Rolling Stones to Rock SARS-Hit Toronto in July
TORONTO (Reuters) – The Rolling Stones vowed on Tuesday to “bring back the energy” to SARS-hit Toronto with an open-air concert next month for about 350,000 people.
The Toronto area was the only place outside Asia where people died from SARS, and tourists, convention-goers and business people postponed travel to Canada’s financial hub.
The city responded with an appeal to the Stones’ promoter, a Torontonian, to bring the band to the city.
“The greatest band in the world is going to play in the greatest city in the world,” Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman told a news conference announcing the concert. “The people who live here know that Toronto is a safe city. After the Rolling Stones play here, the entire world is going to know it.”
After weeks of scrounging for money to foot the C$10.5 million ($7.7 million) bill, organizers finally drew enough support from the government and the private sector to stage the concert, which had initially been touted as a free event.
The Stones will interrupt the European leg of their “40 Licks” tour to headline the show, which will also feature pop star Justin Timberlake, Australian hard rock band AC/DC and Canada’s The Guess Who. It will be hosted by actors Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi.
“We’re very happy to tell you that we’re coming to play on July 30 in a great concert for the people and city of Toronto to help bring back the energy to our favorite city,” Stones frontman Mick Jagger said in a taped message from Munich.
SARS killed 38 people in Toronto and, coupled with a brief World Health Organization advisory to avoid the city, took a devastating economic toll.
Tourists stayed away in droves, hotels faced gaping vacancy rates and restaurants and tour operators suffered and are still suffering.
The impact of SARS also spilled over into the broader economy and shoved the jobless rate higher in May.
The Rolling Stones show is the latest in a campaign to promote Canada’s largest city. On Saturday, Canadian acts including Avril Lavigne and the Barenaked Ladies played at a Concert for Toronto.
“This is the day we tell the world, Toronto is back,” Deputy Prime Minister John Manley said on Tuesday. “Let this be the biggest invasion of Canada from the United States since the War of 1812. Bring them on.”
Manley said the government would kick in C$3.5 million to help stage the concert.
The Rolling Stones have long had ties with Toronto. They rehearsed in the city in 2002 for their current tour, as well as for the Voodoo Lounge tour in 1994 and for the Bridges to Babylon tour in 1997.
The veteran British rockers have a tradition of popping up to play secret gigs in the city during their stay. Earlier this year, the group canceled their first-ever tour to China because of the SARS outbreak.
The July 30 concert will be held at Downsview Park, a disused air base where Pope John Paul II held a mass for an estimated 800,000 people last July.
Tickets will cost C$21.50 ($16) and net proceeds will go to a fund for tourism and healthcare workers.
Organizers said they expect about 350,000 people at the eight-hour concert which starts on a weekday afternoon.
Categories