SARSSTOCK - July 30, 2003. Toronto Ontario.
The big concert! The Guess Who, Rush, AC/DC, The Rolling Stones. What a night it was! Me and about 430,000 other people showed up and it was quite a party!! Unfortunately, we could only bring in a disposable camera so these pictures dont look that great, but whaddayagonnado?
Walking in to the north gate. Just a steady stream of people. Long, hot, dusty walk from the subway!
Looking back toward the gate after entering. A few thousand people are stealthily sneaking up behind me. Fortunately there was a wee crowd of about half a million just ahead to lose them in!
First thing I saw on the way in was a lineup for hotdogs. Its tough to really see in this picture, but there were about 80 people in line! Every line in the place was LONG. Except for water. I walked up to one and was walking away with a bottle in 30 seconds.
Look! My first glimpse of the stage! And this is as close as I ever got! And that didnt bother me for a second. I never had any desire to be at the front of 450,000 drunken AC/DC fans!
And heres another look out towards the back. A sea of people everywhere you looked.
I ended up near the very last screen to see the end of The Guess Who. Here's Randy Bachman on the screen.
Here's a look towards the stage from that location.
Then I wandered back to the big half-kilometer long BBQ, which also included a half-kilometer of long lines.
I wandered back towards the spot I had picked out earlier and for the only time during the concert was on the right side of the center divider. (the screen is at the end of the divider) This still doesnt really give you the idea how many people were there, but you start to see it. From here all the way up to that stage is a solid shag carpet of people. They also go a long way out to each side, far beyond whats in the picture.
I got back just in time for the highlight of the day, RUSH!! Here's a few pics of Geddy and Alex on the big screen. You can see that a lot of people were still sitting for their set, but lots of people were right into it and cheered and clapped along with Spirit of Radio etc. They were reasonably well received considering it wasnt a Rush conert. Musically, they were by FAR the most talented band on stage that day!
The Water cannon helped keep people cool. Although I heard that some MORON was throwing big chunks of ice into the crowd too. He could have caused serious injury doing that. A few people were none too pleased.
Here's a look towards the stage from that spot, where I ended up spending the rest of the evening.
Several times ambulances came through the crowd to get to people who got a little baked in the hot sun. This guy came down a path that happened to exist, but then decided he had to actually come right into the crowd (directly towards me), forcing people to pick up their blankets and crap and move out of the way. About a dozen people decided to use this to their advantage and followed between the ambulance and the car following it till they got to a nicer spot!
Then came AC/DC. Amazing set. Got everyone on their feet and singing along! Angus' strip show brought the house down!
And thats it. No pics of the Stones 'cause they came on after dark. And we were all too tired to stand up by then! But we did anyway, and MAN were my legs/feet tired by the time I finally got a seat on the subway! Great day though!
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