PRESENTS
STORIES OF THE STAGE
25 Years of Concert History at Scotiabank Arena
Daniel Tate
1997 - 1999
The Tragically Hip with By Divine Right was the inaugural concert at ACC, Feb 22 & 23, 1999. The Hip were touring Phantom Power and BDR supporting Bless This Mess. Our then manager Skinny Tenn (RIP) thought it would be a good idea for the band to wear the pajamas that we wore in the Come for a Ride video. God bless Skinny, but this was a terrible idea as the jammies were ill-�itting, hideous and about as un-rocknroll as it gets but we obliged. By nights end I was looking around for my green Fender Precision bass backstage which was in a gig bag and not a proper case for some reason. Probably because I couldn’t afford an actual guitar case at the time. Turned out someone had helped themselves to my instrument and it was never seen again. Gord D assured me this matter would be taken care of which it eventually was and I bought myself a new bass with the insurance money, but it was terribly annoying at the time. Gord Sinclair kindly offered his MusicMan bass which was bittersweet as I really don’t like that instrument. On the way out of the building, myself and my now estranged older adopted brother Ted ran into Darryl Sittler in the hallway. That’s the only other mild point of interest. I’m sure I drank plenty of gin and tonics and visited the dessert table in catering at least twice that night. At the end of the tour I paid for my indulgences and passed kidney stones.
-Brendan Canning bassist, By Divine Right
In 1999, the �irst concert that was going to be taking place at the (then) Air Canada Centre was the Tragically Hip. I was playing guitar in the opening band, By Divine Right, so by my count and by default, we became the ACTUAL �irst band to play there. I remember that night after our show, I had a shower in one of the hockey change rooms that was our dressing room, hearing the bass thumping through the cement walls and feeling so alone in a building so pressed full of joy and lights and drama. That feeling was also one of joy and left its mark.
-Leslie Feist guitarist, By Divine Right
timleyes Was there front row. I was encouraged to join the New Power Revolution ( think it was called that) and then have the pre sale code. Logged in right away on was granted tickets …. but I did not know where. And you only got your tickets from the box of�ice day of show like 6 months later. It helped curb scalping. When I got them Row A sounded pretty good. Sure was. An amazing night! Was lucky to see him 4 times.
green_tea_ice_creem Great show! I remember him saying you don’t even know how many hits have!
local_t was at this show. It was literally a 3+ hour jam session. They wheeled Prince inside a wardrobe trunk through the crowd. The wardrobe trunk bumped into me on its way to the stage.
msvalerieslife I’ll never forget Prince playing solo acoustic Little Red Corvette at this show. It was my fave Prince performance ever. Still makes me shiver thinking of it.
rikmaclean It was an awesome show. He played a cover of Whoel Lotta Love and he ordered pizza to give to the audience. He opened with Musicology from the new album at the time, and then he played Let’s Go Crazy and a suite of songs from Purple Rain, and even after all that the set just kept getting better and better!
premadasa108 was there, he gave us all a copy of his new record for buying a ticket to the show. It was a very classy move and believe the �irst of its kind at the time. Needless to say, it was an awesome show!
jessemarkowitz Was there, in addition to the Much More Music interview and performance earlier that day and the show the night before. Sacred days of my life.
feliobrien YES!! He ordered pizza pizza and everyone passed around the boxes! I loved his light up heels and going from the drums to guitar to piano like nothing. Epic concert.
WWE SUMMERSLAM
AUGUST 14, 2004
When delving into the rich history of wrestling at Scotiabank Arena, one cannot overlook the signi�icance of the major PPV events held in this iconic venue. In 2004, SummerSlam marked the arena's debut as a host for major wrestling PPVs, with the main event etching itself into history as future Hall of Famer Randy Orton clinched his �irst of fourteen world titles, becoming the youngest world champion in professional wrestling at that time.
WWE SMACKDOWN JUNE 01 2004
WWE RAW JANUARY 17 2005
WWE SUMMERSLAM AUGUST 15 2004
WWE SMACKDOWN AUGUST 16 2005
WWE UNFORGIVEN SEPTEMBER 17 2006
BRITNEY SPEARS, NICKI MINAJ
AUGUST 14 2011
KENNY CHESNEY AUGUST 18 2011
BARRY MANILOW AUGUST 22 2011
BARRY MANILOW AUGSUT 23 2011
SCOTTY MCCREERY SEPTEMBER 09 2011
KEITH URBAN SEPTEMBER 10 2011
PEARL JAM, MUDHONEY
PEARL JAM, MUDHONEY
WWE SMACKDOWN
THE NATIONAL
UFC 140
DECEMBER 08 2011
DECEMBER 10 2011
TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA DECEMBER 29 2011
JEFF DUNHAM
JACKY CHEUNG
TOOL
SEPTEMBER 11 2011
SEPTEMBER 12 2011
SEPTEMBER 13 2011
ENRIQUE IGLESIAS SEPTEMBER 29 2011
KINGS OF LEON OCTOBER 11 2011
AVRIL LAVIGNE OCTOBER 24 2011
MUMFORD AND SONS OCTOBER 25 2011
DURAN DURAN OCTOBER 27 2011
LMFAO NOVEMBER 14 2011
JUDAS PRIEST, THIN LIZZY NOVEMBER 22 2011
JAY-Z, KANYE WEST NOVEMBER 23 2011
JAY-Z, KANYE WEST NOVEMBER 24 2011
PRINCE NOVEMBER 25 2011
PRINCE NOVEMBER 26 2011
JANUARY 12 2011
JANUARY 16 2012
JANUARY 25 2012
MAYDAY
MARCH 20 2014
BIGBANG OCTOBER 13 2015
G.E.M. NOVEMBER 11 2015
EASON CHAN DECEMBER 18 2015
G-DRAGON JULY 30 2017
Jacky Cheung, the renowned King of Cantopop performed the ninth show ever at the venue in 1999. Asian pop has always had a global influence but didn’t captivate North American audiences until the Korean wave of the 2010’s that took the world by storm. BIGBANG were the first K-Pop group to play the Air Canada Centre in 2015, and several enduring pop artists from across Asia have graced its stage since.
MAYDAY
NOW-HERE TOUR
MARCH 20, 2014
