How rock 'n' roll made its way under stadium lights

Mosaic Stadium is home to Rider Nation, and soon some of the most dedicated fans in the CFL will have a new home.

CBC Saskatchewan is sharing some of the memories from Mosaic Stadium before it is torn down. 

This is the first in a four-part series. 

Stadium memories aren't exclusive to the gridiron.

Neil Donnelly has the playbook on stadium concerts now but before the 2006 Rolling Stones concert, it was all brand new. At the time, Donnelly was the vice-president of events and entertainment at Evraz Place.

"Our role just sort of happened by fluke in that the Rolling Stones were looking for different places to play. They were just calling around to municipalities and cities and I had heard they were looking so I started calling," Donnelly remembered of the first major concert at Mosaic Stadium, which will soon be torn down and replaced with a new facility.

The old site will be developed as a new neighbourhood, with an estimated 700 residences, and will be named after Taylor Field.

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The deal started to come together, but keeping a lid on what was happening wasn't easy and eventually proved impossible. Donnelly said it was a secret some people just couldn't keep.

The promoters were saying, 'What's going on in Regina? Why is there so much hype about this?'- Neil Donnelly

"It eventually got out and, quite frankly, that fact it got out and the way it got out, it created more hype and excitement," he said.

"I think it actually benefited the concert and was the catalyst for getting the second show because the promoters were saying, 'What's going on in Regina? Why is there so much hype about this? Why are we on the front page of the paper when we haven't even announced this yet?'"

Adding 2nd Rolling Stones show

Looking back, you're like, 'how did we ever do that?'- Neil Donnelly

The interest meant adding a second Rolling Stones show.  

"I think they saw there could be potential for significant sales. They rerouted that tour to make that second show happen, which is kind of cool."

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A typical concert requires 60 or 70 stage hands, but the Rolling Stones shows each needed 200. They had to find thousands of extra chairs and manage a crowd of 40,000 people each night.

Donnelly said that having the Rolling Stones, arguably the biggest tour in the world, as the venue's very first show was unthinkable.

"Looking back, you're like, 'how did we ever do that?' There were just so many moving parts and more dynamics to putting an event like that on. Your typical show in an arena doesn't require a crane. I think the Rolling Stones show required eight cranes to put up the stage," he said.

Setting stage for other major acts

The two Rolling Stone shows also set the stage for Bon Jovi, AC/DC and Paul McCartney to play Mosaic Stadium.

"Whether any of those would have happened if the Stones didn't happen is the big question; it very likely wouldn't have. Regina still wouldn't have been considered a market that could sell 40. I mean, with only 200,000 people in the community, how would you think you could ever sell 40,000 tickets to a show in a market of that size?"

On a personal note, memories of Mosaic Stadium for Donnelly reach from the concert stage to the football field. He was the executive director of the Grey Cup in 2013.

"So you think of the biggest events that have happened at that stadium, I've been part of putting it on. It's pretty gratifying to think from that perspective and to think back to the biggest events in Regina that happened there and they were all pretty darn successful," he said.

"I think for the most part, everybody has pretty good memories from that and that's pretty special."

Donnelly doesn't know what the first major concert will be at the new Mosaic Stadium, but like those that came before at the old stadium, it will have to be big.