Bell Centre

Go Habs Go!

I want to watch the Sabres take out the Habs in their own building! I always heard Montreal was one of the best places to go for a hockey game, and what better of a game then my favorite team vs. their favorite team!

Best feeling in the world, because firstly HABS ROCK. And well, all this ambiance… it’s AMAZING. REALLY.

Hi, I drove my 16 year-old son and 2 of his friends to a rock concert at the Bell Centre in Montréal last Thursday night. The warm-up band was The Mars Volta and the headliner was Red Hot Chili Peppers. Great concert! I’ll comment more in a 43T entry. The concert review the following day said that 16,900 people were in attendance! We were loud, that’s for sure…and we passed the message on to the band that we loved their music!

I was very impressed by “Centre Bell” (en Français). I thought it was very beautiful and many things in the arena main seating area looked quite similar to Scotiabank Place in my own hometown. I really liked the atmosphere in the exterior lobbies on level 1 and 2, it was first class, with nice subdued lighting, carpeting and friendly staff. The food was nice and hot but very expensive. A large coke and a slice of pizza was $9.25 CAN! The seating is comfortable but there isn’t a lot of leg room. I found that I wasn’t able to stretch my knees out at all. Overall though, I could see that this would be a wonderful experience to watch a hockey game there.

As for Montréal, it’s a truly beautiful, cosmopolitan North American City, not a typical one. I forgot just how large it is. When we arrived, the traffic was very congested, stop and go on the autoroute #40, especially near the Decarie Expressway exit. My son wanted to drive there (NOT!) hahaha….I know some adult friends who won’t even drive in Montréal. The drivers are aggressive, but mostly predictable, I only encountered one slow driver that whole evening, haha.

I regret not having time on Thursday, to walk around the downtown area before or after the concert. As it was, we returned home around 2:30am!! It’s about a 2.5 hour drive from downtown Montréal to the west end of Ottawa.

I went to a Bon Jovi concert at the Bell Centre in February 2003. I don’t have a lot to say about the facility itself, but the concert was fantastic! I sat in section 123 which wasn’t as close as I’d like to be, but hey I was in the building, lol.

I think this arena opened in 1996, so while it’s not up there with the brand-new arenas, it’s very nice and bright with (mostly) great sight lines inside. It’s also right next door to a subway station and accessible by Montreal’s underground.
In the upper bowl, you pretty much have to lean forward (each row has a bar installed in front of it) you can lean on; I wonder if that contributes the the noise/cheers being directed downward, making the arena pretty noisy. Also, due to either the arena’s acoustics or the microphones at ice level, you can actually hear the swoosh of skate blades and the pinging of the puck against the glass and boards, even upstairs.

Very knowledgeable hockey fans, even though we were obviously cheering for the visitors, no one gave us a hard time.

Signs on the doors advising no cameras or recording equipment scared my husband into making me take my camera back to our hotel, but we weren’t searched by security at all on the way in, and a number of other fans used cameras apparently without problem. If we ever come back, the camera is coming along!

My husband bought us tickets to see the Flyers play the Habs the first weekend in February. Woo hoo! I really hope Pete Vandermeer is still with the team then.

The Canadiens signed Peter Vandermeer to a one-year deal yesterday. If he plays for the Habs, as opposed to being signed to play for the Hamilton Bulldogs, this will definitely motivate me to accomplish this trip.

I have visited Montreal before, but in the summer. I’d like to see a Canadiens home game.