A disused military air base in Toronto claimed a spot in rock festival history on Wednesday, as an estimated 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.

A fan waves a banner at a massive outdoor concert dubbed 'SARS-stock' at Downsview Park in Toronto, July 30, 2003. The day-long concert, headlined by the Rolling Stones, was organized to 'bring back the energy' to the only area outside Asia to experience deaths from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). [Reuters]

Excitement has hit a fever pitch in the month since the Rolling Stones agreed to headline the massive outdoor concert to "bring back the energy" to the only area outside Asia where people died from severe acute respiratory syndrome.

While the World Health Organization is no longer warning people to stay away from SARS hot spots -- a list that once included Toronto -- the outbreak of the flu-like illness and a death toll of 42 scared tourists and business travelers away from Toronto, forcing restaurants and hotels to lay off staff.

On Wednesday, the message from musicians was clear: The city is safe and still a great place to play.

"I love my country, I love my flag, and I love my brothers and sisters from the United States," Canadian-born film star Dan Aykroyd said, before chanting "No borders!" to cheers from the crowd. "We want the world to come to Canada."

Aykroyd, also a Blues Brothers musician with Jim Belushi, hosted the festival billed by organizers as the largest paid-admission concert ever in North America.

The giant concert -- dubbed SARSstock, after the Woodstock Festival of 1969 -- aims at injecting new vigor into the tourism sector, as well as saying thank you to frontline health-care workers who battled SARS, sometimes paying with their lives.

"I don't think people realize, certainly internationally... what the health-care workers in this city have been through. it's just an incredible sacrifice," said Geddy Lee, frontman of Canadian band Rush, who are preceding AC/DC on the bill.

By late afternoon, attendance was estimated at more than 450,000, and with temperatures hovering around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), organizers were urging the crowd to drink lots of water.

Randy Satov of Ottawa sought refuge against one of many giant vats of water provided for concert goers.

"It's as cold as air conditioning. It's hard to find any shade here. I'm not going anywhere until the sun comes down," he said.

Others took a more direct route to comfort, as one woman perched atop a truck dropped both top and trousers to the appreciative hoots of the crowd.

She was eventually escorted away by police to shouts of "Free Love! Let her go!"

But despite the odd injury and some scattered boos for former N'Sync singer Justin Timberlake -- a conspicuous addition to the largely hard-rock lineup -- organizers seemed pleased with the crowd's behavior.

"There were some injuries earlier, and I haven't seen a report on heatstroke. There must be some people out there with it, but with the size of the crowd we have here, everybody's in a really good mood and upbeat," said Riley O'Connor of concert promoter House of Blues.

The big test will come when the show lets out sometime before midnight and the crowd heads home through north Toronto neighborhoods.

Organizers have said they will not hurry people away, hoping the crowd will take the lead of the estimated 800,000 who peacefully crammed the same site last year for a visit by Pope John Paul II.

Along with the Stones other main acts include Australian rockers AC/DC, and Canadian legends Rush and The Guess Who.

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