BARRIE, ON - Earlier in the week Canadian Live 8 organizers were hopeful 150,000 music fans would descend on Barrie’s Park Place on Saturday, but that would likely create a nightmare security scenario.
"I think that’s a bit much," said Alan MacDonald, who has worked security at the venue for the last six years and predicted the final numbers would be closer to 100,000. But MacDonald admitted even that figure would easily overwhelm security forces, which he tabbed at about 700.
"What do you do when there’s an extra 60,000 people standing here?" he said. "Are you going to say, 'Oh you can't come in?' They’ll be jumping the fence. You get enough people showing up how are you going to stop 'em?"
MacDonald, who proudly displays an ancestral 'Scotland' tattoo on his big meaty bicep, would actually relish the onslaught.
“That would kick ass," he laughed. “I think it would look great on Barrie and Canada if this place was busting at the seams. I’d like to see us get up to 50-70,000 over capacity. It would show a little Canadian pride."
MacDonald, who primarily handles parking at the venue, said there’s room for just 10,000 vehicles on-site. Just 18 hours prior to the show, only a handful of media cars dotted the gigantic field next to the park. However MacDonald said it was the calm before the storm.
The veteran of Edgefest and WARP Tours admitted it's common at those gigs to have a few thousand fans camp out overnight to get a jump on the partying. Most of those convert their cars into beds.
“It’s like a big party overnight,” said MacDonald. “We’ve got one guy who’s been coming here the last four or five years, who has some big speakers he sticks in the back of his van and does a DJ thing. I think there’s going to be more than at Edgefest myself.”
As for the concert, which starts at 11 a.m. ET, MacDonald was expecting a huge run up of fans trying to beg, borrow and steal their way in.
“They think they’re going to score (tickets). There’s always the option of letting more people in and opening the park up a bit more. I think there’s going to be about 60-70,000 people show up here just to watch. I think it’s going to be something else tomorrow. It’s just too big an event to have just 35,000."
When queried on what act he’d like to see, MacDonald confessed he’s not very familiar with the lineup – the same one a Toronto Star headline harpooned as “has beens” and a Macleans.ca article joked would end up fighting for the last pair of false teeth.
“I wouldn’t mind Neil Young or the Barenaked Ladies,” said MacDonald, struggling to recall the 21 acts on the bill. “They put what’s his name in from Orillia… Gordon Lightfoot… the guy’s 90. I don’t mean to insult him or anything, I know they tried to keep a Canadian motif, but c’mon."
While other cities, like London, published an unofficial schedule of when each band was playing, the Barrie Live 8 itinerary won’t be announced until about an hour before the show begins, at approximately 10 a.m. ET.
MacDonald, who always likes to get the setlist beforehand so he can give fans a heads up, will have to wait like the rest of us.
“Who knows? Maybe they’ll have a surprise guest. Tiny Tim might show up.”
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