Jason Aldean, Def Leppard to headline new music festival coming to Winnipeg next summer

Def Leppard and Jason Aldean will headline a new live music festival coming to Winnipeg this summer.

The classic rock band and the country artist will headline the Thunder Stadium Concert Series, which will be held in the Princess Auto Stadium in July, True North Sports + Entertainment and the Winnipeg Football Club announced Monday.

Kevin Donnelly, senior vice-president of True North Sports + Entertainment, said the festival will feature the first stadium shows held at the venue in eight years.

"The Thunder Stadium Concert Series is built to last," Donnelly said.

"The plan is to make this an annual festival that Winnipeggers, Manitobans and folks across the entire region can plan on."

The festival will be split into two nights catering to rock and country music fans.

Def Leppard will headline the Rocking Thunder night of the festival on July 9, which will also feature fellow Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Foreigner and Canadian group Toque. 

The Country Thunder night on the 10th will feature Tyler Hubbard from the multi-platinum duo Florida Georgia Line and up-and-coming artists Nate Smith and Madeline Merlo, led by Aldean.

Donnelly said despite success over the years in holding concerts at Winnipeg football stadiums, it has been difficult in recent years to put together major outdoor concerts.

The key to producing these two shows was working with other event promoters to route performers to Winnipeg, he said.

"Rather than wait for our phone to ring, we went to work and we have created our own event," Donnelly said.

Economic Development Winnipeg is supporting the concert series with $250,000. The arm's-length city agency said it expects the festival to have a $1.8-million economic impact on the city.

Aldean 'counterintuitive and inappropriate' choice amid trade war

On Jan. 20, Aldean performed at an inaugural ball for U.S. president Donald Trump, who has ordered the imposition of 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian exports to the United States.

Aldean's song Try That in a Small Town became the subject of controversy following its release in 2023. The song itself was perceived as a critique of Black Lives Matter protests due to lyrics such as "Cuss out a cop, spit in his face, stomp on the flag and light it up, yeah, ya think you're tough. Well, try that in a small town, see how far ya make it down the road."

Aldean has denied any connection between the song and criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement and has complained of being a victim of "cancel culture."

The video for the song, which was banned by CMT, showed protesters confronting police and had a scene filmed in front of a Tennessee courthouse that was the site of a lynching in 1923 and a race riot in 1956.

Zilla Jones, a Black Winnipeg lawyer and author who regularly speaks out against discrimination, said she found the choice of Aldean "counterintuitive and inappropriate" given the trade war between Canada and the U.S.

She also criticized the use of public funds to promote an artist who penned what she described as inflammatory lyrics and released a "very inflammatory" video.

"They talk about going after people with guns, running people out of town," Jones said in an interview. "Though he doesn't actually use overtly racialized language, it's clearly targeted at people of colour, Black people that he perceives are committing petty crime."

Zilla added Winnipeg is a diverse city. "To bring in somebody that is going to divide the community and basically pit half of it against the other half with public money — I don't appreciate that," she said.

Natalie Thiesen, tourism vice-president at Economic Development Winnipeg, said she was aware of the controversy surrounding Try That in a Small Town, but that government agency was not involved in booking the artists for the pair of concerts at Princess Auto Stadium.

Thiesen said the funds supporting come from visitors through the City of Winnipeg's accommodation tax.

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham deferred comment to the concert's promoters.

Wade Miller, the Winnipeg Football Club president and CEO, declined to comment on the controversy. 

Donnelly said True North has been working on the Aldean announcement for months and couldn't "control these other factors."

"The tariffs are a struggle. It's going to impact everybody, but Jason Aldean didn't do it," he said. "He's a country entertainer that's hugely popular and we're thrilled to have him on the lineup."

Donnelly said he was unaware of the Try That in a Small Town controversy.

"If people don't like the entertainment, they don't have to come," he said. "That's the beauty of entertainment that's available on a ticket price. If you don't like it, don't buy the ticket."

Single-day tickets and two-day passes will be on sale to the general public on Friday. Jets, Bombers, Valour FC and Manitoba Moose season ticket holders will be able to buy them starting Tuesday.