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FYI

Canadian Highlights Included In Pollstar's Annual Concert Rankings

Four concert firms and two Canadians ranked high in the trade magazine's annual ranking of box-office grosses and ticket sales.

Canadian Highlights Included In Pollstar's Annual Concert Rankings

By David Farrell

Trade publication Pollstar issued its list of top-grossing tours and busiest venues in 2017, ranking B.C. Place 9th in North America, and number 1 in Canada for ticket sales in the category of outdoor stadiums and festival sites.


The downtown venue came in at number 27 worldwide, topping Seattle’s CenturyLink Field and Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium. Mexico City’s Foro Sol was number 1 in the world. – Georgia Straight

Four Canadian concert presenters placed in the Top 100. Quebec-based Evenko placed 13th with ticket sales of 1,342,142 in the year; in second place, at 40, Montreal’s Greenland Productions with ticket sales just shy of 450K; Toronto theatrical presenter Broadway Across Canada placed 74th with almost 200K ticket sales; and Jim Cressman’s BC-based Invictus Entertainment Group placed 82nd, with 156,262 tickets sold.

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Of the top 200 concert grosses, Coldplay’s Aug. 21/22 concert at Rogers Centre Toronto came in 10th place, grossing $8.7M, selling 94,857 tickets over the two nights.

Celine Dion placed 11th overall on the list with 12 shows at Caesar’s Colosseum pulling in $8,579,400 with 50,227 tickets sold over 12 shows in April.

Justin Bieber’s three shows in Feb. at Mexico City’s Foro Sol placed ninth on the list, selling 155,201 tickets to earn a gross of $9,340,236.

– Read more Pollstarannual ranking breakouts here.

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Hillside Festival poster
Artwork by Alyah Holmes

Hillside Festival poster

Concerts

Guelph, Ontario's Hillside Festival Gets Richard Thompson, Aysanabee, Patrick Watson for 2024 Edition

Running July 19-21, the Ontario summer favourite's eclectic lineup also featuresBry Webb, Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and Jim White.

Long one of the most popular Ontario summer music fests, Hillside returns to Guelph Lake Island, July 19-21. The just-announced lineup features artists from Australia, South Africa, Morocco, Benin and Cameroon as well as notable names from across Canada and the U.S.

Heading that list are British folk legend Richard Thompson, roots rock supertrio Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, with guests Daniel Lanois and Terra Lightfoot, the Polaris-winning Patrick Watson, Ashley MacIsaac, recent Juno winner Aysanabee, former Constantines frontman Bry Webb, long-running indie rock band Land of Talk, The Messthetics (which features Joe Lally and Brendan Canty from Fugazi) and American indie faves Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and Jim White.

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