Rolling Stones fans arrived with tents and campers, popping open beers, while waiting for nightfall, when the British band takes the stage.
Phil Jeff says he has seen the band 32 times. "It's a lifestyle" he tells CTV News Toronto, and his passion since he was a kid. "It's buying magazines when you're a teenager and seeing the Stones pictures and knowing what they had for breakfast."
Jeff is just one of thousands of fans who have arrived at the grounds 30 kilometres north of Barrie for what the promoter says could be the last Stones show on Canadian soil. "The Stones!" shouted Chris Reets "that's my Grandfather," as they were doused with beers by friends in the campground.
The event has attracted the young and the old. "It's actually a family event, all ages, the Stones don't come here often, when they do you've got to make the best of it" said Reets.
At the front of line to get in, Dave Richards of Phoenix Arizona, with a $1,000 ticket for the stage section general admission area.
"I've seen them almost 70 times, they were in Europe the last few years, Mexico before in 2016, yeah we're rock and rollers with the Stones," said the 65 year old man who just saw them open the North American leg of the 'No Filter' tour in Chicago Tuesday.
Jeff Oberman left Newmarket at 8:00 a.m., waiting in the hot sun until the gates opened at 2:00 p.m. "I bought my tickets the minute they went on sale, best ticket you can get because it's worth it for the Rolling Stones," says the self-professed super fan who plans to see them again in New York, his 14th Stones concert.
"I've never seen the Stones before, this is my first time, I'm pretty excited," said Lisa Rivard of Chatham, Ont., while she waited for 4 hours for the gates to open.
"I want to make sure I get the best seats I possibly can, I'm ready to go to the front of the stage if I can." In the early afternoon, the gates opened and fans rushed in to find a spot at the front of the stage.
