More than 114,000 people bought tickets to see country music artist Morgan Wallen at Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium on Friday and Saturday. Ticket sales totalled 114,636, with the Saturday show sold out, according to the City of Edmonton. The stadium has 61,000 seats. Garth Brooks sold out two concerts in June 2022, and Metallica came close in August 2023. U2 holds the single-concert attendance record at Commonwealth Stadium, having sold 65,000 tickets in June 2011 before the stadium’s seats were replaced. Stadium director Heather Seutter said the city was excited to have been chosen for Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” tour because of the economic and cultural impact of big concerts. “We were really excited to be able to have Morgan Wallen in Edmonton, one of only two Canadian stops on his North American tour,” Seutter told CTV News Edmonton. Seutter said they began planning the concert in January. “It takes a lot of planning, coordination and communication to make sure that we have the right staffing numbers, the right safety measures in place, and making sure we have the right partners that can assist us,” she said. More than 500 security guards and 100 ushers and customer service staff were at the concert as well as more than 125 event staff on top of merchandise sellers and concession providers. Edmonton police officers, transit, medical and emergency first aid personnel were also on deck. “We want to make sure that everyone’s ready when we have this many people at the stadium,” Seutter said. Seventy-five Edmonton Transit Service buses made about 300 trips to the stadium each night. Being an outdoor stadium, Seutter said they always have to plan for the weather. “The weather was absolutely gorgeous this weekend, but it was hot and so lots of people were thirsty,” she said, adding that they put in extra water stations throughout the stadium. With back-to-back shows that saw about 60,000 people each night, Seutter said one of the biggest challenges was loading out garbage and cleaning the stadium so it’s ready for another show. While the age of Commonwealth Stadium inches towards a half-century, Seutter is hoping for some capital funding for bigger investments. “We hope that sometime in the future, the province will be able to provide those capital dollars to be able to continue to sustain the stadium so we can continue to attract these events to the city and to our region,” she said. “The province really benefits from everyone coming for these big events.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nicole Weisberg
