The 2003 concert that rocked Toronto after SARS

Toronto needed a boost in the wake of the SARS crisis.

Therespiratory disease had promptedthe World Health Organization to issue a warning against non-essential travel to the city, devastatingthe tourism industry.

That's when an MP and a senator put together a fundraising concertfor the city'shealth care and hospitality workers with acts including Rush, AC/DC, and Justin Timberlake.

On July 30, 2003, thousands of music fans began streaming in to theconcert site. They would ultimately number about 490,000, according to the Globe and Mail.

The "mad dash" began at 8 a.m. when the gates opened under sunny skiesat Toronto's Downsview Park on July 30, 2003, said CBC reporter Kas Roussy that night on The National.

"It's like the biggest concert ever, so why wouldn't I come?" said a young man.

Asked who she was there to see, another fansaid "everybody," adding,"except Justin Timberlake."

That made for a long list,from AC/DC and Rush down to what Roussy described as "lesser-known" Canadian acts like Kathleen Edwards and Sam Roberts.

A date with the Stones

Toronto Rocks concert for SARS relief

21 years ago

Duration 3:16

Headlined by the Rolling Stones, an outdoor concert attracts hundreds of thousands in summer 2003.

But it was the venerable Rolling Stones who were headlining the show.

"Eight weeks ago we were asked to do this," explained lead singer Mick Jagger at a press conference backstage with the band. "We were on tourin Europe and we had some other dates. And we moved those other dates around in Europe and decided that we would do this."

The concert, which was nicknamed SARSstock by a fan waving a Canadian flag emblazoned with the word, had been hastily put together by Toronto-areaMP Dennis Mills and Senator Jerry Grafstein, according to the Globe and Mail.

"Our objective from Day 1 was to erase the negative messages with respect to Toronto," Grafstein told the newspaper.

"The concert was a fundraiser for health-care and hospitality workers hurt by SARS," explained Roussy.

SARS, or Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome, had earned Toronto a spot earlier that year on the World Health Organization's list of places affected by the virus a designation that had ended less than a month earlier.

"I love you, Toronto,"surprise guest Catherine O'Hara told the crowd, as she stood onstage alongside fellow comedy legend Dan Aykroyd. "You've been through so much, and you've come through."

Hitching a ride on the SARSrelief plan was a group of Western Canadian premiers serving up beef to hungry concertgoers in an effort to combat fears about mad cow disease, which had "hurt the beef industry," said Roussy.

"This is a wonderful country," said Liberal MP Paul Martin, who would become prime minister later that year. "It's very important for the country to come together to really support Canadians in everything."

Roussyexplained thathalf of the merchandising profits for the Stones would be going to the SARS relief fund andan aerial shot of the audienceshowed the just how huge the concert was.

And it wasn't over yet.

"By early evening the massive crowd was taking care of business with Winnipeg's The Guess Who," said Roussy. Rush and Australia's AC/DC were up next.

"And finally, the pice de rsistance," said Roussy, as Jagger's movesand hisband were shown onstage.

As people were seen departing the concert site, Roussysaid Jagger had described the concert as "the biggest party he's everseen" and that "Toronto is back."

"I believe that a lot of SARS-weary officials are hopingthat the British rocker is truly right," she summed up.