SARSStock: It was 5 Years Ago Today
Can you believe it was 5 years ago today that we had SARSStock in Toronto. 400,000 plus gathered at Downsview Park for a full day of rock and roll to prove to the world that Toronto was, in the word of Mick Jagger, “back and booming”.
What a day it was though - great performances from the big 4: The Guess Who, Rush, ACDC and the Rolling Stones. It’s definitely the biggest show I’ll ever go to, and I’ve got some great memories about the day. It was also pretty cool that the following afternoon Jeff, Carly, and myself had the opportunity to meet Brian Johnson and Angus Young of ACDC at a downtown Toronto hotel room. I will always remember Brian looking at my sunburned neck from the day before and saying “oooo, what happened to you? You’ve got some sort of farmers tan!”
Check out some footage from the show below, and if you were there we’d love to hear some of your memories. You can also use SARS as today’s bonus code.
July 30th, 2008 at 10:53 am
I was just talking about that day with someone (had no idea today was the anniversary). It was certainly a great day and the biggest event I’ve ever been a part of. I seem to remember the long walk back to the car as the only downer of the day…didn’t we get lost in the big park/ravine in the middle of the night…ooohhh scary stuff.
Having just re-watched Shine A Light at home on DVD and thinking back to the SARS show, it is clear to me that the Stones are the biggest and best band in the world and Mick Jagger is the frontman for all future frontmen to be measured against. You can’t watch Shine a Light and tell me he isn’t amazing…I don’t care how old he is. All four guys in the Eagles combined couldn’t muster up Sir Mick’s energy and enthusiasm in one song at last week’s snoozer of a show. I hope to catch at least one more Stones show before it’s all said and done.
July 30th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I went to that event fully expecting to have AC/DC blow
the Stones away and sure enough it came about.
Having seen all of the top 4 acts live before I was still
blown away by AC/DC.
They came to play that day and they were so great. It had to be their best show ever in these parts.
It’s to bad they only had just over an hour to play.
As far as the Stones portion of the show the only highlight
was when Angus and Malcolm Young joined in.
July 30th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Was an amazing event to be a part of. Was my 2nd time seeing AC/DC, but first seeing Stones,Rush & Guess Who. Obviously AC/DC sucked the energy right out of the crowd,so by the time the Stones got out,after a 30 min wait, they paled in comparison. There was no energy left,AC/DC had it all.
Only downer on the day was the 40 min walk to the beer tent. So we each quaffed 4 beer as quick as possible and went back to our area. Only 25min to get back!
All those groups, 4 huge main ones,music all day,memorable event and I got all that for free! I bought a case of beer a couple of weeks before and got my ticket from inside the case!! Perfect!
July 30th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
I didn’t make it to the show but caught what I could through the magic of TV. The one thing that stood out (Other than AC/DC stealing the show) was the fact that you could get 400,000 people into an event an no major incidents. If my memory serves me correctly there were only 17 arrests made and they were either drug or sex related. Not bad for a city filled with guns.
Amazing!!
July 30th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
I was there, can you see me, I’m waving. Seriously, what a day. I can honestly say I’ve never been amongst that many people in my life other than the 1st year the Jays won the World Series and downtown we went.
As long as I have my memory I will never forget either, and yes, AC/DC stole the show, from Angus’ stripping down to his Canadian Flag Boxers to the message across the screen a la AC/DC font “We Salute you Toronto”.
What a day!
July 30th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
I’d have to say that that will probably be THE Event of our Century for
us to look back on, To show the world that Yeah we can hold a bash
like that without any major incident’s say’s something about Canadian’s and Torontonian’s, something to be proud of, Ok, it was a bit disgraceful
when Justin got pelted with water bottles when he was on stage, this
wasn’t something to be proud of, but there were other acts as well that
chose to participate and to help Toronto get over the SARS crisis.
I have to give Mick credit for bringing Justin back on stage later that night
to help make up for the incident. The Stones got off to a bit of a slow
start, not as tight as the other bands, but once they got going it was great,
many thanks to all the great people we ran into out there, to all the bands that participated, besides the Stones, RUSH, The Guess Who and my favourite, ACDC for stealing it away and pumping the crowd up, ACDC, you guys have gotta come back and pay Toronto another visit for at least a week, would we have a party or what ! It was one heck of a blistering hot day, my friends Alicia, Rob and Cindy had a fantastic time, we all stayed for the entire event, it was amazing and i’d say if we ever had to do it again, we’re there. Funny thing, after all these years, The blanket that we used, and the vacuum that i used for hours trying to get that darn hay off of it, they both still smell like a hay field to this very day, a bit of a trip down memory lane i guess.
Rock on Toronto !
Joe Z.