It was a full house at the Avenir Centre last night as country music star Keith Urban performed the first event at the multi million dollar facility.
Concertgoer Krista Cormier was celebrating her birthday last night and had nothing but positive reviews for Urban, and the event centre.
“I think this is going to help attract a lot of tourism to our area, we’re going to attract some big acts, there were people from all over that we met, from all over the Maritimes,” says Cormier. “And let’s face it, before we maybe couldn’t have accommodated Keith Urban, but now we can, and I think it’s wonderful.”
Sep 12, 2018 at 5:23pm PDT
However, not everyone who attended the event had such glowing reviews, with Cindy Brown saying while she was a little irritated by the wait, her real concern was about winter weather, and the elderly.
“It should be a little bit more organized, but what are the elderly going to do in the winter time?”, questions Brown. “I’m really concerned with that, like I don’t know why they didn’t just have it at the Coliseum, build this events centre at the Coliseum, [there’s] lots of parking.”
Cormier, meanwhile, says their wait wasn’t too bad.
“We were quite far, like in front of the VIA station, and it took about 10 minutes, and then we were inside the building,” says Cormier. “We were on the floor, so it was nice that everything was divided up, there were people indicating where to go, and we were in our seats within five minutes, max five minutes.”
Maria Richard was another attendee who was frustrated with the experience.
She was particularly critical of how few entrances there were to allow guests inside.
“This does not make sense, they should have tried this whole venue out with an exhibition game of the Wildcats to see how it would work,” says Richard. “I mean hello, for the price we paid for these tickets, I’m hoping I’ll get to see the opening act.”
Richard estimated she’d been waiting outside in line for 45 minutes, but admitted her excitement to see Urban in concert was reminding her why she stayed in the line.
Another concertgoer, Krista Canfield, said they have very little trouble finding parking, while others walked, took the bus, or even biked.
Overall, the reviews of Keith Urban were outstanding, with many people gushing over the music, and performance as they left the Avenir Centre.
The Centre also came out with positive overall reviews, with many pleased with the accommodations, and the design.
