Final numbers are still being tallied, but the City of Moncton estimates over 20,000 attended the Guns N’ Roses and Carrie Underwood show.
It was a first for the Croix Bleue Medavie Stadium.
City of Moncton Spokesperson Isabelle Leblanc says they’ve had a positive response overall, “When it’s a first event at a facility, we’re all a little bit nervous, because there are a lot of unknowns, but both the city and the promoter, and even the artists themselves were very, very pleased with how things went. It was well attended. Things seemed to run smoothly, the sound was great, and I think that it was a great evening had by all. It was apparently heard all through the tri-community. The ceiling level was so low in the sky that I think the noise was travelling well, so I think everybody got a glimpse of the concert.”
There have been several sporting events held at Croix Bleue Medavie Stadium, including Touchdown Atlantic, Nitro Circus and the FIFA Championships, but being the first concert, the hope was for positive reviews.
Leblanc says that always helps Promoters who are considering Moncton for future events.
(Photo: Courtesy of Tracy WIlson)
“When we think back to Magnetic Hill, it took us a while to get the Rolling Stones and once we got the Rolling Stones, it seemed like year after year, we were getting big act, after big act, after big act. It takes that first success and I think that we’ve hit it with Guns N Roses and Carrie Underwood over the weekend, and hopefully, it’s the start of something great at that facility. We needed this one to showcase what it can do and how well it can be run,” Leblanc says.
Social media provides a good outlook and Leblanc adds they use posts and comments to gauge what the attending fans thought of the overall event, including the pre-concert activities by Explore New Brunswick, which was organized in a partnership between the City of Moncton and the province of New Brunswick.
“What we were seeing over the past two days was overwhelmingly positive we’re going to take this into our upcoming meetings with the Promoter to discuss things like, how did it go, what can be improved, and what’s next? I think even the artists, both Carrie Underwood and Guns and Roses also posted something positive about Moncton. That’s huge for us, because it puts Moncton on the map once again,” Leblanc adds.
Merci Moncton! See you tomorrow Montreal!
#CroixBleueMedavieStadium⁰#Moncton⁰#GNRWorldTour⁰@gunsnroses
: @JeffJohnsonFilm pic.twitter.com/L4kQcS9P8t
— Carrie Underwood (@carrieunderwood) August 7, 2023
When it comes to economic spinoffs, Leblanc says they didn’t do an economic impact study for this event, but they do have their predictions.
The concert, combined with the first-ever Moncton International Street Painting Festival held in downtown Moncton, on top of the fact that it is tourist season, Leblanc says, they anticipate the spinoff will be between $9 and $12 million. That includes things like hotels, restaurants and shopping.
