Molson Canadian Rocks For Toronto - Overview

Overview

It was organized in about a month, upon the suggestion of headliners The Rolling Stones, who wanted to help revive Toronto's economy after the SARS outbreaks earlier in the year. (The Rolling Stones 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 publicity garnered by the SARS outbreak led to a downturn in Toronto's tourism industry, which the concert was intended to help revive.

The concert was held at Downsview Park in northern Toronto, a former military base which also accommodated 800,000 people when Pope John Paul II visited the city in 2002. The concert was hosted by actor/singer Dan Aykroyd, and vendors sold Alberta beef in support of the Canadian beef industry, which had recently suffered because of a case of mad cow disease. North York General Hospital, 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 (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 the Have Love Will Travel Revue (Aykroyd and James Belushi), Sam Roberts, Kathleen Edwards, La Chicane, The Tea Party, The Flaming Lips, Sass Jordan, The Isley Brothers, 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 included Justin Timberlake, The Guess Who, Rush, AC/DC, and The Rolling Stones, who performed a 90-minute set to end the concert.

Justin Timberlake was booed by a crowd that was anticipating the harder-rocking second half of the concert. Audience members hurled water bottles, muffins and other items at the stage during his performance. He later returned to duet with Mick Jagger on "Miss You" and also for Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me A River". The crowd was harangued by a visibly angry Keith Richards.

Rush was the last band to be added to the lineup. According to drummer, Neil Peart, they more-or-less felt pressured to perform because of Toronto being their hometown, although they are not the type to do one-off concert performances. Peart later confessed to not feeling anything like he looked while performing. A documentary DVD entitled Toronto Rocks was released in 2004, showing highlights of the event.