The 'largest ticketed single day event in history' took place in Toronto, Ontario on July 30, 2003. The reason? To prove the city was safe after the much publicized SARS outbreak (if you can really call it that) that brought Canada's largest city so much negative press in the months prior. Basically, the organizers figured if they could prove the city safe enough for the likes of Justine Timberlake (who is frail and weak) and The Rolling Stones (who are very old), then it would be safe for everyone. So basically, 490,000 people showed up at Downsview Park to rock against SARS for a day, drink some beers, and throw stuff at Timberlake. This DVD release from Rhino gives us a condensed look at how it all went down, who rocked and who didn't, and what went on behind the scenes.

The track listing on this release looks like this:

Dan Ackroyd and James Belushi in character as the Have Love Will Travel Revue start things off with an introduction in the form of the Skybox Ballroom Pump. It's not very good, and in fact, as I watched this, I was embarrassed for Belushi and Ackroyd. Sometimes they are very funny, this is not one of those times.

With that ugliness out of the way, the Flaming Lips hit the stage for two songs – Race For The Prize and Do You Realize? I'm not a big Flaming Lips fan, but I don't cringe when I hear their music (more on my cringing later). I figure if you are a fan though, you'll enjoy these two songs as they're performed well and the band sounds pretty good live.

Just when you thought it was safe to proceed though, the ugliness that is the Have Love Will Travel Revue is back, and they're going to make you listen to their rendition of Dig Myself A Hole. It's terrible. Once again, I was embarrassed for Belushi and Ackroyd. It's not played well, it's not performed well, and they look and sound very, very sorry.

The Isley Brothers are up next with two tracks represented here – Who's That Lady and Shout. Some quality guitar soloing makes their performance a stand out one and it was a much-needed return to quality after the horrid performance that preceded it.

Justin Timberlake shows up next and ruins whatever coolness the Isley Brothers brought to the stage as he sings and dances his way through a poopy sounding song called Senorita. He doesn't really fit in with the rest of this line up at all, but apparently he was performing in Toronto around the same time this took place, so that's why he's here. Toronto would have been better off without him.

If you thought Timberlake sucked though, watch out, because The Have Love Will Travel Revue is back with another terrible performance, this time with a song called Time Won't Let Me. Once again, I was embarrassed for these two great comedians trying their damnedest to turn out some quality R&B and failing miserably.

Things take a turn for the better though when classic Canadian rock band The Guess Who takes the stage to blast through American Woman and No Time. Everyone loves Burton Cummings, and the man can still sing. These local boys gave their performance a good attempt and came out sounding pretty nice.

After that though, things get ugly. Now I know a lot of people really love Rush. They've been selling out arenas around the world since I was in diapers and they're a talented bunch of musicians. Personally though, I can't stand them. Geddy Lee bugs the piss out of me and his vocals are to me very much like the sound of nails grating on a chalk board. I also don't like the fact that their music all sounds 'ooodly.' In short, they make me cringe. But hey, if you're a Rush fan, then seeing them blast through Limelight, Freewill, and a medley of Paint It Black and The Spirit of Radio is for you. They can play and this performance proves it. It just pains me to have to listen to them. But I did, in the spirit of giving an honest review, even if I didn't like it.

Now we get to the good stuff. AC/DC is up next, but sadly only two songs are represented here – Back In Black and Thunderstruck. I really wish they had included the entire set on this disc, but nope, two songs, that's all we get. Which is a shame, because AC/DC proves here that they still tear it up live. Angus doesn't stop moving the entire time he's on stage and while sometimes Brian Johnson sounds like a dying cat, here he's in fine form, belting out the lyrics in true rowdy rock star fashion. What Rhino should have done was cut out the Have Love Will Travel Revue, Justin Timberlake, and Rush, and given us the entire AC/DC set. They did twelve songs at the festival, and it would have been great to have them all here.

Last but certainly not least, The Rolling Stones hit the stage. Included on this release are their performances of Start Me Up, Ruby Tuesday, Miss You (with Justin Timberlake), Rock Me Baby (hey look, AC/DC are back for this one, yay!), Satisfaction, and Jumping Jack Flash. While these guys are hardly in their prime anymore, they still turn in a decent rock show. Jagger is all over the place like a man a third his age, and Richards just exudes rock and roll cool unlike anyone else save for maybe Lemmy from Motorhead.

So overall, the performances are a bit of a mixed bag but the good does outweigh the bad and you can always skip past the bands that don't tickle your eardrums so much. AC/DC and the Stones are the highlight here and it's unfortunate that we don't get complete performances from either, but what we do get is pretty entertaining stuff.

Video:

The fullframe presentation looks natural and lifelike without much in the way of transfer problems to report aside from some minor edge enhancement. Lighting looks good, flesh tones look natural, and the picture quality is clean and detailed. Print damage is non-existent and edge enhancement aside, this is a pretty good-looking transfer. A lot of live concerts look poor on DVD because of problems with the lighting and how it transfers when recorded, but luckily the lighting, which only effects the evening performances, doesn't muddy up the picture quality too much at all.