Grey Cup Festival Tickets

I paid $50 apiece for our 3 tickets, only to find out that people were variously getting in for free, or for $15, and there wasn't even a proper ticket scanning system (you could have printed the same one off 10 times and got 10 people in). The drinks were over-priced ($14 for a 5 oz glass of Chardonnay) and the lineups horrific. There were almost no food options for an event that spanned 10 hours. The lineups for the men's room were very long. Those were the lows. The venue was interesting, but freezing (oops, another low). Didn't catch the first act, but Sass Jordan and 54-40 were fantastic - they were the real highs! Trooper was okay. They were trying to introduce some new material (really) and weren't that tight even with their standards. So, I would describe this as a hastily pulled together quasi-fun event, with highs and lows. The randomness of the ticket prices was a downer.

Music was awesome! It was a great party , BUT. ...... If your going to have a bar at this event we shouldn't have to stand in line for an hour...... Or pay more than what we paid at BCPlace for a drink. A few more tables would have been a plus as well.

This event was the largest waste of time and money at Grey Cup this year. Cram over a thousand drunk people in a room with three bars and one place to get food. Terribly run, and VIP was definitely not worth it. One bar in VIP area, the line was longer than the other regular bars. No chairs or tables to sit down at as advertised on the tickets. Carnival games were fun and a different way to throw some fun into the mix, but seriously, replace them with food and bars and everyone would be much much happier. Artists were alight, sound was okay, about what you'd expect.

Long 1 hour lines for beverages, no seating despite 1000's of square feet to accommodate same left before the performances.

Of the 3 bands the headliner Trooper was very disappointing. Too artsy fartsy for this type of event. Lost a huge amount of people during their solos instead of just playing their hits - reason people were attending. Of the 3 bands 54-40 was the best. Kept to their hits and entertaining. We went to this with a group of friends to spend one of our Grey Cup nights partying. The room was nicely big enough to house all - you weren't crammed together. There were some tables for those who wanted them which was good. The beer line-ups were actually not too bad - depending on which you went to; however, the food line-up was bad and staff there not equipped for the number of people attending. Food took too long to get for the amount of liquor being consumed.

There was lots of music which was fantastic. I bought VIPS seats to the party that just turned out to be a raised platform surrounded by a fence with half a dozen tables for three on it. That was disappointing as there was nothing VIP about it. Won't do that again. At age 56 there wasn't much for my age group to enjoy except Trooper and Sass Jordon out of nine bands yet when I looked around a huge percentage of the people attending were in my age bracket and up. It was a great event that I recommend for everyone, but the majority of the music wasn't what I would listen to so in future I would only go to something I knew and liked as opposed to trying them all. Probably won't go again unless I knew the bands and liked them. The band playing outside BC Place (by Boston Pizza) played a lot of Rolling Stones music and was excellent. The band Imagine Dragons was good but was positioned away from two thirds of us in the stadium so we had to settle for watching them on screen. The stage should be open to view or rotate for all of us to see. We got to see the back of the stage only...huge disappointment. Comments from others around us is not printable here.

I was very disappointed in trooper, he was drunk forgot the lyrics and was stumbling all over. They did too many Drum and guitar solos, I'm guessing to help him sober up. I also felt they needed a coat check, as there was not enough tables for everyone, so a lot of people Ihad to carried her coat around. The beer and wine lineups were too long as well.

No place to sit. Long line ups and Trooper was horrible. Thank goodness for 54-40 who put on a good show. Sass busy screaming as usual.

Poorly organized. Excessive pricing on all items lineups for absolutely everything ( to get in , drink tickets, drinks, washroom and very limited seating. Sass Jordan was as expected 54-40 was good Trooper garbage!

Why would you have ONE station that served liquor and then place it right at the entrance. It was a nightmare!!!! It took 20+ minutes standing in line to get a drink.

The ticket included food which was very poorly organized in delivery and the amount was good for maybe100 people the other 900 starved

I completely agree with GoodTimeCharlie's review except that I think the performances by Burton Cummings and the warm-up band bring it up to 2 stars. But the lack of food was completely inexcusable for a premium priced ticketed event - ticketed means there was full advance knowledge to organizers of how many people would be attending, so there is no excuse for there to be not enough food. As for choice of food - there was not one "tailgate style" food choice. Where were the ribs and the wings (if there was a competition at the hot sauce stand I didn't see any wings), burgers or even sausages for a hungry pre-football game crowd? Instead we got business meeting appetizers. Veggie spring rolls, lettuce and veggie samosas were all we saw (after I got 2 of the last paper thin beef satays at 2:30) and we were there for the last 2 and a half hours of the "party".

It gave me the experience to see 3 bands i never seen before; April Wine, Kim Mitchell, and Big Sugar. And all 3 were very entertaining for the crowd. It was cool to see a few games for the masses to play; armchair quarterback, shuffleboard, wing eating contest, and dunk the volunteer? Only blemish was the $4.00 for a can of pop.

Awesome night. Treble Charger brought us all back to the 90s and early 2000s. Matt Good and Sam Roberts were GREAT and showed why they are two of the best Canadian artists right now.

April Wine, Kim Mitchell,Big Sugar rocked the House.

I felt that $175 to an event that you had to stand for 4 hrs was too much money. Burton Cummings as entertainer was the highlight and enjoyed very much. But receiving only "picking" food and 2 drinks was over priced. The age of the crowd was older and as such I would have preferred to be able to sit even a bit. Ticket said "SEAT 36-37" but there were NO seats anywhere to see the show.

This event was a huge disappointment in what was overall a great Grey Cup celebration and game. It was expensive ($175 per person plus taxes and fees), there was no food for 95% of the time, and what food there was was mediocre at best. 2 drinks were provided and then there was a typically expensive cash bar. To run out of food in the early stages of an event like this was inexcusable at these prices. A few dribs and drabs of additional food showed up, but not enough, and the staff didn't seem to have a clue if it was coming or what was going on. The event was held in a cavernous, basically empty, room in the bottom of the conference centre. There were a couple of activity areas, such as arm chair quarterback where you threw a football through a couple of holes, and a wings eating contest. People milled around for a couple of hours wondering what they were supposed to do, and many left. Finally the performers came on, who saved the event from being a total disaster. Pinball Clemens made a brief appearance - he is a great ambassador for the Argos and for Canadian football - he was everywhere during the celebrations throughout the week. Kathleen Edwards put on a good performance, and then Burton Cummings and his group saved the day with an extraordinary rockfest. Cummings put on an awesome show! Those who had endured to the end got a great show, but by then many fans had left for the rest of the free events in the convention centre and outside where there was more action and where you could get something to eat. Save your money and experience the true event out on the street.

Burton was amazing! The band were rock solid. PINBALL FOR MAYOR!

Absolutely an awesome show from start to end. Each act did a great job. Wished Matt Good had played a couple tunes as an encore.

The event had no breakdown. It said 6pm. The first band wasn't untll 7:30, Second not until 9:00 or so and Big Sugar why we got the tickets not until 11pm. We left- who waits 5 plus hours having nothing to do but drink! Will never waste the money again. NO SEATS!!!!! Just a big empty hall with food and drink at very expensive prices.