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An AC/DC concert scheduled for Sept. 16 was cancelled due to damage to Rogers Stadium after the Sept. 2 storm, and it has left some fans questioning the reliability of Toronto’s large concert venues.
Live Nation announced that Rogers Stadium was unsafe for hosting fans after the storm damaged the seating area. Extreme winds and heavy rainfall earlier this month left the stadium unsafe for employees, fans and artists to use. Many Toronto neighbourhoods also experienced flooding and damage.
The City of Toronto issued an order to Live Nation on Sept. 3 to repair part of the venue affected by the storm before the concert. Live Nation’s news release confirmed “sections of the venue impacted by the storm will need to be removed and rebuilt,” making it difficult to have the space ready in time.
Fans like @TaylorC_2112 shared their disappointment over the cancellation on social media platforms, including X.
“I was planning for this concert for a long time; it was the last big show before summer ended,” said Zoha Nauman, a longtime AC/DC fan in an interview. “I feel extremely sad that I lost my chance to see AC/DC perform live. It was my first time getting tickets to see them perform after years of listening to them.”
“Cancelling a concert is never a decision we want to make,” wrote Wayne Zronik, President of, Business Operations for, Live Nation Canada in their news release, “and we know how disappointing this will be for all of us who have been looking forward to seeing AC/DC close out our summer season.”
Some concert-goers took this opportunity to complain about the venue’s inability to host big events.
“If you look up Rogers Stadium online, all you see is people complaining about how inaccessible it is as a venue,” said Nauman. “And now there will always be this fear in our heads when booking tickets to a show at this venue: What if they cancel it?”
Rogers Stadium has also been criticized in the past for its sound design.
Earlier in May, a Bruno Mars concert at the stadium left several residents complaining about the loud noise. A fan shared a video on Reddit showing the show’s noise being heard from miles away. Coun. James Pasternak introduced a motion on June 24 at city council asking the city manager to work with Live Nation to “identify any capital improvements or acoustical enhancements and technologies that will mitigate sound dispersal into the neighbouring communities.”
Despite the criticism, Rogers Stadium is currently the only seasonal outdoor venue with capacity for 50,000 people, according to Northcrest Developments. The location becoming unusable after the storm has left people questioning the credibility of Toronto’s concert spaces to host international talent.
“For several decades we have been fine without Rogers Stadium,” said Rob Bowman, a Grammy Award-winning professor of music at York University. “We have Rogers Centre and we have got the RBC Amphitheatre that does shows every week all summer long. Rogers Stadium is not that necessary even if it has brought a few extra shows to town.”
He says that issues with the venue go beyond damage and seating capacity. “The problem with most large-scale shows (we have) is that the acoustics are terrible. For larger venues, the acoustics are just atrocious.”
AC/DC fans echoed similar sentiments after the cancellation.
“We would have been fine if Rogers Stadium was not an option,” said Nauman. “We need more venues like Scotiabank Arena but definitely bigger in size.”
The AC/DC concert was the last event scheduled at the stadium for this year. The next scheduled event is a Harry Styles concert in May 2027.
“Our focus is on completing this work carefully, safely and responsibly, so Rogers Stadium is ready to welcome fans back with confidence next season,” Zronik added in the Sept. 9 news release from Live Nation.
All the original ticket holders for the AC/DC concert will get a refund through Ticketmaster, except for ticket resales.
Reporter, OTR, F2026.
