The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and U2 are a few of the artists who drew the largest crowds.
By Nick Krewen
Special to the Star
A rolling stone may gather no moss, but the Rolling Stones certainly gather the masses, especially in or near Toronto.
With Taylor Swift and her six-date run at Rogers Centre swiftly approaching, what better time to take a look at Toronto’s all-time biggest concerts.
Swift’s stadium history here has been impressive — she entertained 287,220 fans during six sellout Rogers Centre concerts between 2013 and 2018 — and she’ll easily surpass the half-million mark with her upcoming shows.
And now that two 2025 Oasis dates have been announced for the yet-to-be-constructed, 50,000-capacity Rogers Stadium at Downsview Park, the Big Smoke suddenly has a bevy of mega-venues, including Burl’s Creek Event Grounds, about two hours north of the city, and the rarely used Markham Fairgrounds.
Exhibition Stadium — which was razed in 1999 — also factors into the city’s impressive concert history.
A couple of interesting bits of trivia: The very first headliner to play the SkyDome (now Rogers Centre) was Rod Stewart on June 8, 1989, in a more intimate “SkyTent” configuration.
The musical entity that’s played there the most? Australian kids’ sensation the Wiggles, who performed 22 dates between November 2006 and 2010. Keep in mind, every date except for one included two performances, so that makes an impressive 43 shows at 11,000 per performance (as confirmed by Wiggles co-founder Greg Page), for a total of 473,000 spectators.
Here’s a list of the 10 biggest concert tours to hit Toronto, verified where possible by such sources as Amusement Business, Billboard, Pollstar and archived Toronto Star reviews.
10. U2
Exhibition Stadium
Sept. 5 and 6, 1992
Attendance: 54,021 each night
It was the era when charismatic U2 singer Bono could do no wrong, although by the time the stadium leg of the Zoo TV tour hit Toronto (following a Maple Leaf Gardens sellout in March ‘92), he had yet to develop his devilish MacPhisto character.
At the time, this was the most elaborate show U2 ever staged, with a sophisticated pirate TV station bombarding numerous screens with imagery to give the audience the perception of sensory overload.
“The Irish supergroup is redefining the stadium rock experience,” wrote the Star’s Peter Howell, “with an event called Zoo TV that exploits all the toys and obsessions of our video age — “Watch More TV” screams one of its many mile-high Orwellian messages — while at the same time delivering a killer musical performance.”
9. Elton John and Billy Joel
SkyDome
March 29, 1995
Attendance: 55,000
This would be the first — and biggest — of three local appearances over the years by the dynamic piano duo, and the Star’s Peter Howell described the experience thusly: “It was a love-in, led by two consummate performers, who proved in an incredible 40-odd songs and three-hour-plus show why their music has stood the test of time over 25 years apiece.”
8. U2
Rogers Centre
Sept. 16 and 17, 2009 / July 11, 2011
Attendance: 57,705 (2009, each night), 58,420 (2011)
The visual highlight of the U2 360° tour, one that found the band playing in the round, was “The Claw,” described by the Star’s Ashante Infantry as a “four-legged, 30-metre-high, teal-and-orange spaceship contraption hovering over the quartet’s circular stage. It gave the appearance that they had really dropped in from another galaxy.”
The group’s out-of-this-world experience — sponsored by Canada’s own BlackBerry inventors, Research in Motion — was complemented by cylindrical video screens and a surround-sound system, as well as a circular catwalk.
7. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
SkyDome
Sept. 10, 2003
Attendance: 58,000
He recorded his album The Rising in response to Sept. 11 attacks, and for the subsequent tour, Springsteen reconvened the E Street Band for the first time in three years.
The Toronto show was notable for its kickoff number: a cover of Warren Zevon’s “My Ride’s Here,” a tribute to the singer-songwriter who had passed away two days earlier. By all accounts, the Boss and his comrades delivered a whopper of a show.
6. The Tragically Hip
Markham Fairgrounds, Markham, Ont.
July 23 and 24, 1993
Attendance: 50,000 (July 23), 60,000 (July 24)
It was an unprecedented venture to begin with: a beloved Canadian band takes a star-studded festival revue across the country. But Kingston’s Tragically Hip made it work, and when they reached the GTA stops on 1993’s Another Roadside Attraction tour, the group played to their largest crowds up to that point. Support bands included Midnight Oil, the Pursuit of Happiness and the Headstones.
The band staged two more “Roadside” fests, in 1995 and 1997 — their successes eclipsed only by the band’s final concert in Kingston, on Aug. 20, 2016, which was witnessed by a total of 11 million Canadians in person and via the CBC.
5. The Rolling Stones
Exhibition Stadium
Sept. 3 and 4, 1989
SkyDome
Dec. 3 and 4, 1989
Attendance: 60,948 (Exhibition Stadium, each night), 58,723 (SkyDome, each night)
The first time the Stones rolled through town for their enormous Steel Wheels tour would be the last jaunt for bassist Bill Wyman, who subsequently retired from the road.
It was the first tour promoted by Toronto’s Michael Cohl, who guaranteed the Stones between US$65 million and $70 million. At the time, it was the most financially successful tour of any artist, grossing $175,524,846, as the Stones played 115 shows for a combined audience of 6.2 million people.
It was also an artistic success, wrote the Star’s Mitch Potter: “The Stones were wonderfully rough-edged champions in a dizzying, high-tech spectacle that begged for the kind of ungainly raunch only they can provide.”
4. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Exhibition Stadium
Aug. 26 and 27, 1985
Attendance: 65,585 (each night)
This tour was in support of Born in the U.S.A., the album that catapulted Bruce Springsteen into worldwide superstardom. There wasn’t much deviation between the two nights, with 27 songs played, but Springsteen and his band wowed the crowd as only they can on the back of one of the biggest-selling album in history.
3. The Rolling Stones
Burl’s Creek Park, Oro-Medonte, Ont.
June 29, 2019
Attendance: 70,000
Promoter Republic Live scored a coup when they brought the Stones to the site of the annual Boots and Hearts Festival for the only Canadian date of their No Filter tour — and what would be the last local performance of drummer Charlie Watts, who died two years later.
The tour would eventually gross $546,515,799 and play to nearly 3 million people over 58 shows, with Steve Jordan replacing Watts for the final leg of the 2021 No Filter jaunt.
2. The Who
Exhibition Stadium
July 16, 1980
Attendance: 75,000
For the British rock gods’ first tour since the 1978 death of drummer Keith Moon, on a scorching hot summer’s day 75,000 fans somehow crammed into a stadium designed to seat upwards of 54,000 to see Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and new recruit Kenney Jones along with openers Heart, the J. Geils Band and Nash the Slash.
The Star’s Bruce Blackadar likened the crowd to an army and called the headliners “awesome fighters, their bravery unquestioned,” noting that the band brought a “very good sound system, a great light show and all the musical pyrotechnics any general could want.”
1. The Rolling Stones
Downsview Park
July 30, 2003
Attendance: 489,176
After Toronto’s tourism suffered both an economic and public-relations hit due to the SARS outbreak, promoter Michael Cohl and comedian Dan Aykroyd arranged a superstar extravaganza pick-me-up headlined by the Stones, then on their Licks tour, which became the biggest outdoor ticketed event in Canada’s history.
Called “Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto featuring the Rolling Stones,” the event featured such openers as AC/DC, Rush, the Flaming Lips and Justin Timberlake and marked the final performance of the classic Guess Who lineup of Burton Cummings, Randy Bachman, Donnie McDougall, Jim Kale and Garry Petersen.