A crowd of 50,000 Coldplay fans reveled at a Sunday concert at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara—later than usual.
In November, the Santa Clara City Council voted to allow an exception of five events to its noise ordinance ban at Levi’s Stadium.
The noise ordinance started when the stadium opened in 2016, requiring it to go dark by 10 p.m. on weeknights and 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, which made it hard to book events. When the city manager allowed the Rolling Stones to break the curfew in 2019, residents complained. Without the change the concert wouldn’t have happened because Coldplay had to reschedule its concert date from Saturday to Sunday, which would have meant losing that extra hour, said Santa Clara Councilmember Karen Hardy.
“We’re excited we were able to lift the curfew so that we didn’t lose the show,” she told thecupertinodigest.com. “We have a stadium and we have to make it work.”
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After a riveting performance by H.E.R., British rock band Coldplay took the stage, ending their performance just before 11 p.m. Fireworks, confetti, lasers and synchronized colored LED bracelets added to the joy of screaming fans at the first concert at Levi’s Stadium in more than 1,000 days. The last concert was the Rolling Stones in August 2019.
Roger Hacker, vice president of corporate communications for the San Francisco 49ers and Levi’s Stadium, told thecupertinodigest.com that two upcoming events taking advantage of the extended hours are Elton John and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The extra hour also enabled Elton John to add a second night to his upcoming concert schedule.
“We are receiving heavy demand for even more concerts to come to Levi’s Stadium in 2023,” he said.
Santa Clara Councilmember Anthony Becker said local businesses will be the beneficiaries of millions of dollars from the economic impact of these concerts.
“Now that we’re getting out of COVID, we’re trying to find our footing,” Becker told thecupertinodigest.com. “We’re looking to bring events to the city and utilize the stadium for what it was built for.”
Christian Malesic, CEO of the Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce, told thecupertinodigest.com concerts returning to the stadium will help rebuild the economy, especially the tourism segment, which was decimated during the pandemic. Malesic said Santa Clara lost tens of millions of dollars due to county pandemic-related guidelines and the noise ordinance, but hotel and restaurant owners told him business was booming last weekend.
“It’s exactly what we need to help bring that segment and really the whole economy in the valley back,” he said. “Any time there’s something like a concert or a game, that tends to positively affect all the local venues, including restaurants and bars.”
Al Guido, president of the San Francisco 49ers, said this will be the busiest concert season since the stadium opened in 2014, bringing thousands of jobs back to Santa Clara. Guido said the stadium employs more than 3,500 people on event nights and the return of live events means sold out hotels and jam-packed restaurants.
“Having Chris Martin take that stage Sunday night… it would not have happened without lifting the music ban,” he said in a statement. “We would not be here today without the councilmembers who brought back concerts to Levi’s Stadium.”
Contact Lorraine Gabbert at [email protected].
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