Where have all the concerts gone?
In pre-COVID times, Prince George was a major player on the small-city concert tour and CN Centre was a venue that hosted 10-20 concerts annually. Situated at the crossroads of two major highways, concert-goers would travel all day to get to Prince George to their music idols live on stage.
Touring musicians Shania Twain, Dwight Yoacham, John Fogerty, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Miranda Lambert, Nazareth, Kiss, Elton John and Nickelback and Tragically Hip played Prince George, and Jerry Seinfeld and Russell Peters twice brought their comedy acts that packed the CN Centre stands.
But not this year.
That entertainment train has been derailed. Everything from the cost of travel, the high U.S. dollar exchange rate, Canadian taxes on touring artists, and a shortage of skilled production technicians is leaving concert promoters scratching their heads wondering what they have to pull out of their tailspins and get back to booking shows like they used to do.
CN Centre entertainment manager Glen Mikkelsen says there is no easy answer.
“Prince George is not alone, all the markets like ours – Dawson Creek, Kamloops, Kelowna, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Moose Jaw, Regina – across the country have the same issue, there’s just not a lot of entertainment as far as concerts coming into our buildings,” said Mikkelsen.
“The Canadian entertainment industry is challenged right now to find acts that will play venues like ours.”
These days, a bank will give you just $74.28 US for $100 Canadian and international acts want to be paid in U.S. dollars, which sends ticket prices skyrocketing. Gas prices remain high throughout Canada and the cost of meals, accommodation and wages have also spiked, making tours cost-prohibitive.
“There’s also taxation, when acts come to Canada they’re charged a different tax rate than they are in American and that is a deterrent,” said Mikkelsen. “They are taxed 15 per cent on their fees and they can make applications to get that back through Canada Revenue but some don’t and just forego it.”
A concert that draws a big crowd brings revenue to city businesses and hotels, restaurants and retail stores and put tradespeople and service industry workers to work. But now those opportunities are few and far between. Mikkelsen says he will probably book between six and eight concerts this year in CN Centre.
There are opportunities to host other events such as the B.C. Natural Resources Expo, Jehovah Witness convention, indoor night markets and graduation ceremonies but the concerts people used to look forward to are not coming through.
People are spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to travel to major cities to see A-listers Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Madonna and Bruce Springsteen on their summer tours. For some, their yearly entertainment budget will be spent on one live show.
Mikkelsen says the big tours have created a shortage of rental soundstage equipment and have drained the talent pool for sound and light technicians in an industry already facing shortages when skilled workers were forced to find alternate careers when the pandemic kept acts grounded for two years.
