Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto, also known as SARSStock, was a benefit rock concert that was held in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada on July 30, 2003. An estimated 450,000 to 500,000 people attended the concert, making it is the largest outdoor ticketed event in Canadian history and one of the largest events in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

n history.

Overview

The concert was organized in about a month, upon the suggestion of headliners

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

, who wanted to help revive Toronto's economy after the

SARS Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the virus SARS-CoV-1, the first identified strain of the SARS-related coronavirus. The first known cases occurred in November 2002, and the ...

outbreaks earlier in the year. The

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

have held tour rehearsals in Toronto on more than one occasion; Toronto was also the setting for Keith Richards's 1977 arrest and subsequent trial. When the Rolling Stones announced the concert, Toronto was still under a SARS warning from the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

. The publicity garnered by the SARS outbreak led to a downturn in Toronto's tourism industry, which the concert was intended to help revive. Tickets for the concert went on sale on June 27, 2003 and cost $21.50 Canadian. The Canadian portion of 150,000 tickets sold out almost immediately and set a single-day record for the Canadian arm of

Ticketmaster Ticketmaster Entertainment, LLC is an American ticket sales and distribution company based in Beverly Hills, California, with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010, it merged with Live Nation under the name Live Nation Ente ...

. Tickets were also available for purchase at

Metro Inc. Metro Inc. is a Canadian supermarket chain operating in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. The company is based in Montreal, Quebec, with head office at 11011 Boulevard Maurice-Duplessis. Metro is the third-largest grocer in Canada, after L ...

grocery stores in Ontario. The concert was held at

Downsview Park Downsview Park () is a large urban park located in the Downsview, Toronto, Downsview neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The park's name is officially Bilingualism in Canada, bilingual due to it being federally owned and managed, and was ...

in northern Toronto, a former military base which also accommodated 800,000 people when

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

visited the city in 2002. The concert was hosted by actor/singer

Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Aykroyd was a writer and an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" cast on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Nigh ...

, and vendors sold

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

beef in support of the Canadian beef industry, which had recently suffered because of a case of

mad cow disease Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, is an incurable and always fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle. Symptoms include abnormal behavior, trouble walking, and weight loss. Later in the course of th ...

North York General Hospital North York General Hospital (NYGH) is a teaching hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Primarily serving the North York district, as well as southern York Region, it offers acute care, ambulatory and long-term services at multiple sites. It is o ...

, which had been hit the hardest by the SARS outbreak in previous months, provided emergency on-site hospital services. The Toronto water department was initially supposed to provide free water by tapping the groundwater at the site, but were unable to do so due to health concerns. The

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

(CBC) and cable music station MuchMoreMusic provided coverage of parts of the concert throughout the day, including the end of the Rolling Stones' set. The concert opened in the afternoon with Have Love Will Travel Revue, including Aykroyd and James Belushi, Sam Roberts, Kathleen Edwards, La Chicane, The Tea Party, and

The Flaming Lips The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals), Derek Brown ...

who invited artists from backstage to dance on stage with them dressed in fuzzy animal costumes, Sass Jordan,

The Isley Brothers The Isley Brothers ( ) are an American soul group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of the brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over seven decades, ...

, and Blue Rodeo. Each band performed for 15–20 minutes. The second part of the concert began later in the afternoon and lasted into the night and featured

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and dancer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Prince of Pop", ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' honored him as the b ...

The Guess Who The Guess Who was a Canadian rock band formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1965. The band found their greatest success in the late 1960s and early 1970s, under the leadership of singer/keyboardist Burton Cummings and guitarist Randy Bachman, wit ...

, Rush,

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

, and the Rolling Stones, who performed a 90-minute set to end the concert. Justin Timberlake was booed by the crowd, which was anticipating the harder-rocking second half of the concert. Throughout his performance, he had to dodge launched projectiles of water bottles,

toilet paper Toilet paper (sometimes called toilet/bath/bathroom tissue, or toilet roll) is a tissue paper product primarily used to clean the human anus, anus and surrounding region of Human feces, feces (after defecation), and to clean the external gen ...

, muffins, and other items thrown by the audience. He later returned to duet with

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

on " Miss You" and also for Justin Timberlake's " Cry Me a River". When some fans continued to throw bottles at Timberlake, the crowd was harangued by a visibly angry

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...

. Rush was the last band to be added to the lineup. According to drummer

Neil Peart Neil Ellwood Peart ( ; September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020) was a Canadian and American musician, known as the drummer, percussionist, and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush (band), Rush. He was known to fans by the nickname "the Profe ...

, "When we were first asked to play Molson Canadian Rocks For Toronto, it seemed impossible to say yes. We had been off the road for 8 months, our gear was in the warehouse, most of our crew was out on other tours, and even we were all over the place - Geddy with his family in France, Alex working in the studio mixing our Rio de Janeiro show, and me on my motorcycle in the California mountains. However, when we thought about everything Toronto meant to our lives, to our work and play, our homes and families and friends, it seemed impossible to say no!" A documentary DVD entitled ''Toronto Rocks'' was released in 2004, showing highlights of the event.

Lineup

The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Justin Timberlake, The Flaming Lips, Rush, The Guess Who, Sam Roberts, Blue Rodeo, The Isley Brothers, Sass Jordan, Sarah Harmer, The Tea Party, La Chicane, Kathleen Edwards, Jeff Healey, The Blues Brothers (Dan Akroyd and Jim Belushi)

References

External links

CBC Coverage
* {{The Rolling Stones Music festivals established in 2003 2003 in Canadian music Music festivals in Toronto Rock festivals in Canada Benefit concerts 2003 television films 2003 films 2004 video albums Canadian documentary television films English-language Canadian films Documentary films about rock music and musicians 2003 in Toronto 2002–2004 SARS outbreak Live video albums The Rolling Stones video albums 2000s Canadian films

Overview

Lineup

See also

References

External links