Thursday, February 25, 2010

Woodstock Organizers To Bring Million-People Music Festival To Toronto

According to The Globe And Mail, a team of organizers plan to bring "the largest event in 40 years since Woodstock" to Toronto this summer.

As last year's 40th anniversary concert for Woodstock was canceled, original Woodstock co-promoter Artie Kornfeld and others have arranged for a massive charity concert. The Imagine Music & Art Festival will take place at Downsview Park in Toronto, Canada, on July 10 and 11. Kornfeld, who didn't participate in the 1994 and 1999 versions of Woodstock, has joined Montreal artist David Kam to combine the event with the G20 summit scheduled for late June in the same city.

Instead of taking place alongside with the G20 summit, the festival has been pushed back to July. Kornfeld and others expect over a million "dreamers" to attend and hope to broadcast the festival to over 300 million people worldwide. Downsview Park has held major events such as SARSstock in 2003 which included over 450,000 attendees.

The Imagine Music & Art Festival focuses on the idea of changing the world through music and will feature three stages on the two days with tributes to artists such as The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. Kornfeld said he has had ongoing discussions with artists such as Pearl Jam, Rage Against The Machine, Foo Fighters and Lady Gaga while other publications have heard rumored names such as Radiohead, Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones. Major headliners, ticket prices and other details are to be revealed in March.

Along with musical performances, the festival will showcase arts and activities such as a sustainability contest and "a mass release of butterflies". Organizers expect to donate 50 per cent of proceeds to organizations such as Save The Children, Amnesty International and the World Wide Fund.

"The world is now in an even deeper position than the Cold War and Vietnam. There's trouble in every country," said Kornfeld. "This is a chance to give hope, and who'll do it if not the old Woodstockers?"

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