In match between Rexall Centre, traffic chaos and bone-chilling cold, new concert venue squeaks out a victory

Photo: John Terauds

If I had not gone to the opening of the BlackCreek Festival at the open-air Rexall Centre last night, I'd be dying to know how it all went.

All will be revealed in Monday's Star (hopefully), but I can't help sharing some thoughts now.

Let's get the concert itself out of the way first. Some events are guaranteed to succeed, musically, and pairing veteran tenor Plácido Domingo (who has been singing well literally as long as I can remember) with American-Canadian powerhouse soprano Sondra Radvanovsky is as safe a recipe for vocal satisfaction as one could think of. And they didn't disappoint.

As for the Rexall Centre -- a not-so-old tennis stadium out in the middle of nowhere (for a downtowner) conscripted into summer-music-festival duty -- this was no guaranteed grand slam.

We arrived with jangled nerves after navigating the near-gridlock surrounding the few entrances to York University. It took as long to navigate the three final blocks as it did to drive from downtown to Downsview. Urban planners of the 1960s, I curse you (they sit in a panteon in my little anti-shrine of voodoo hell that includes the creators of popcorn ceiling stucco and silicone caulking).

It was also unnerving to watch the veneer of human decency peel away as people inched their cars into each others' at the York U grounds ("It's like a big game of chicken," my companion said at the time) and then scattered pell-mell over formerly lush lawns to try a park-and-run while the going was good.

Also stacking the court against the venue was the weather. It didn't rain, but it was bone-chillingly cold. The concert started 30 minutes late (because of the traffic problems) and the official part of the programme finished at 11. That's a long time to sit under a northwesterly breeze without a parka.

That said, the magnetic force of the music and the surprising intimacy of the Rexall Centre won the night. The organizers' spokesperson said there were about 8,000 present. All had a clear view of the spacious stage and/or one of three large screens suspended above it. The canopied stage was nicely lit with coloured stage lights.

Given the right weather and a relaxed arrival (my companion suggested a blanket, some Thermoses and a picnic dinner on the campus lawns a couple of hours early), this could feel like a classic under-the-stars summer gathering place.

The amplified sound was clear and echo- and reverberation-free. (There was only one instance of poor-quality sound, when the full chorus was belting out the Triumphal Chorus from Verdi's Aida.)

I noted that the quality of the silence at the Rexall Centre, tucked away as it is on a sprawling university campus, is excellent. It was disturbed, several times during the first half of the evening, however, by planes taking off or landing from nearby Pearson Airport.

But, in the end, even that didn't matter.

Once organizers sort out how to direct traffic efficiently in and around the venue, and once the weather decides to be more summery, BlackCreek Festival should turn out to be the GTA's place to go for big-scale musical entertainment in the summertime.

+++

Think everything's glamorous for a globetrotting opera star?

The "backstage" passageway, a clutter of equipment, wires, stray musicians and security personnel, was hardly the place to glitter and by gay.

Taped to a concrete wall in the sub-stand tunnel was the evening's set list (conveniently colour-coded by singer, solo and duet):

Comments

[Ian in Toronto]

What a fabulous concert! I was fortunate enough to dress in a lined windbreaker so I was not cold. I sat in the top area for the first half and dead centre down below for the second (thanks to a generous couple who had extra seats). Both performers looked and sounded fabulous and perhaps more importantly, acted so professionally- 70 years old and he stays until almost 11:30 pm giving encores! The venue operators have a lot of kinks to straighten out. Parking being just one of them. The biggest problem that I noticed was unsafe upper level seating. The upper level has very steep stairs and the stairs are unlit so I watched (and helped) a lot of elderly struggling unsafely to get to their seats. Once it was dark, it was dangerous. I was really missing Koerner Hall!

[Kevin]

John, thank you and all of the history making patrons of our inaugral BlackCreek concert last night. First off, thank you for your patience regarding the traffic and parking. We, the BlackCreek organizers, have no control over the traffic and parking, as York University insisted that they be 100% in charge of those two areas. I can asssure you that we will be having many meetings with York officials this week to ensure that the same situation does not occur again. Many of our staff, myself included, have decades of experience organizing large-scale public events, and many basics of traffic and parking control were not in place last night and that is unacceptable and must (and will) change. Please feel free to provide your comments directlt to us at info@isportmedia.com, as we would appreciate all feedback from our BlackCreek patrons. The music was amazing, Maestro Domingo was in glorious form and provided memories for a lifetme; that is what I will remember from last night but again, thank you to all for your patience as we work out the logistical kinks of a new venue. Sincerely, Kevin Albrecht, BlackCreek Festival CEO

[mariana grinblat]

I loved the concert, and the singers are such professionals and so well trained, you could hear the coloratura in their singing!! what an honour it was to be able to listen to them!!

look forward to more concerts in your place, cheers,Mariana Grinblat, M.Sc., M. Eng.

[Cynthia Bale]

Wow, what a concert. I can only hope that this year is really just the first year of what I believe to be a game changing concept here in Toronto. As regular patrons of the tennis centre we were excited that someone finally thought of using the place for something other than tennis as it is such an intimate venue. With regards to the comments above about parking, it has never been great at the place. Why anyone would build a tennis stadium with no parking is beyond us and as the years have gone by we have figured out that parking in one of the two large lots near Finch Avenue and taking the school bus to the stadium works perfectly. It took us only 30 minutes to park and get to the ticket line-up and slightly less to get back to the car and on the road home. I would guess as people learn about this like we have the parking issue will be less of a problem. I guess the only solution would be to build a parking lot nearby so people would know where to go, maybe right across the street in that big lot that never seems to have any cars in it. Knowing that this was a large concert helped as we got there early, had some food outside which was a nice touch, and got into our seats so we could relax before the concert. The cold was not a problem as we checked the weather and bundled up. The staff were courteous, helpful and got us to where we wanted to go. It took some time to get to the washrooms, which always seems to be the case in these stadiums, and although the line-ups for food and drink were long, which is again not unusual at stadiums, we got our coffee and sandwichs, headed back to our seats and experienced Mr. Domingo in the best setting one could imagine. Topping the night off with fireworks was a bit corny but a lot of fun so thanks for the great evening and we are looking forward to a few more of your shows this summer.

Cynthia Bale