Genesis Gave BMO Field Its First Concert

BMO Field’s inaugural summer had already brought international soccer to Toronto. On September 7, 2007, Genesis gave the new stadium a different assignment: its first band concert.

Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford opened the North American leg of Turn It On Again before more than 28,000 people. Longtime touring musicians Chester Thompson and Daryl Stuermer joined them. The production arrived from Europe with a Mark Fisher-designed stage and a screen spanning 213 feet.

For the stadium, this was an early test of how the soccer ground could work as a concert space. For Genesis, Toronto began the next leg of a major return to touring. The two beginnings met on the same field, in the building’s first year.

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