TORONTO — Hundreds of fans were streaming out of Rogers Stadium on Monday evening even before British rock band Coldplay took their final bows, trying to get out ahead of transit gridlock as organizers promised improvements to crowd control at Toronto's newest outdoor venue.
Transit and venue staff were holding signs and guiding people on their way out of what the band's frontman Chris Martin called "this weird stadium in the middle of nowhere" earlier in the evening, thanking the crowd for going through all "the traffic and the travel and the trains and the waiting" to get there.
As crowds leaving the stadium thickened, staff held up red lights and instructed people to wait before they could proceed to transit areas, a practice that operator Live Nation Canada has referred to as "pulsing."
A limited number of people at a time were then being let into the closest subway station, Downsview Park.
Half an hour after the show had ended, people were still streaming out of the north-end stadium at a steady pace.
Laurie Gatto and Jody McComb said they left part way through the final song to beat the crowds leaving the venue, and it only took them about 10 minutes to leave.
It appeared to be a far cry from last Sunday's concertgoing experience, when some attendees at the venue's inaugural show said it took up to two hours to exit the stadium. They complained that the site and transit services seemed ill-equipped to handle the large crowds.
"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.
After the recent complaints, Live Nation Canada said it was "making adjustments" ahead of Coldplay's four-night stint this week, such as adding more signage, lighting, staff and water stations to improve the fan experience.
The stadium's exit routes were being reconfigured, the operator said, to disperse crowds to all three nearby subway stations and mitigate crowding at the Downsview Park station, which also serves GO train passengers.
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.
Gatto and McComb said there were enough bathrooms and signage was clear leaving the venue. Inside the venue, additional water stations had been set up as promised.
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.
At the end of the concert, she said she would plan to stay in her seat until the crowds filed out to avoid congestion.
"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 from the venue as planned, 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.
But fans such as Emilio DeAngelis, who travelled from Quebec City, said he was embracing the large crowds as part of the experience.
"It's Coldplay. It's normal that there’s a lot of people," 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.
For some fans, the ride proved to be worth the price.
"Get us as close to the gates as possible. This is ridiculous," one woman said as she climbed into the back of the pedicab and sped toward the entrance.
Ticketmaster sent an email to Coldplay ticket holders ahead of the show advising them that cellular reception at Rogers Stadium gates "will be limited as this is a large-capacity venue."
— With files from Tara Deschamps.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 7, 2025.
Natasha Baldin, The Canadian Press
