La Tulipe has to stay quiet
Appeal court has upheld the ruling that the La Tulipe show venue must stop making any noise that could be heard by the residential building next door.
It’s a brief report, but this is a major screwup by the borough, ending La Tulipe’s long history as a live venue.
Here are blog entries on this situation from 2021, and some discussion.
DeWolf 17:36 on 2024-09-23 Permalink
Lots of unanswered questions. Does this mean La Tulipe must cease operations immediately? (I have tickets to a concert there next Friday!) And what are the implications for other venues? The judge’s ruling is excessively strict and it could mean that all Plateau music venues could face similar repercussions.
Of course the simple thing to do would be for the Plateau to change its noise regulations. Given the full-throated support the borough administration gave to La Tulipe after the 2023 ruling, I would be astonished if they didn’t find a workaround. Especially since the Plante administration has already indicated they will reform noise regulations this fall.
Kate 19:03 on 2024-09-23 Permalink
If I were you, I’d get in touch with them and ask whether your show is going ahead.
dwgs 08:49 on 2024-09-24 Permalink
The owner of Turbo Haus put it well, https://x.com/TurboHaus/status/1838375347609571446
Meezly 09:37 on 2024-09-24 Permalink
If you asked me a decade ago, I’d say no way would Montreal ever go the way of Vancouver aka “no fun city.” Nowadays, well…
Even now, there’s really no nice venue downtown for mid-popular music acts. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds will be playing at the beautiful Orpheum Theatre in downtown Vancouver, but here, they’ll be playing at the a sports stadium in… Laval. I guess Place des Arts is busy enough without being a venue for live rock shows?
I’m glad Place Bell has been a place for arena-sized music shows, but it’s another blow to Montreal’s downtown scene.
Kate 10:20 on 2024-09-24 Permalink
dwgs, also a terse and relevant tweet from the same guy, Sergio da Silva of Turbo Haus.
Glenn Castanheira also tweeted “Avec cette logique, ce n’est qu’une question de temps avant qu’on déménage toutes les salles de spectacles au Royalmount.”
Kate 10:23 on 2024-09-24 Permalink
Meezly, Place des Arts has always held itself above rock and pop, although now that the Maison Symphonique exists for orchestral works, a lot of what PdA stages is so beige and bland and tasteful that you never hear about it.
DeWolf 11:05 on 2024-09-24 Permalink
@Meezly The Orpheum has a capacity of 2,700, which is similar to the Metropolis/M Telus (2,300) and Olympia (2,400). There are even more one step down in terms of capacity, including Club Soda (1,000), Corona/Beanfield (Le National (750) and Studio TD (700).
Place Bell has a capacity of 10,000 so either Nick Cave has a lot more fans here than in Vancouver or the downtown venues were simply too busy to accommodate his tour.
GC 11:50 on 2024-09-24 Permalink
Is Place des Arts really that exclusive? I saw Lauryn Hill there in 2016. She’s probably not what Gen Z are listening to, but she’s very firmly in the hip-hop/reggae sphere and not classical or adult contemporary that one might stereotype as being at Place des Arts. (I’ve also seen Loreena McKennitt there and she is probably closer to who one might assume they’d showcase…)
Kate 12:03 on 2024-09-24 Permalink
Before posting that comment, I looked at their upcoming schedule and it was honestly a big yawn. Did anyone find a way to dance to Lauryn Hill at PdA?
Meezly 12:35 on 2024-09-24 Permalink
@DeWolf. A lot of big name acts that don’t necessarily draw stadium-sized crowds have played at Place Bell the past few years. I suppose what makes Place Bell a desirable venue is its flexibility in accommodating small to big acts: https://placebell.ca/en/rental/rent-place-bell
GC 14:05 on 2024-09-24 Permalink
HA, Kate. Maybe some chair dancing! I had previously seen her at L’Olympia, which is definitely much more a get-up-and-dance venue, but I actually thought the acoustics that night were pretty awful. At least, when I see a show at Place des Arts, I’m confident it’s going to SOUND good.
dhomas 14:07 on 2024-09-24 Permalink
I went to go see The War on Drugs and The National at Place Bell last week. It wasn’t full, but I’m pretty sure there were more than 2400 people there. The acoustics were not great and the seating was kinda meh. The location was ok, since you can get there pretty easily via the orange line metro. But I still much prefer a downtown venue (orange AND green line, plus yellow or REM from the south shore), or something in the city.
The food options around Place Bell were mostly pretty cookie cutter, food court fare (Amir, Subway, etc), or faux upscale where I couldn’t tell if the food would be good, but I could tell it would be expensive. (I ended up eating a burrito at Ke Paso since we were late and ended up missing the first opening act, Lucius).
I suppose there is still the Corona Theatre that is similarly sized to La Tulipe, but it’s in a completely different part of town. I really hope they are able to come to some kind of agreement to let La Tulipe continue to operate. The TurbaHaus guys is completely right in his indignation.
Joey 14:15 on 2024-09-24 Permalink
Yeah Place Bell is a good option for bands playing to 12-20K fans in other cities who don’t appeal to Francophone audiences. PDA’s biggest venues (Salle Wilfrid Pelletier and Maison Symphonique) top out around 3,000 seats; MTelus is in that ballpark as well. So we have a solid venues for bands playing large intimate shows, with both fussy and unfussy options.
Place Bell is a good size for bands who can sell, say, 6,000 tickets – though the location isn’t ideal and the acoustics aren’t amazing. Definitely feels like Bell Centre Lite. I assume it’s a cheaper venue for bands and is a good option to work around the Bell Centre calendar – more than 10% of the year is booked off for the Canadiens.
Nick Cave is an unusual case because he’s got a strong Montreal following and typically plays here on every tour, if not more often. I don’t know that he could sell out the Bell Centre, but he’s played PDA and MTelus recently, plus Place Bell next spring.
JP 16:56 on 2024-09-24 Permalink
I think Sting has played Place des Arts (and maybe even Prince, though I’m less sure on that one)
Joey 17:16 on 2024-09-24 Permalink
@JP yeah the big established older artists all pass through PDA because their target demo is well off slightly older people, so they need a venue that seats 2K-3K with actual seats. Depending on the tour they may be able to stretch up a bit and play a larger venue (before Place Bell the Bell Centre would often be converted into a “theatre” with 2/3 of the sections and the entire upper bowl blocked off), but I’m guessing they make more money by selling expensive tickets at a poshish venue (PDA) than more cheaper tickets at a hockey arena.