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Well done Vancouver Grey Cup committee. That is pretty significant international music act that quickly sold out Rogers Arena back in February and will appeal to the younger generation.
Would have bet my house on Bryan Adams with his upcoming Reckless anniversary tour but this is one of the bigger Grey Cup halftime performers in recent years.

Now will it help sell the remaining 8,000 or so seats because the Lions sure aren't helping the cause?

my first reaction as well as many others was : 'who?'.

which is weird for such a popular band. it wasn't til i heard radioactive that it rang a bell.

274always wrote:my first reaction as well as many others was : 'who?'.

which is weird for such a popular band. it wasn't til i heard radioactive that it rang a bell.

I am still saying the Who question? The problem with aging is having to cater to the young.

From what I've heard of them, they're a big step up from Nickelback or The Tragically Hip. And once again, us fifty somethings aren't who the league needs to be marketing to. Super Bowl can afford big name classic acts as the nfl audience is pretty solid, but cfl needs to keep marketing to future generations.

That said, I'm still peed off with all the cups that have been played here that they've never had Chilliwack.

I don't know if it is of interest to anyone but Shania Twain is the only entertainer to preform at a Super Bowl and Grey Cup in the same football season.

SammyGreene wrote:Well done Vancouver Grey Cup committee. That is pretty significant international music act that quickly sold out Rogers Arena back in February and will appeal to the younger generation.
Would have bet my house on Bryan Adams with his upcoming Reckless anniversary tour but this is one of the bigger Grey Cup halftime performers in recent years.

Now will it help sell the remaining 8,000 or so seats because the Lions sure aren't helping the cause?

I've never heard of them either. Someone mentioned one of their songs so I checked on youtube, still didn't recognise... I would have guessed it was Coldplay.

Two most notable aspects of this announcement for me... it wasn't announced on TSN during one of their gamecasts as has become commonplace in recent years.

Second, relevant to your last comment... yes, this announcement definitely seems aimed at pushing tickets. Last time it was here in 2011, the game was already long since sold out by this point. Nickelback wasn't officially announced until Nov 4, the last Friday of the regular season, barely three weeks in advance.

1040's Sekeres wasn't all that impressed with this announcement. He floated Dave Bidini/Rheostatics as a better alternative. Which I guess means he never heard what Bidini had to say about the CFL the last time the Grey Cup was here.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/e ... le4179534/

Veteran rocker and sports author Dave Bidini probably summed up the CFL’s Southern Ontario ennui Monday on CBC Radio’s Q. “It’s too parochial, none of my friends are interested in the sport whatsoever,” the Toronto-based Bidini explained. “I don’t think fans should be expected to support it just because it’s Canadian. … We don’t have to be slaves to an inferior product.”

Pretty ironic coming from a guy who owes whatever musical success he ever achieved to CRTC Cancon regulations.

Imagine Dragons is a fantastic selection for Grey Cup halftime and I would think the remaining seats will be sold quickly. Virtually unheard of, Imagine Dragons came out with Radioactive and gradually over several months it became a super hit for them and proved to be a catalyst for their music career. On YouTube Radioactive has over 233 million hits!! However, if you really want to see a fine video with Radioactive played as audio then go to Michael Schaper's football highlighs. Schaper was the 2011 Wally Buono Award winner and a pretty incredible football player.

sj-roc wrote:1040's Sekeres wasn't all that impressed with this announcement. He floated Dave Bidini/Rheostatics as a better alternative. Which I guess means he never heard what Bidini had to say about the CFL the last time the Grey Cup was here.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/e ... le4179534/

Veteran rocker and sports author Dave Bidini probably summed up the CFL’s Southern Ontario ennui Monday on CBC Radio’s Q. “It’s too parochial, none of my friends are interested in the sport whatsoever,” the Toronto-based Bidini explained. “I don’t think fans should be expected to support it just because it’s Canadian. … We don’t have to be slaves to an inferior product.”

Pretty ironic coming from a guy who owes whatever musical success he ever achieved to CRTC Cancon regulations.

I have no idea who this guys is, lol. Imagine Dragons is a great band for the Grey Cup though.

Back when "Radioactive" was charting I remember it being played along with the pregame video for a Canuck game I went to. (I only attend a few games a year so don't know how many times they did that.)
I'm think the Lions might have used it too once or twice. The funny thing is I think the first time I heard the song was at either a Lions or Canucks game.

CBC also used it at least once on Hockey Night In Canada


I think they are a decent choice, even if they aren't Canadian. Being indoors was likely a selling point to get them, unlike last year when The Sheep Dogs and Hedley braved the elements.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gr ... rformances

Great live band and a really excellent stage show. purrfect choice for an event like grey cup. Imagine Dragons saved last years grammy awards show from being a snooze fest.

sj-roc wrote:1040's Sekeres wasn't all that impressed with this announcement. He floated Dave Bidini/Rheostatics as a better alternative. Which I guess means he never heard what Bidini had to say about the CFL the last time the Grey Cup was here.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/e ... le4179534/

Veteran rocker and sports author Dave Bidini probably summed up the CFL’s Southern Ontario ennui Monday on CBC Radio’s Q. “It’s too parochial, none of my friends are interested in the sport whatsoever,” the Toronto-based Bidini explained. “I don’t think fans should be expected to support it just because it’s Canadian. … We don’t have to be slaves to an inferior product.”

Pretty ironic coming from a guy who owes whatever musical success he ever achieved to CRTC Cancon regulations.

Maybe Sekeres was being sarcastic? I had to do a search on Rheostatics to figure out who they are.....or should I say who they used to be. According to Wikipedia other than a reunion show or two at a fund raising event they've been out of circulation since 2007.

Hambone wrote:

sj-roc wrote:1040's Sekeres wasn't all that impressed with this announcement. He floated Dave Bidini/Rheostatics as a better alternative. Which I guess means he never heard what Bidini had to say about the CFL the last time the Grey Cup was here.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/e ... le4179534/

Veteran rocker and sports author Dave Bidini probably summed up the CFL’s Southern Ontario ennui Monday on CBC Radio’s Q. “It’s too parochial, none of my friends are interested in the sport whatsoever,” the Toronto-based Bidini explained. “I don’t think fans should be expected to support it just because it’s Canadian. … We don’t have to be slaves to an inferior product.”

Pretty ironic coming from a guy who owes whatever musical success he ever achieved to CRTC Cancon regulations.

Maybe Sekeres was being sarcastic? I had to do a search on Rheostatics to figure out who they are.....or should I say who they used to be. According to Wikipedia other than a reunion show or two at a fund raising event they've been out of circulation since 2007.

Could be. They were more of an alternative act — back when that still meant something, in the pre-grunge days when a lot of those bands thrived on the college radio scene. To add to the irony of "not supporting an inferior product just because it's Canadian", Dave Bidini is also a huge Leafs fan and the Rheostatics' best known song is probably The Ballad of Wendel Clark ("He learned to play/In Kelvington, Ess-Ay-Ess-Kay").

That band is basically defunct; Bidini himself has been more steady as a solo performer but he's just as occupied with writing these days. He's had a weekly arts column in the Saturday edition of the National Post for years now and has put out a few books (some are hockey-focussed). And while he isn't too keen on the "inferior" Canadian game, he's not all that high on the NFL, either.

Never heard of them. Doubt very much that fans will suddenly rush to buy Grey Cup tickets to hear them play a couple of songs.

TheLionKing wrote:Never heard of them. Doubt very much that fans will suddenly rush to buy Grey Cup tickets to hear them play a couple of songs.

True. But making the announcement does give the league some extra media run. Nothing wrong with that.