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Ten famous — and infamous — Toronto concerts

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By Alan Cross, Special to Postmedia Network 

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In the Before Times, our social calendars were filled with concerts and festivals.

It’ll be that way again someday — we hope — but until such time, we have memories of gigs past. Here are 10 famous and infamous music events from the GTA over the last 70 years.

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1. Elvis Presley, Maple Leaf Gardens, April 2, 1957.

Because Elvis’ manager/controller Colonel Tom Parker had passport issues (he allegedly killed a man in his native Holland under his real name Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk), Elvis played just five shows outside the U.S. Two of them were at Maple Leaf Gardens, thanks to the effort of Leaside’s Carol Vanderleck, who collected a 2,443-signature petition to bring Elvis to the city. Top price for a ticket was $3.50, the equivalent of $32 today.

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2. The Beatles, Maple Leaf Gardens, August 17, 1966

The Beatles’ final tour featured a matinee and evening performance at MLG, with one of their trademark press conferences in between at the King Edward Hotel. The entire time, they were protected by a by-the-book constable from the Aurora OPP detachment. Lore says that the band managed to charm this guy into submission over their 24 hours today. His name was Sergeant Robert Pepper. You don’t think that…?

3. Rock n Roll Revival, Varsity Station, September 13, 1969

Facing a financial disaster, promoter John Brower placed a desperate last-second phone call to Apple Corps in London hoping to convince a Beatle to appear at the show. John Lennon happened to be in the office at the time and agreed to hastily put together a band and fly over. He enjoyed the experience so much — his first-ever solo show outside The Beatles — that this gig seems to have convinced him that he could exist without his bandmates. Legend also says that the practice of holding up a lighter at a concert began here.

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4. The Rolling Stones, the El Mocambo, March 4-5, 1977

The booking listed April Wine as the headliners, supported by some band called The Cockroaches. Anyone walking down Spadina on the morning of March 4 might have thought they could hear a Stones cover band rehearsing. It was actually the real deal. Portions of the Stones’ set appear on their Love You Live album from the fall of 1977, recorded by the legendary Eddie Kramer. Margaret Trudeau showed up (sans underwear, according to photos) and Keith Richards was later busted over 26 grams of heroin when the cops raided his room at the Harbour Castle Hilton.

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5. The Last Pogo, the Horseshoe, December 2, 1978

When the Horseshoe decided to change its music policy, local promoters The Garys decided on one big blowout. No flyers or posters were printed, but 800 people crammed into the club. When a street gang called the Blake Street Boys heeded The Viletones’ call to “kill the hippies,” things got weird and violent. A small riot broke out. Everything was captured by filmmaker Colin Brunton and released as The Last Pogo. Fun fact: One of Brunton’s last gigs was working on Schitt’s Creek.

6. Teenage Head, Ontario Place Forum, June 2, 1980

Teenage Head’s second riot. After having their Last Pogo gig cut short, things got strange again when (allegedly) management bused in fans from all over Southern Ontario. More than 15,000 people tried to get in, tearing down fences, swimming in Lake Ontario, and eventually confronting police. Ten cops were injured, several police cars were destroyed, and 58 charges were laid. The following week, the band’s Frantic City album sold an additional 10,000 copies.

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7. The Who, Maple Leaf Gardens, December 17, 1982

It was supposed to be the final FINAL live concert of The Who’s career. Pete Townsend, lost in a haze of cocaine, heroin, and alcohol, had had enough. Keith Moon had died four years previous and after one final road trip, it seemed like it was a good idea to pull the plug. The concert was broadcast live on TV and on FM stations across the world, so it was widely bootlegged. The retirement didn’t stick, of course, and The Who is still touring today.

8. Lollapalooza, Molson Park in Barrie, July 18, 1992

After a lackluster turnout for the inaugural Lollapalooza date at Exhibition Stadium the previous year, all the newly-minted alternative kids packed into Molson Park to see the surreally awesome lineup of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Minister, Soundgarden AND Pearl Jam, Ice Cube, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Lush. The side stage featured House of Pain and some new band called Stone Temple Pilots.

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9. SARSFest, Downsview Park, June 27, 2003

After being cast as a disease-ridden city by the World Health Organization due to the local SARS breakout, the one-day festival was organized to prove that the city was, in fact, open for the business. The whole event was pulled together in less than a month and attracted somewhere around 500,000 people. The Rolling Stones were back, joined by AC/DC, Rush, The Guess Who, Blue Rodeo, Flaming Lips, the Tea Party and, er, Justin Timberlake. One of these things is not like the other.

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10. The Last Tragically Hip Show in Toronto, ACC, August 10, 2016

By the time The Hip’s final tour rolled in Toronto, the entire country was caught up in a national celebration of both the band’s music and the courage of Gord Downie’s battle with terminal brain cancer. The crowd was so loud that it was sometimes hard to hear the band. The Hip roared through 25 songs, including two encores, ending with “Poets.” Six days later, The Hip would play their last-ever show. Gord would be dead a little over a year later.

Alan Cross is host of The Ongoing History of New Music on Corus Radio.

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