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Music

Echo Beach to become Toronto's newest concert venue

Posted by Derek Flack / April 26, 2011

15 Comments

Echo Beach Concert VenueHere's some exciting news that's been made mostly official. Ontario Place is getting another outdoor concert venue. Named Echo Beach — presumably after the song by Martha and the Muffins — its first action will be when Robyn comes to town on June 3rd.

Although the details are pretty scarce right now, EYE Weekly's reports that the venue is the work of Live Nation and will have a capacity of about 4,000. Given the layout near the Molson Amphitheatre, it's likely to be built in the area to the immediate southeast of the current venue. Wherever it ends up, though, it probably won't be a part of the renovation plans for Ontario Place, which is due for a full-scale redesign in the near future. The two month construction time screams of something that'll be mostly temporary.

But who cares? It'll be a nice size for those bands who've outgrown the Kool House and Sound Academy. And it's outdoors! And it's coming soon! A website for the venue is expected to go live later this week.

Photo by arjay5020 on Flickr.

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15 Comments

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Sean / April 26, 2011 at 03:17 pm
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I saw this earlier today and have to admit that I too was rather excited.
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frank / April 26, 2011 at 04:08 pm
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it will be here:

http://bit.ly/f6NaJL
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Jerome replying to a comment from frank / April 26, 2011 at 07:08 pm
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What frank shows makes sense. That was a place that was bookable for private functions. It's quite large and has a couple of beach volleyball courts there. I suspect it will be mostly the same with temporary stage, that stays up forever!
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frank / April 26, 2011 at 08:57 pm
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it makes sense and it's also what I was told by LiveNation when I asked where the venue was going to be. Hope they dress it up nice.
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gonzo / April 27, 2011 at 08:39 am
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They should make it like the forum. stage in the middle with seats all around.

Forum > Amphitheatre
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mike in parkdale / April 27, 2011 at 09:36 am
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Makes me think they're looking at the summer festival market and planning to accommodate multiple stages. It's not hard to picture the bigger acts playing at the Amphitheater and the smaller acts on a 2nd stage.

in the end, everyone wins, except for the people with boats at Ontario Place Marina.
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Darcy McGee / April 27, 2011 at 10:28 am
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It's run by Live Nation. That, by definition, means that it's going to be overpriced, have mostly crappy bands and it's going to suck.
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Darcy McGee replying to a comment from gonzo / April 27, 2011 at 10:29 am
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Yes, the Forum is a much missed venue. I spent quite a few summer nights hanging out in that place. Very fond memories, and loved the rotating stage.
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Mikey replying to a comment from Jerome / April 27, 2011 at 11:28 am
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Scrolling around that map makes you realize just how much potential Ontario Place and Exhibition have and how much space is currently wasted by surface parking lots, even when the CNE midway is set up.
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JohnJohn / April 27, 2011 at 12:11 pm
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Not very TTC accessible.
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Sean replying to a comment from JohnJohn / April 27, 2011 at 12:42 pm
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If you can walk to the Molson Amphitheatre from Exhibition, I do not see why you cannot walk to Echo Beach.
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Jacob / April 27, 2011 at 01:02 pm
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The entire Ontario Place property is completely lacking in potential without rapid transit nearby.
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mike in parkdale replying to a comment from Jacob / April 27, 2011 at 01:11 pm
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let's take it to google maps....
http://tinyurl.com/6gxapsl

it's 1 KM from a GO train station (and also from the streetcars). While it would be great to have every inch of downtown serviced by rapid transit, 1km is really nothing.
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Sean replying to a comment from Jacob / April 27, 2011 at 01:37 pm
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Ontario Place is only open seven days a week three months a year. That does not seem like a very good rapid transit investment.

Moreover, putting a rapid transit link from Exhibition to Ontario Place would make for a rather awkward route, do away with a significant portion of already limited parking space and many of the streets appear to be too narrow to support streetcars in addition to motor vehicles.
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Astrid Idlewild / April 27, 2011 at 02:51 pm
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I know it's out of fashion and a trifle uncool, but it's unfortunate that Echo Beach isn't going to be the name for one of our newly reclaimed municipal beaches.

(I wanted to cleverly interpose "faraway in time" somewhere, but I couldn't do it.)
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