We Look Back At The Top 6 Moments At Rogers Arena

When Rogers Arena (then known as General Motors Place) officially opened on September 21st, 1995 it replaced the Pacific Coliseum as the home of the Vancouver Canucks, Vancouver Voodoo, Vancouver Grizzlies, and the biggest concerts in the city. It instantly became home to Vancouver’s largest and most memorable concerts including The Rolling Stones, Madonna, U2, KISS, Tom Petty and so many more.

We scoured through thousands of documents, travelled to the Appalachian Mountains to speak to the first ticket holder inside the building, and travelled back in time in our DeLorean to assure the accuracy of this list, but after all that, we have found the Top 6 events in GM Place/Rogers Arena history.

Bryan Adams opens GM Place with a sold-out concert on Sept. 19, 1995

By the time GM Place opened, it had cost over $160 million dollars to build, everyone figured “we can’t stop this thing we started” so Bryan Adams was booked as the buildings first concert! Check out the setlist from that show HERE.

The Tragically Hip: Man Machine Poem Tour

The eyes of Canada were on The Tragically Hip as they performed across Canada one final time. Vancouver was the 2nd stop on the tour July 24th, 2016. Rogers Arena was packed that night to say goodbye to Gord Downie and The Hip. 18,000 people were there, but 120,000 will tell you they were there for one of the most magical nights in Rogers Arena history.

Guns ‘N’ Roses Riot

G’N’R fans packed Rogers Arena on November 7th, 2002, excited to see the launch of the new Guns ‘N’ Roses tour, their first in nine years. Everyone was there in anticipation, everyone except Axl Rose, who was still in the air from Los Angeles to Vancouver. The show was cancelled before the doors even opened and that announcement incited a riot from fans who had been waiting hours outside.

The Police Reunite

Now, on to a reunion tour that didn’t almost burn our city down. In 2007, The Police finally reunited in 2007 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band. They kicked off their world tour by performing three shows at Rogers Arena. Their first show, May 27th, was a fan club only show for 4,000 lucky fans. May 28th was the first official show of the tour to an estimated 22,000 people. They would play May 29th one more time before taking on the world.

First Regular Season Vancouver Canucks Game

Canucks vs Red Wings October 9th, 1995
Canucks lost 5-3 (JACK FACT: their first home win would come October 30th – 4-3 vs San Jose)

2010 Olympics Men’s Gold Medal Hockey Game

All of Canada cheered when Sidney Crosby scored the golden goal February 28th, 2010 against the USA and future Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller.

Most Played Concerts: Rod Stewart (10x), Backstreet Boys (8x), Andre Rieu (8x), Coldplay (7x)
Most Events: Disney On Ice (75x), Stars on Ice (23x), Cirque du Soleil (16x)

Other memorable events:

1998, 2009, 2018 JUNO Awards

NHL All-Star game in 1998

2010 Olympic ice hockey men’s & women’s tournaments

Stanley Cup Finals 2011
NBA Draft in 1998 and NHL Draft in 2006 (and 2019!!!)

2 x WWE Pay Per Views

What’s your favourite Rogers Arena memory? Tell us on Twitter @JACK969van