Rock with Toronto!

If you're not one of the 450,000 or so who will be at Toronto's Downsview Park to see the Rolling Stones SARS relief concert on Wednesday, July 30, then do the next best thing and catch part of it on CBC. CBC will have a live broadcast from the concert from 9 to 11 pm EDT.

Of course it won't be quite the same as being there in person for the day-long event. You'll miss

• some of the 15 bands, including The Guess Who, Rush, Blue Rodeo, AC/DC and Belushi & Aykroyd
• 500 food stalls
• Prairie Premiers Ralph Klein, Lorne Calvert and Gary Doer serving some of 250,000 Alberta beef hamburgers
• 3200 kg of Manitoba all-beef smoked sausages
• 125,000 Prince Edward Island potatoes and 12,000 premium PEI oysters
• 600 hand-washing stations
• 10 beer gardens
• 4 million litres of water
• line-ups at 3500 port-a-potties
• a wait of several hours for public transit going home, or up to an hour walk to a subway station with regular service.

The Rolling Stones concert was the initiative of Dennis Mills, MP for Toronto-Danforth and Senator Jerry Grafstein. The concert is meant to help boost Toronto's tourism and hospitality industries, which were severely hurt by the fear of SARS. Read more about the Stones in Toronto from Elke Mairs, About Canada for Visitors.