stadium.

Still, with only two ways out, Marshall and Archdekin said they worry about future concertgoers having a difficult time.

“It has the makings of a disaster,” said Marshall.

After complaints that the site and transit services seemed ill-equipped to handle large crowds, Live Nation Canada said it was “making adjustments” ahead of Coldplay’s four shows this week.

In addition to changing the exit routes, the operator promised to add more signage, lighting, staff and water stations.

The Toronto Transit Commission said it would add more staff to its Downsview Park and Wilson stations on concert nights, while Metrolinx only said it would “closely monitor” GO train ridership levels for events at the stadium.

Some fans who attended the concert on Monday tried to get ahead of what they expected would be a hellish situation.

Laurie Gatto and Jody McComb said they left partway through the final song. It only took them about 10 minutes to leave.

“I don’t think I’ve ever left a concert early, but I think we’ve heard so many negative things about this venue that we thought better to leave five minutes before the end,” Gatto said while rushing back to her car, which was in a nearby lot.

Gatto and McComb said there were enough bathrooms and signage was clear leaving the venue. Inside, additional water stations had been set up as promised.

During the show, Coldplay’s frontman Chris Martin thanked the crowd for going through all “the traffic and the travel and the trains and the waiting” to get to “this weird stadium in the middle of nowhere.”

Earlier on Monday evening, thousands of people arrived early to find staff directing them from the subway to join long lineups for entry.

Barb Lucas, who arrived from Oshawa, Ont., said ahead of the event that she was “terrified” after hearing about the long lines for bathrooms, limited water and swaying grandstands at the stadium’s first concert.

She added that the venue had a confusing name.

“I thought this was at Rogers Centre,” she said, referring to the similarly named stadium in downtown Toronto.

“Had I known it was here, we wouldn’t have been going.”

Brian Ellis, who drove four hours from Detroit, said he booked his accommodations right beside the Rogers Centre, thinking the concert was at the downtown venue.

Instead of being steps away, Ellis drove about 25 kilometres to the Sheppard West transit station parking lot and then walked for half an hour to get to the Rogers Stadium gates.

“It’s interesting how far you have to walk to get in this place,” he said.

Pedicab drivers blaring Coldplay hits from speakers sped between the gates and nearby parking lots transporting fans who didn’t want to brave the long walk to the venue entrance.

One driver said it would cost $20 per person to ride in one of the yellow cabs to the venue gates from a parking lot less than a kilometre away.

Emilio DeAngelis, who travelled from Quebec City, said he was embracing the experience.

“It’s Coldplay,” he said. “It’s normal that there’s a lot of people.”

— With files from Tara Deschamps.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 7, 2025.