Toronto's Billy Talent are one of the bands eyed for the Canadian Live 8 bill.

TORONTO - Molson Park in Barrie - and not Toronto's Downsview Park - will be announced Tuesday as the site of Canada's Live 8 concert, the Toronto Sun has learned.

A source who wished not to be identified confirmed late yesterday afternoon that Molson Park is the location for the Canadian leg of the worldwide July 2 charity concerts.

The only other likely venue in the GTA where a huge, open-air concert could take place is Downsview Park in North York, where SARS-Stock was staged two summers ago.

But despite broadcast media reports yesterday that Downsview was the likely site, the man who runs the park told the Sun that Live 8 definitely will not be held there. It is already booked.

As for other possible venues, the Rogers Centre holds 50,000 but is booked on July 2, the Air Canada Centre (20,000) has not been approached, and the Molson Amphitheatre -- while available -- holds only 16,000.

Local organizers, spearheaded by Toronto concert promoter Michael Cohl, would divulge no details as to the venue or lineup of artists. A news conference is scheduled for Tuesday in Toronto. Reps for the House Of Blues, which normally books Molson Park, refused comment.

Molson Park, located east of Highway 400 at the southern end of Barrie, is the storied summer outdoor venue that has staged many heavily attended music festivals over the years. The only other major event scheduled to take place next month is the Vans Warped Tour, July 30.

City of Barrie councillor Barry Ward told the Sun last night there is a local political hurdle for concert organizers to clear: They need council to give them an exemption to the city's noise-control bylaw.

That presumably could be brought before council at its Monday, June 27, meeting. Two such exemption requests already have been brought before council this year, Ward said, "and they sailed right through."

But those two requests evidently met council protocol in that those organizers gave "public notice" 10 working days prior to council voting on the exemption. Live 8 organizers presumably have not done so.

Ward said he had heard that Barrie police already have been consulted about security for the concert.

Even though a report in yesterday's Sun said Molson Park might be in the running to host Live 8, media speculation yesterday centred on Downsview. That led to a misunderstanding at the Park, where the Toronto International Caravan festival is slated to run June 21 to July 4.

Caravan president Kirk Jensen said yesterday that the Downsview landlords were enforcing an advance payout clause in the contract that could scuttle the event, and he assumed it was to make room for Live 8. Caravan was to pay $200,000 in rent yesterday and was scrambling to come up with it.

But later, Tony Genco -- CEO of the Crown Corporation that runs Downsview -- insisted that "Live 8 is not happening at Downsview Park. It is not. Mr. Jensen has issues to deal with, but that's not one of them."

Genco said he was approached weeks ago by Canadian Live 8 organizers. "They contacted us inquiring about availability, and the matter lay dormant for some time, and they never called us back.

"I then spoke to the people who originally called me and said, 'Are you guys looking at us as a site?' And I was told they are not going to be submitting a proposal to us in any way, shape or form related to that."

The Rogers Centre plays host that long weekend to an international convention of Alcoholics Anonymous, for which some 36,000 tickets already have been sold.

The Air Canada Centre is not booked, but Live 8 won't be coming there. "I'd love to have it here, but (organizers) have not approached us," said Bob Hunter, executive VP and GM of the Air Canada Centre. "They probably feel they need a bigger venue."

The Molson Amphitheatre is available. But the night before Live 8, it stages the annual EdgeFest concert, making logistics a tight squeeze at best.

Bob Geldof, chief organizer of Live 8, yesterday confirmed that Toronto has joined cities on four continents staging concerts July 2 to highlight poverty in Africa. The others are London, Paris, Berlin, and Rome in Europe; Philadelphia in North America; Tokyo in Asia; and Johannesburg in Africa.

But 50 Cent will not be in lineup

Rapper 50 Cent -- who's here in Toronto filming the movie Get Rich Or Die Tryin' -- cancelled his booking at the Philadelphia leg of Live 8 because of his film commitments.

And that's unlikely to change if there's a Live 8 concert here.

An L.A. spokesman for the artist said, "It's more a matter of his being in production, than which city he's in. I've already had a few phonecalls about that, and that's the way it sits."

Karen Pidgurski, the unit publicist in Toronto for Get Rich or Die Tryin', said yesterday, "We've got an incredibly heavy-duty schedule, and we'll be shooting every day just to get done in time with his tour coming up."

-- With files from Sun staff
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