Monster rock concert held at Toronto air base

A disused military air base in Toronto claimed a spot in rock festival history yesterday, as about 450,000 fans braved a scorching sun to help the Rolling Stones, AC/DC and a dozen other acts lift the spirits of the Sars-hit Canadian city.

As riffs of Stones classics Brown Sugar and Start Me Up washed the teeming crowd at Toronto's Downsview Park, city promoters hoped they had seen the last of a tourism chill that has descended on the only area outside Asia where people died from Sars.

Organisers said it was the largest paid-admission concert ever in North America.