Coldplay’s Chris Martin denies insulting Toronto's 'weird' Rogers Stadium

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Before Coldplay wrapped its four-night stand at Toronto’s newly christened Rogers Stadium, Chris Martin wanted to go on the record that he wasn’t insulting the venue when he called it a “weird stadium in the middle of nowhere.”

“I have never criticized this stadium that was beautifully, kindly built for us to play in,” Martin said Friday night in a video that were shared to social media by MuchMusic. “I’m so grateful to have somewhere where we can hang out with all of you … All I’m trying to say is, thank you for the effort that you all took to come here. That is not a criticism of the people that built it OK? It’s just trying to say thank you to all of you for the hassle that you had to go through.”

After Martin’s initial comments were widely shared by Toronto media, the British singer said he wasn’t trying to disparage journalists either for sharing his remarks.

“I don’t mean to disrespect any journalists either. I love all people and I don’t want to say anything mean about anyone,” he said.

During Coldplay’s opening night show, Martin thanked fans for “coming through all the bulls— you had to come through to this weird stadium in the middle of nowhere … Thank you for coming through the traffic and the travel and the trains and the waiting and the lines and all the nonsense.”

At the band’s second show, Martin knocked the stadium once again for its distance from downtown Toronto when he addressed fans mid-concert.

“Thank you for being here … and especially thank you for travelling on the strange quest that you had to travel on to get to this very bizarre stadium, a million miles from earth,” he jabbed. “We are solely testing the premise if you build it they will come.”

Following the outdoor venue’s inaugural show last month, which saw K-pop group Stray Kids open the season, some fans complained that it took up to two hours to exit the stadium near Downsview Park. Others noted that nearby transit stations seemed unable to handle the thousands of people travelling to the show.

Stray Kids bandmember Bang Chan also took a swipe at the stadium when he told the crowd, “I don’t know where we are right now” and cracking that the venue was “legit in the middle of nowhere.”

“There’s like planes flying by. There’s like a runway,” he said.

Ahead of Coldplay’s first show, Live Nation promised to reconfigure the exit routes so that crowds would be dispersed to multiple nearby subway stations.

In addition to changing the exit routes, the operator promised to add more signage, lighting, staff and water stations.

But Leigh Marshall and Adam Archdekin told the Canadian Press they felt “herded like cattle” as they were held in the venue for 40 minutes after the Coldplay show ended.

K-Pop group Blackpink is the next act set to play Rogers Stadium, with two back-to-back shows on July 22 and July 23.

mdaniell@postmedia.com

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