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Downie Street · Stratford · 200710 places up next

Justin Bieber

He busked on these steps at twelve; a stranger found him by clicking the wrong video. Make the same click and his places play one after another.

Justin Bieber, aged fifteen, in a purple cardigan, making a peace sign
New York, September 2009 · Kerosene Photography · CC BY 2.0
Justin Bieber in April 2010, aged sixteen, with his swept fringe
Washington, April 2010 · Daniel Ogren · CC BY 2.0
A weathered bronze star plaque set in the pavement, engraved Justin Bieber, Recording Artist
His star at the foot of the Avon steps, 2025 · Chris Woodrich · CC BY-SA 4.0

The wrong click · 2007 · 10 videos · 10 places

The wrong click

In early 2007, aged 12, he sang Ne-Yo’s So Sick in a local Stratford singing competition and came in the top three. His mother posted that performance on YouTube for family and friends, then kept uploading his cover videos.

Looking for another singer, Scooter Braun clicks on his video by accident, then tracks down the school and the theatre.

The page, titles and order are our game; nothing here imitates a real video site. Each place, and what is said about it, comes from the sources one click away.

Sources

Search results for a different singer. One of them is not like the others.

Stratford · Ontario

Hometown

Avon Theatre steps, City Hall and the Allman Arena are a few minutes’ walk apart; the museum is a short drive west.

The front of the Avon Theatre on Downie Street, Stratford
The Avon Theatre, 99 Downie Street, Stratford, August 2025. Chris Woodrich · CC BY-SA 4.0

2007 · 99 Downie Street

Busking on the steps

In 2007 he busked in front of the Avon Theatre. In the busy tourist season he made about $150 to $200 a day here.

A bronze star with his name sits at the base of the steps. The plaque reads Justin Bieber, Recording Artist, presented by the City of Stratford on 1 July 2011.

Scooter Braun, who had found him on YouTube, tracked down his school and this theatre before contacting his mother.

A working Stratford Festival theatre on Downie Street. The steps are on the pavement: stand on them, find the star at the bottom, and leave room for anyone busking now.

Sources
Destination Stratford

Stratford audio walking tours

Stratford, Ontario · Free

Free self-guided audio walks from the tourism board, including a Justin Bieber walk past the places he spent time before he left town. Start from the map on the page.

Open the map
Stratford City Hall, red brick with a clock tower
Stratford City Hall from the front garden, August 2013. Ian Furst · CC BY-SA 3.0

Before 2007 · Wellington Street

A first recorded song

Stratford’s Bieber audio tour stops here as the place he performed his first-ever recorded song.

The tour doesn’t say whether this was the 2007 contest video; these sources don’t say where that contest was held.

The red-brick town hall with the clock tower, a block from the Avon. See it from Market Square; the auditorium is used for events.

Sources
The brick front of the William Allman Memorial Arena
William Allman Memorial Arena, Stratford, September 2015. Ken Lund · CC BY-SA 2.0

Childhood · Lakeside Drive

Hockey at the Allman

He played hockey here, according to the town’s audio tour.

The tour also takes in the YMCA, where he played basketball, and the All-Wheels skatepark.

He taught himself piano, drums, guitar and trumpet.

The town’s old brick rink by the lake, still used for games. Go in on a game night.

Sources
A stone bridge over the Avon river in Stratford, with gardens
The Huron Street bridge over the Avon in Stratford, July 2010. The road runs west to the museum; this is not the museum. Robert Taylor · CC BY 2.0

18 February 2018 · Highway 8

Steps to Stardom

Its exhibit Justin Bieber: Steps to Stardom opened on 18 February 2018, made with Bieber and his family.

It followed him from busking on the Avon Theatre steps to pop stardom. The museum had hundreds of things to choose from: awards, clothes, pictures, all-access passes, letters and running shoes.

Stratford people offered team pictures, hockey jackets, drum sets and library cards from his early years.

A working museum on Highway 8 west of town. Check what is on show before you go; the photograph is the Huron Street bridge in town, on the road out to it.

Sources
The Bruce Hotel

The Bruce Hotel, Stratford

89 Parkview Drive, Stratford, Ontario · See the site

A boutique hotel near the Festival theatres and the Avon: 21 rooms, four suites and a cottage for six. Rates show when you choose dates. Pictured: the Avon Theatre.

See rooms

Atlanta · 2008

Singing for Usher

At 13 he went to Atlanta with Braun to record demo tapes, and about a week later began singing for Usher.

He was signed by RBMG, a joint venture between Usher and Braun. Justin Timberlake was reportedly also in the running but lost the bidding war to Usher.

L.A. Reid signed him to Island Records in October 2008. His first single, One Time, reached number 12 in Canada in its first week, in July 2009.

Named, not mapped: no address for the demos or the meeting is given. The photograph is downtown Atlanta in June 2008.

Sources
The downtown Atlanta skyline under a blue sky
Downtown Atlanta from Jackson Street, June 2008: the city, not the family’s home. Matt Lemmon · CC BY-SA 2.0
Justin Bieber and Scooter Braun side by side at an arena in 2015
Justin Bieber with his manager Scooter Braun at the Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Illinois, 18 November 2015. Lou Stejskal · CC BY 2.0

Pictured: Scooter Braun, the manager who made the wrong click, beside him in Rosemont, Illinois, November 2015.

Madison Square Garden · 31 August 2010

Every seat sold

14,529of 14,529 tickets sold

The entrance to Madison Square Garden under Eleven Penn Plaza
The Madison Square Garden entrance on Seventh Avenue, December 2010. Jorge Láscar · CC BY 2.0

He played the Garden on 31 August 2010 on the My World Tour: 14,529 tickets, every one sold.

The night was filmed with many cameras from many angles for the 3D film Never Say Never.

Above Penn Station. In on a show night, or on the Garden’s own guided tour.

Sources
Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden Tour Experience

4 Pennsylvania Plaza, New York

A guided tour of the Garden, booked on the venue’s own site.

Book a tour
Justin Bieber on stage in August 2010
Justin Bieber on the My World Tour at Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, August 2010. Heather Sokol · CC BY-SA 2.0

Pictured: the same tour in Indianapolis, two weeks before the Garden.

Never Say Never, directed by Jon M. Chu, opened on 11 February 2011 and took $99 million worldwide.

The tour ran 126 shows, from Hartford on 23 June 2010 to Caracas on 19 October 2011.

Hollywood · Seattle · London · 2015–2017

Purpose

His engineer Josh Gudwin says almost all of the Purpose vocals and much of the final mixing were done at the Record Plant.

Part of the mixing of Sorry was done at Henson Studio D, and Jungle City in New York was among the other mixing rooms. Purpose came out on 13 November 2015.

A private working studio. See the building from Sycamore Avenue; there is no visitor entrance.

Sources
A recording studio control room with a large mixing desk
A control room at the Record Plant, September 2012. JacoTen · CC BY-SA 2.0
Justin Bieber singing on stage in 2016
Justin Bieber on the Purpose World Tour at Tauron Arena, Kraków, 11 November 2016. Jakub Janecki · CC BY-SA 4.0

The cube is down, under the stage in Seattle, 9 March 2016.

The KeyArena roof seen from above, Seattle
KeyArena (now Climate Pledge Arena) from the Space Needle, September 2018. Rowanswiki · CC0

9 March 2016 · Seattle

The cube rises

The Purpose World Tour opened here on 9 March 2016, with Corey Harper and Moxie Raia.

The show began with a glass cube, first on film and then for real, rising from under the stage on hydraulics.

Later came a steel cage with fire, a trampoline lowered from above, a red velvet couch and, at the end, artificial rain.

Now Climate Pledge Arena, at Seattle Center below the Space Needle. In on a game or show night.

Sources
A huge outdoor stage in Hyde Park at night with a crowd
The British Summer Time stage in Hyde Park on 8 July 2017, six days after his last Purpose show there (another band on stage). Raph_PH · CC BY 2.0

2 July 2017 · Hyde Park

The last Purpose night

The Purpose World Tour played its last show here, at British Summer Time, on 2 July 2017. Martin Garrix, Tove Lo and Anne-Marie opened.

On 24 July 2017 he cancelled the remaining dates; the tour had grossed more than $257 million.

The tour’s body text counts 2,805,481 people across 141 shows.

A royal park, open daily. The festival stage goes up in summer; out of season it is open grass.

Sources
The Olympic Park in Barra da Tijuca from above
Parque Olímpico da Barra, Rio de Janeiro, April 2016, years before Rock in Rio moved in. Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil · CC BY 3.0 BR

Barra da Tijuca · 4 September 2022

Rock in Rio

In June 2022 he announced he had Ramsay Hunt syndrome and said half of his face was paralysed.

Shows from Toronto on 7 June to 3 July 2022 were cancelled; he was back on stage in late July, at Lucca on 31 July.

On 4 September 2022 he played Rock in Rio at Barra Olympic Park, his first concert in Latin America on that tour.

Two days later the remaining dates were put off so he could put his health first; Rio was later named the tour’s final show.

The Olympic Park is open between events; Rock in Rio builds its festival city here in festival years.

Sources

Where it is now

The queue runs out: 9 places to go.

Start on Downie Street. The Avon Theatre, City Hall and the Allman Arena are a few minutes’ walk apart; the museum is a short drive west on Highway 8. Everything else is a trip of its own.

Where it is now

9 places you can visit, from Downie Street to Barra da Tijuca. Atlanta has no address in the sources, so it is named, not mapped.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working Stratford Festival theatre on Downie Street. The steps are on the pavement: stand on them, find the star at the bottom, and leave room for anyone busking now.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The red-brick town hall with the clock tower, a block from the Avon. See it from Market Square; the auditorium is used for events.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The town’s old brick rink by the lake, still used for games. Go in on a game night.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working museum on Highway 8 west of town. Check what is on show before you go; the photograph is the Huron Street bridge in town, on the road out to it.

  1. The front of the Avon Theatre on Downie Street, Stratford
    The Avon Theatre, 99 Downie Street, Stratford, August 2025. Chris Woodrich · CC BY-SA 4.0

    99 Downie Street, Stratford, Ontario

    Avon Theatre steps

    In 2007 he busked in front of the Avon Theatre.

    A working Stratford Festival theatre on Downie Street. The steps are on the pavement: stand on them, find the star at the bottom, and leave room for anyone busking now.

    Sources
  2. Stratford City Hall, red brick with a clock tower
    Stratford City Hall from the front garden, August 2013. Ian Furst · CC BY-SA 3.0

    1 Wellington Street, Stratford, Ontario

    Stratford City Hall

    Stratford’s Bieber audio tour stops here as the place he performed his first-ever recorded song.

    The red-brick town hall with the clock tower, a block from the Avon. See it from Market Square; the auditorium is used for events.

    Sources
  3. The brick front of the William Allman Memorial Arena
    William Allman Memorial Arena, Stratford, September 2015. Ken Lund · CC BY-SA 2.0

    Lakeside Drive, Stratford, Ontario

    William Allman Memorial Arena

    He played hockey here, according to the town’s audio tour.

    The town’s old brick rink by the lake, still used for games. Go in on a game night.

    Sources
  4. A stone bridge over the Avon river in Stratford, with gardens
    The Huron Street bridge over the Avon in Stratford, July 2010. The road runs west to the museum; this is not the museum. Robert Taylor · CC BY 2.0

    4275 Huron Road (Highway 8), just west of Stratford

    Stratford Perth Museum

    Its exhibit Justin Bieber: Steps to Stardom opened on 18 February 2018, made with Bieber and his family.

    A working museum on Highway 8 west of town. Check what is on show before you go; the photograph is the Huron Street bridge in town, on the road out to it.

    Sources

Stay

A room in Stratford.

A hotel a short walk from the Festival theatres and the Avon.

The Bruce Hotel

The Bruce Hotel, Stratford

89 Parkview Drive, Stratford, Ontario · See the site

A boutique hotel near the Festival theatres and the Avon: 21 rooms, four suites and a cottage for six. Rates show when you choose dates. Pictured: the Avon Theatre.

See rooms

Go there

Walk it, then see the Garden.

The town’s free audio walk, the Garden’s own tour and tours in Stratford.

Destination Stratford

Stratford audio walking tours

Stratford, Ontario · Free

Free self-guided audio walks from the tourism board, including a Justin Bieber walk past the places he spent time before he left town. Start from the map on the page.

Open the map
Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden Tour Experience

4 Pennsylvania Plaza, New York

A guided tour of the Garden, booked on the venue’s own site.

Book a tour
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Tours in Stratford, Ontario

Stratford, Ontario

Live marketplace results for walks and tours in Stratford. Check each itinerary for the stops it really makes.

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What’s on

Nothing announced.

No Justin Bieber dates are listed at these places yet.

No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.

Take it home

Three albums.

My World 2.0 (2010), Purpose (2015) and Justice (2021).

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My World 2.0

Justin Bieber · CD, 2010

Released 23 March 2010, five months before the Garden.

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Purpose

Justin Bieber · CD, 2015

Vocals done almost entirely at the Record Plant.

Live marketplace search · listings and condition change

Find a copy
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Justice

Justin Bieber · CD, 2021

The album behind the 2022 tour that ended in Rio.

Live marketplace search · listings and condition change

Find a copy

Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.

The full record

Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.

10 of 10 places · 13 of 13 Moments

  • Avon Theatre steps

    99 Downie Street, Stratford, Ontario

    • Busking on the steps

      He busks in front of the Avon Theatre.

    • The wrong click

      Looking for another singer, Scooter Braun clicks on his video by accident, then tracks down the school and the theatre.

    • A star on the pavement

      The City of Stratford sets a bronze star for him at the foot of the Avon steps.

  • Stratford City Hall

    1 Wellington Street, Stratford, Ontario

    • A first recorded song

      The town’s tour names City Hall as where he performed his first-ever recorded song.

    • So Sick, on YouTube

      He comes in the top three in a local contest; his mother posts the video for family.

  • William Allman Memorial Arena

    Lakeside Drive, Stratford, Ontario

    • Hockey at the Allman

      He plays hockey at the old town rink.

  • Stratford Perth Museum

    4275 Huron Road (Highway 8), just west of Stratford

    • Steps to Stardom

      The museum opens an exhibit made with him and his family.

  • Atlanta

    Atlanta, Georgia (where he lived and recorded is not identified here)

    • Atlanta and Usher

      Demo tapes in Atlanta; a week later he is singing for Usher; RBMG and then Island sign him.

  • Madison Square Garden

    4 Pennsylvania Plaza, Manhattan, New York

    • The Garden, sold out

      14,529 tickets sold at Madison Square Garden, filmed for Never Say Never.

  • Record Plant

    1032 North Sycamore Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles

    • Purpose vocals

      Almost all of Purpose’s vocals and much of its mixing are done at the Record Plant.

  • KeyArena (Climate Pledge Arena)

    334 1st Avenue North, Seattle (now Climate Pledge Arena)

    • The cube rises

      The Purpose World Tour opens in Seattle with a glass cube rising through the stage.

  • Hyde Park

    Hyde Park, London (the British Summer Time festival ground)

    • The last Purpose night

      The tour’s final show, at British Summer Time in Hyde Park.

  • Rock in Rio, Parque Olímpico

    Parque Olímpico, Avenida Embaixador Abelardo Bueno, Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro

    • Rock in Rio

      Three months after the Ramsay Hunt diagnosis he plays Rock in Rio; two days later the tour is put on hold.

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