By Geoff Kirbyson
EVEN after finally seeing his white whale appear on stage last November at Canada Life Centre, Kevin Donnelly still has plenty of encores on tap for Manitoba music fans.
The senior vice-president of venues and entertainment for True North Sports + Entertainment pursued Bruce Springsteen for more than two decades before finally inking a deal in the fall of 2022. The Winnipeg show was originally scheduled for Nov. 10, 2023 but was postponed for a year due to The Boss falling ill.
When Springsteen finally took to the stage with “Winnipeg, it’s about time!” Donnelly knew all of his efforts had been worth it.
“There were periods where he wasn’t performing anywhere interspersed with periods of great frustration and depression because he was going back to an average U.S. market for the umpteenth time. You know it’s not selling out and you know it would sell out here but we couldn’t get their attention. We’re a different country with a border crossing. They finally decided that my lobbying paid off,” he says.
“It’s a check in the box but it wasn’t materially different than booking anything else at the arena. It was hard to do, he’s that sought after.”
While Donnelly often spends a couple of minutes welcoming artists to town prior to a show, that didn’t happen with Springsteen.
“If people think I have lunch with them, that’s a misconception. My interaction with the artists is fleeting, if at all. With Springsteen, it didn’t occur,” he says.
“I’ve been on to other challenges for two full years now.”
AN industry veteran of nearly four decades, Donnelly, says so much of the concert and entertainment business is about what’s “new and exciting and the hottest latest thing.” So, it can be tricky to keep your finger on the pulse when you’re 62 years old.
“There’s an age component that doesn’t play to my favour. That’s not a secret, that’s a hard reality,” he says.
“It’s different than being a real estate agent. There’s not a new house you have to keep up with, it’s just a house. In the last year, I’m thrilled that (Canadian singer) Tate McRae has sold out the arena (for a show in August). I had to get materially younger people in my office to educate me on how popular she was going to be,” he says.
One of Donnelly’s aforementioned challenges is the recently-announced Thunder Stadium Concert Series, a two-day event this July at Princess Auto Stadium.
The first night has a classic rock theme with Def Leppard as the headliner (Joan Jett, Foreigner and Toque are the opening acts) while the second night has a country focus, highlighted by Jason Aldean.
Donnelly wants the Thunder series to act as a springboard for more True North-run concerts at the home of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, which seats more than 30,000 people for non-football events.
“The idea is to start using the stadium again and to be the masters of our own destiny. It’s the Bombers and us, not (concert promoter) Live Nation. We hope that having successful events there will remind other participants in the stadium business that we have a viable stadium here and you can get huge crowds in that building. Those things are difficult to put on and we were eight years out of practice (since Guns N’ Roses performed there in 2017). You don’t ever want to be out of game shape,” he says.
On a smaller scale, the Burt Block Parties, which featured the likes of Blue Rodeo, the Arkells, Tom Cochrane and the Skydiggers at an outdoor stage outside the Burton Cummings Theatre last summer, will return once again in August.
“We think they’re a creative use of a great little space in a cool area in our town. Our town looks and feels a whole lot more fun. That’s a passion project of ours and we look forward to it,” he says, noting the line-up will be announced soon.
The Burt has also carved out its own niche in live entertainment. The 1,600-seat theatre is hosting a show every three days, often up-and-coming acts or retro artists, compared to twice a month before True North took it over a decade ago. Since then, about $3 million has been invested in upgrades, notably to washrooms, seating and earlier this year, a new PA system.
“With that $3 million, we’ve probably achieved $10 million of improvements because of the creativity of (True North) staff. For example, they’ve bought secondhand goods and repurposed them,” he says.
“The building hasn’t looked as good and operated as well since the day it opened (in 1907). Every door works and every light bulb is on. It really is a gem in Winnipeg. It’s a rarity in North America and it’s something that True North and I personally take a lot of pride in,” he says.
But it’s Canada Life Centre, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, that has enabled Donnelly to change Winnipeg’s reputation with entertainers around the world.
“It can be a comfortable home for any kind of show on the planet. You couldn’t have made that statement prior to this building opening. That reputation wasn’t there. For a 20-year-old building, we look good. We’re proud of what it is. People used to think the lifespan of a building was 25 to 35 years. Our plan is to keep it in top form for 20 more,” he says.
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