The Cure, Weezer and Alabama Shakes.
Besides being critically acclaimed music acts, for in some cases decades, they’re also groups set to take the stage this summer in Burnaby’s Deer Lake Park, and join another list of modern musical luminaries.
The venerable outdoor music venue will once again play host to a series of concerts in 2016, bringing thousands of people into the park and community.
In fact, the summer is shaping up to be a busy one for music fans, with the city also hosting another round of the Burnaby Blues + Roots Festival, a free Vancouver Symphony event at Deer Lake and Canada Day celebrations at Swangard Stadium.
The Deer Lake Park concert series has become just that, a series, thanks to a partnership between Live Nation Canada, the biggest concert and events promoter in the world, and the city.
Cory Philley, the city’s theatre and facilities services coordinator, who works closely with the booking company, summed up why the series comes back every year.
“They love Deer Park, it’s one of the most beautiful parks in the Lower Mainland to come to and see a show,” she told the NOW.
On average, the series tends to attract three to five shows in the park each year, but just one in 2015.
It looks like 2016 will be a bounce back year for the series with three events confirmed, and a couple more in the works but not yet confirmed.
And tickets are moving swiftly for all the shows, with the Cure’s show on July 31 sold out.
It wasn’t always a prime destination for top musical acts, explained Erik Hoffman, the senior vice-president of talent for Live Nations Canada.
In the early days, he said it took some convincing to get the bigger acts to buy into the venue, recalling the time he had to make a personal pitch to get Bjork to play Deer Lake, which the Icelandic singer-songwriter did in 2007.
Hoffman suggested there are no shortages of obstacles to holding a concert at the park, including parking and the location itself.
“The artists have to want to do it,” he said. “There are other areas where they could make more money.”
But Live Nation has also positioned the venue to be a place for the more critically acclaimed musical acts in the industry, rather than the big pop and hard rock fare at arenas.
And over the years, the list of top notch acts has grown to include The Black Eyed Peas, The White Stripes, Arcade Fire and Florence and the Machine.
Hoffman indicated the venue’s cachet has helped to sell more artists on taking to the stage at the park.
“We’ve found it’s grown to a place where it helps us sell tickets for the artists,” he said, also praising the city and municipal leaders for supporting the vision. “I think they really truly want to have folks come and visit Burnaby.”
While Live Nation supplies the talent, the city in turn provides the venue in an agreement both sides review each year.
Specifically, Philley noted the city chips in by providing things like additional fencing, policing, park maintenance, power and water, and the food services and vendors.
In turn, the city gets a cut of cash through a couple of areas in the agreement.
The rental for the park is $6,000 on the event day, and between $1,500 and $3,000 on set-up and tear-down days.
The city also gets an eight per cent cut on the gross admissions for each show and charges a facility service fee for every person in the space at $1 per ticket.
The park can hold about 10,000 people, but usually the numbers are kept to 9,000 for concerts.
Philley noted the fees are in place to pay for additional staffing and maintenance on event days.
The city also provides the food services, taking a percentage of beer and food sales at each event.
“It is a partnership in that sense, and they’re (Live Nation) very respectful of the park, they love it here and they want to keep it in the condition they find it as much as possible,” she said.
“It’s certainly their concert, but we have many elements that we look after to assist.”
With an annual budget of a little more than $100,000, Philley noted the concert series doesn’t haul in a huge profit for the city, but will often break even.
“The city didn’t set out to make money in this, they set out to provide a service to the community,” she said.
But like so much in the music industry, there are challenges for the concert series in Burnaby.
This year, the plunging Canadian dollar has brought in “higher risk” to hold such concerts, according to Hoffman, who added it means a lot more tickets have to be sold to turn a profit.
Burnaby is also facing stiff competition from other municipalities in the Lower Mainland looking for a piece of the action, including from places like Surrey, which offers Holland Park as a venue.
While Philley acknowledged the competitive nature of the business, she noted in Holland Park’s case, it holds 25,000 people and caters to a different event.
The province has also become a destination for major music festivals in the summer, including the Squamish Valley Music Festival and the Pemberton Music Festival.
Hoffman also recognizes the competitive environment, but remains encouraged by the success of Deer Lake Park.
“Burnaby’s definitely our preferred green space, and I think it’s going to continue on,” he said.
For details about all the concerts at Deer Lake Park this summer check out deerlakepark.org.
