- Aug 20, 2000
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Stones concert swells to size of Halifax as 350,000 fans stream to SARS show
TORONTO (CP) - Hours before Rush, AC/DC and the Rolling Stones were to take to the stage as headliners in an 11-hour concert designed to show the world Toronto's SARS outbreak is over, more than 350,000 people descended on the grounds of an abandoned military base primed to take in the biggest concert ever staged in Canada.
By mid-afternoon, Downsview Park - a massive sprawl of grass and tarmac equivalent to 540 football fields - had been transformed into a city the size of Halifax, and it would only get bigger, as police described the unusual sight of 60,000 people walking to the grounds on a temporarily shut-down highway.
It was Canada's largest rock concert, and many in the crowd wore their patriotism on their chests. The throng was a sea of Maple Leafs, although others opted to face the sweltering heat shirtless, in bikini tops and in some cases bras.
One exuberant blonde woman was heartily cheered as she danced naked on top of a truck, encouraging others to do the same. (Say, where's eakers this afternoon anyways?!
Although police had said they would search thoroughly for drugs, the scent of marijuana was in the air.
Steven Bacon, one of the first Canadians legally allowed to smoke pot for medicinal purposes, waved a Maple Leaf flag adorned with a hemp leaf as he smoked a joint.
"I got a bit of the activist in me out here," he said. "It makes people gleeful to see the flag."
Beer, hemp and rock 'n roll, what more could you want in a summer?
TORONTO (CP) - Hours before Rush, AC/DC and the Rolling Stones were to take to the stage as headliners in an 11-hour concert designed to show the world Toronto's SARS outbreak is over, more than 350,000 people descended on the grounds of an abandoned military base primed to take in the biggest concert ever staged in Canada.
By mid-afternoon, Downsview Park - a massive sprawl of grass and tarmac equivalent to 540 football fields - had been transformed into a city the size of Halifax, and it would only get bigger, as police described the unusual sight of 60,000 people walking to the grounds on a temporarily shut-down highway.
It was Canada's largest rock concert, and many in the crowd wore their patriotism on their chests. The throng was a sea of Maple Leafs, although others opted to face the sweltering heat shirtless, in bikini tops and in some cases bras.
One exuberant blonde woman was heartily cheered as she danced naked on top of a truck, encouraging others to do the same. (Say, where's eakers this afternoon anyways?!
Although police had said they would search thoroughly for drugs, the scent of marijuana was in the air.
Steven Bacon, one of the first Canadians legally allowed to smoke pot for medicinal purposes, waved a Maple Leaf flag adorned with a hemp leaf as he smoked a joint.
"I got a bit of the activist in me out here," he said. "It makes people gleeful to see the flag."
Beer, hemp and rock 'n roll, what more could you want in a summer?
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