Legendary musician set to perform at brand new Ontario arena

A brand new arena in a busy Ontario city will welcome a legendary musician to the stage when it opens this fall.

A massive Ontario concert venue that is currently undergoing a $290 million renovation has made a number of big announcements over the past several months, including its official name, its huge full-service restaurant (and the famous chef behind it) and now, the musician who will mark the arena’s grand opening.

Today, the TD Coliseum announced that Beatles frontman Paul McCartney will take the stage on Friday, Nov. 21, to officially open the new arena. The show will be the only Ontario stop on McCartney’s Got Back tour, which will kick off in California on Sept. 29 and wrap up in Chicago on Nov. 25. 

The only other Canadian stops on the tour are at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

“Opening night deserves something extraordinary, and it doesn’t get any better than Paul McCartney,” said Nick DeLuco, general manager at TD Coliseum, in a statement. 

“This show marks the beginning of a bold new chapter for TD Coliseum and speaks volumes about the calibre of events we will bring to the region. We’re excited for the future in Hamilton.” 

The news about McCartney’s performance comes weeks after the sports and entertainment venue developer behind the arena, the Oak View Group, announced that the TD Coliseum (formerly known as the FirstOntario Centre and Copps Coliseum) will soon be home to The Iron Cow Public House, a full-service restaurant and bar run by celebrity chef Matty Matheson.

Earlier this year, DeLuco told INsauga.com that while the outside of the arena won’t change much when it reopens, the interior will be quite different from the one fans have known since the venue first opened its doors in 1985. 

“There’s a whole new concourse that was hidden in the past, so accessibility and flow are different. There will be new restaurants, lounges, premium spaces that never existed before, and premium-level suites that have never been seen before,” he said in an earlier interview. 

Last year, OVG first announced plans to significantly rejuvenate the arena by adding premium seating, clubs, lounges and suites, enhancing the acoustics and launching new restaurants and food concepts.  

Designed by Brisbin Brook Beynon Architects and constructed by EllisDon, the new arena will feature an artist compound, transformed concourse areas, concessions on every level and more.

While OVG previously announced that well-known Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will take to the stage as part of his upcoming North American tour later this year (his first-ever stop in Hamilton), the news about McCartney marking the arena’s grand opening has excited music fans on social media. 

“Incredible,” one poster wrote on Instagram. 

In a news release, operators said the Coliseum is working with Metrolinx to make the commute to and from the venue smoother, adding that service from West Harbour GO to Union Station will be available following the event. 

Got Back’s 2025 run of 19 newly announced dates marks the former Beatles frontman’s first series of shows across the US and Canada since 2022 and while the tour date is big news for Hamilton and GTA fans, fans might be excited to hear that, come 2026, a collection of Beatlemania photographs shot by McCartney himself is headed to the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Earlier this year, the Toronto gallery said Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm will make its Canadian debut next year. 

The exhibit includes video clips, archival materials and more than 250 photographs offering a behind-the-scenes look at the meteoric rise of the Beatles.

The AGO says that it includes “more intimate views” of bandmates John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr as fanaticism over the U.K. band gripped North America.

Over their long and storied career, The Beatles performed at a number of world-renowned venues, including outside the Colosseum in Rome, Moscow’s Red Square, Buckingham Palace, The White House and the last ever show at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park in 1966.

Tickets for the show go on sale on July 18 at 10 a.m. 

– With files from The Canadian Press