Toronto Ryerson's Mattamy Athletics Centre + Loblaws at the Gardens | ?m | ?s | Ryerson University | Turner Fleischer

If MLSE had their way Maple Leaf Gardens would have been turned into a condo. I know it's the contract and whatnot but I personally don't give a damn what MLSE wants. Especially until they bring this city more than multiple embarrassments.
 
It would be a poor venue for concerts. The form of a hockey arena is not suited to concerts: bad layout, bad sight lines, terrible acoustics, etc. The only reason MLG was ever used for concerts was because of its capacity. For an act like say, The Beatles, or Pink Floyd, capable of selling upwards of 10,000 tickets/show, no proper concert hall could offer sufficient seats. So they used MLG, in spite of the fact that it sucked in every other respect. Ryerson's arena has no more capacity that any regular concert hall, so it offers no advantage whatever concert-wise.
 
How many tickets are sold at actual "concert halls" in Toronto as opposed to arenas? And for what it's worth, one of the best concerts I've ever attended was at MLG (NIN in 2000)
 
whatever said:
How many tickets are sold at actual "concert halls" in Toronto as opposed to arenas? And for what it's worth, one of the best concerts I've ever attended was at MLG (NIN in 2000)
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Lots. Check out the seasons for Massey Hall, Roy Thomson Hall, Glenn Gould Theatre, and others.

I'm not saying you can't have a good concert in MLG. But, other things being equal, the experience will be better in building designed for listening to music vs. one designed for large sporting events. The one thing that was not equal in the case of the old MLG was seating capacity. Therefore, for a certain kind of act, it was the appropriate venue, but for that reason alone. Since Ryerson's new arena, by the looks of it, has no more than 2000 seats, it loses the only advantage that a sporting arena has to offer w/r/t certain kinds of music concerts, while retaining all the disadvantages.
 
whatever said:
How many tickets are sold at actual "concert halls" in Toronto as opposed to arenas? And for what it's worth, one of the best concerts I've ever attended was at MLG (NIN in 2000)
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I was there too. To me MLG seemed a great place for large concerts with pretty decent sound!
 
My dad went to see Led Zeppelin when they played at MLG, said it was fantastic. Nobody has ever been more envious than I was when I heard that.
 
The problem with MLG for concerts was that the acoustics were TOO GOOD. During a hockey game if you sat in the end Reds above the end glass you could hear someone cough in the Reds at the far end. If you weren't in an acoustical sweet spot for concerts the place was terrible for amplified music. Strangely the building could be very loud but Leaf fans have always been the reserved types. I liken the Gardens to going to a church - once you went inside you fell into a trance focusing on the play on the ice. I don't think Leaf fans are opposed to being loud - I just think by culture we just get really into the game and aren't easily distracted and the library/church like acoustics of the Gardens just deeply entrenched that in our game going culture.

That all said I think the next best "acoustically perfect" room in the city after the old MLG is Massey Hall.
 
whatever said:
How many tickets are sold at actual "concert halls" in Toronto as opposed to arenas? And for what it's worth, one of the best concerts I've ever attended was at MLG (NIN in 2000)
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I was also there!! A Perfect Circle was the opening act. :cool: The sound is always amazing with NIN. I have seen other bands at MLG too and they sounded good. It's not always the venue that causes bad sound, far too many sound guys now a days crank the sound to dangerously loud levels are also to blame.
 
gabe said:
I was also there!! A Perfect Circle was the opening act. :cool: The sound is always amazing with NIN. I have seen other bands at MLG too and they sounded good. It's not always the venue that causes bad sound, far too many sound guys now a days crank the sound to dangerously loud levels are also to blame.
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Wimp! :) You should have heard the volume levels at many rock/metal concerts in the 70's & 80's until sound pressure levels started to be regulated. I went to a few concerts in the late 70's/early 80's that were so loud it affected my balance for an hour or two after the concert had ended. Young and stupid... When I was an usher in the early 80's we even played a movie at the Eglinton Theatre for two weeks called "AC/DC Let There Be Rock" with "The Wall of Sound" where they brought in four banks of additional concert speakers/amplifiers & played the film at a calibrated 130db setting!
 
I remember MLG could be plenty loud in the 70s and early 80s... at various times I saw Frank Zappa, Johnny Winter, Rush, Neil Young... the sound was always acceptable enough but it sure isn't a great music venue. The artists I saw were fantastic despite the acoustics. Johnny Winter in particular blasted the audience with searing sonics. The old eardrums have never been the same since.
 
Mississauga Slim said:
130 db is insane! That is approximately the volume of a Boeing 747 at takeoff.
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Hmm, I know that is what the sound engineer told the manager that is what Warner Brothers ordered for "Let There Be Rock, who then told us. Famous Players supplied us with a box full of small earplug containers that were like gum with pink cotton over top. Memory plays tricks after so many years but I doubt it was as loud as a Boeing 747 at takeoff (not that I ever stood near one at takeoff!) but it was REALLY loud. It was impossible to to talk even in the lobby, we had to yell real loud if necessary. When we wanted to chat on our breaks we had to go into the break room or outside. Several speaker horns (they were about 6' X 2' horns on top of each 8 or 9' cabinet) and drivers blew the first weekend and had to be replaced but quick because the sound & bass levels dropped substantially.

Lenser said:
I remember MLG could be plenty loud in the 70s and early 80s... at various times I saw Frank Zappa, Johnny Winter, Rush, Neil Young... the sound was always acceptable enough but it sure isn't a great music venue. The artists I saw were fantastic despite the acoustics. Johnny Winter in particular blasted the audience with searing sonics. The old eardrums have never been the same since.
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I don't think the Gardens had great sound/acoustics either, certainly not in the league of Massey Hall - IMO. I worked part time jobs making minimum wage (maybe $1.75/hr back then?) since I was 14 so I couldn't afford great seats for concerts. I was usually in the greens or greys which may account for the less than stellar sound.
 
Decent article. This seems a little partisan though is you ask me:
Even Prime Minister Stephen Harper showed up Monday afternoon, his roving gang of Tory enforcers in tow, to share in the love at the unveiling of Ryerson University’s Mattamy Athletic Centre.
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Although I guess he is writing for The Star and knows his audience.

He's right about the lighting though. Looked almost blinding in that video, which will rid it of that past dingy feel.
 
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