By barnaby
Boy Golden, Bob Moses, July Talk, The Beaches, Metric, Dear Rouge, The Glorious Sons, Arkells, Billy Talent, The Darcys, Monowhales, Anyway Gang, Mother Mother, and Dear Rouge stand out in the year-end Alt category.
The arrival of the recently-named TD Coliseum may be described as an upgrade of an existing arena, but that tag seriously underplays the significance of what is a genuinely dramatic $300 million transformation of the 18,000 capacity venue. The unveiling of the project this week has attracted international music industry attention, and it has already begun to have a major impact on the Canadian live music scene.
Billboard Canada was there at the official ribbon-cutting ceremony at the venue yesterday afternoon (Nov. 20), and the importance of the opening of TD Coliseum was reflected by those in attendance. That list included Ontario Premier Doug Ford (taking time out on his birthday), several of his provincial cabinet members, the mayor of Hamilton, Andrea Horwath, and high-level representatives from Oak View Group, the Denver-based international venues giant in charge of the project, and its partners, including TD Bank and Live Nation Canada.
Nick DeLuco, senior vice president and general manager of TD Coliseum, launched the event by recalling that "749 days ago, we were here, taking about a vision, a dream of what this venue was going to become, and now it's real."
The speakers who followed stressed their satisfaction at the changes in the venue, with Ford and Horwath mentioning the immense benefits the project will bring to a downtown Hamilton that has been facing many challenges.
“The venue has always been more than a building — it’s been a cultural touchstone," Horwath noted at the ceremony. "This redevelopment is a key part of our broader strategy to revitalize Hamilton’s downtown because when we invest in our core, the beating heart of every city, we become stronger, more vibrant and more resilient.
"The benefits ripple outwards, supporting local restaurants, shops, hotels, galleries and creating jobs and growing the number of people choosing to live, work, learn and innovate here, which secures a bright future for Hamilton. The revitalized TD Coliseum will help shape a more vibrant, more connected and more dynamic Hamilton for years and generations to come. This is a milestone day for our city."
Wayne Zronik, president of business operations at Live Nation Canada, grew up in nearby Brantford, Ontario, and recalled seeing shows at the venue, then called Copps Coliseum.
“Hamilton was my downtown, and Hamilton is really effectively the downtown of the Golden Horseshoe. Now it has the world-class venue that it so richly deserves, and it’ll attract artists, events and visitors from around the region and beyond," he said.
Live Nation Canada chairman Riley O'Connor and chief commercial officer Melissa Bubb-Clarke were also in attendance.
Representing Oak View Group and its 80,000 employees worldwide at the ribbon-cutting was interim CEO Chris Granger, who has taken the position following the stepping down of Tim Leiweke amidst an antitrust indictment. He thanked Hamilton for its enthusiastic support of the TD Coliseum, now OVG's flagship Canadian venue. He stated that "I believe people have under-estimated and under-appreciated Hamilton, but that ends today.
"At OVG, we build an operate stadiums, arenas, convention centres all across the world," he continued. "In my 30 years of doing what we do, I have been to almost every arena of consequence on the planet. I can tell you that this arena lacks nothing, from the way we take care of our artists, our guests, from our premium amenities, to the diversity of our menu, to the acoustic treatments in the building, to our expanded concourses. This building is truly world class. It will make Hamilton proud."
Music, not sports, is clearly the current primary focus of TD Coliseum. It has already attracted major international stars for concerts in the upcoming months, and hosting the Juno Awards in March 2026 will help inform the Canadian music industry about a major new player on the arena concert circuit.
OVG is hoping to expand the sporting component of the venue's calendar, thought. The Toronto Rock will play their first home game here on Dec. 13, and a Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) neutral-site game between the Toronto Sceptres and the Seattle Torrent is coming Jan. 3. Attempts to bringing some level of professional hockey back to Hamilton are ongoing.
TD Coliseum is a public-private project with the city of Hamilton, which owns the land and the building. The rejuvenation of the venue involved EllisDon construction and Brisbin Brook Beynon Architects, and the entire arena was gutted and rebuilt.
Back in March, Billboard Canada toured the facility in the middle of construction. At that time, Ryan Zrenda, OVG's VP of project management, stated that “We're calling it more of a transformation because we're renovating over 80% of the building. In some ways, it will be unrecognizable."
That claim is true. In a recent tour of the venue, DeLuco tells Billboard Canada that "I have been involved in three venue upgrade projects, and this was definitely the smoothest of those."
He also revealed that the already tight deadline for the project was actually shortened in order to secure Paul McCartney as the venue's opening act.
Artist Lounge at TD ColiseumCourtesy Photo
The media tour included access to the artist compound, comprising five luxurious dressing rooms, an artist lounge and catering space. Turning heads on the first level was the vinyl room, a well-appointed retreat featuring Canadian-centric music memorabilia on the walls (Blue Rodeo, The Weeknd, Arkells and The Tragically Hip were spotted), shelves of vinyl and a DJ booth that can be employed for private events here. The club is only available to year-long licensees.
Vinyl Room at TD ColiseumCourtesy Photo
TD Coliseum is now home to a large number of bars (18) and concession stands (29) plus lounge and club areas of differing sizes on all three levels. Some of these are open to the general concertgoer, including one space with a 2,000 capacity, while other areas have more limited access, such as Rogers Club and the TD Lounge, the arena's most premium club,
Arena officials stressed that access and ease of movement throughout the venue is far superior to the original configuration. When the building opened in 1985 as a full-size NHL-capacity arena, there was only one concourse, so all concert or sporting event attendees had to filter through that one area. There are now three concourses in TD Coliseum.
As has been widely publicized, Canadian celebrity chef Matty Matheson is heavily involved with the arena, now serving as the second Canadian location of two of his ventures, Rizzo's House of Parm and Matty's Patty's. Other eating options include the first Canadian location of Big Chicken, the fried chicken chain owned by Shaquille O’Neal.
Matheson is also behind The Iron Cow Public House, an on-site restaurant modelled on a British gastro-pub. The name is a nod to The Hammer's industrial roots and The Iron Cow is scheduled to open in mid-December.
DeLuco informed that the TD Coliseum is a completely cashless venue, and there are eight automated grab & go markets, gated areas in which patrons tap their cards, grab the items they want and leave, with cameras recording the purchases.
A key new feature of the arena is 15 luxuriously-appointed private VIP suites on the second level. Initial demand for these suites was high enough to spur the construction of more than had been anticipated, and DeLuco says that licenses for these suites are already 90% sold. Each suite includes an allocation of licensed premium seats for guests to occupy once the action begins. There are also 24 private boxes, including nine at floor-level.
The Earth, Wind & Fire concert served as a test for the arena's acoustics, and DeLuco boasts that "we passed with flying colours. I have every confidence it will be the same for Paul McCartney on Friday night."
Live Nation has wasted no time in scouting artists to appear at TD Coliseum in the months ahead. Upcoming shows already announced include Sonu Nigam (Nov. 23), MGK (Dec. 8), Andrea Bocelli (Dec. 9), Brad Paisley (Dec. 12), Jonas Brothers (Dec. 14), Trans-Siberian Orchestra (2 shows on Dec. 28), The Offspring (Feb. 13), Nine Inch Nails (Feb. 18), Live with Big Wreck (March 5),TWICE (March 6 and 7), Journey (March 9), Rod Stewart (March 10), the JUNO Awards (March 29), Cardi B (March 31) and the Guess Who (June 1)
