Concert trucks to skirt Halifax Common: HRM spokeswoman

The city is doing what it can to lessen the impact on the Halifax Common when two big concerts hit the park this summer, a spokeswoman says.

Shaune MacKinlay, spokeswoman for the Halifax Regional Municipality, said municipal officials are trying to limit the number of heavy vehicles trekking across the field for the Paul McCartney and Kiss shows.

So, she said, the municipality is setting up a perimeter so concert-related vehicles skirt the park.

"What you'll see is the trucks, the forklifts, pickup trucks, those types of things that are used in setting up for the concert, won't be criss-crossing and traversing the Common like they have in the past," MacKinlay said Monday.

Local promoters expect about 60,000 fans for the McCartney show on July 11. Kiss headlines a concert in the Common on July 18.

Athletes worry about access, damage to Common

Many people who regularly use the Common for sporting activities such as baseball, softball and cricket are worried that the summer concerts will leave them without a place to play.

The two concerts will close several playing fields. The expected damage caused by the thousands of concert-goers could take months to repair.

While athletes such as Greg Vanslyke understand that they’ll have to give up their fields for the concerts, they’re not optimistic about the state of the Common afterward.

"We can’t rely on the Commons to be playable after two concerts in the summer," Vanslyke, chair of the Halifax Ultimate Recreational League, said Monday.

"So, we've assumed the worst case that we won’t be able to use those fields anytime during or after," he said.

Bhan Deonarine, president of the Nova Scotia Cricket Association, said he'll be happy so long as the concert action is far from his cricket pitch on the Common.

"The city does a good job," Deonarine said. "They protect it for me, and after the concert is completed they'll redo the whole thing for me again. And that will be fine for us," he said.

In 2006, the grass on the Common was damaged when the Rolling Stones performed in the rain for more than 50,000 fans.

Huge strips of carpeting were laid out on the Common when country singer Keith Urban performed there last summer. However, when the carpeting, which cost approximately $150,000, was removed, it ripped up the grass it was supposed to protect.

The concert promoters said people from Paul McCartney's camp will visit Halifax next week to decide the final location of the stage on the Common as well as the amount of equipment needed to pull off the concert.

The city will then determine how long the Common will remain closed before and after the two concerts.