The most famous concerts at Empire Stadium are Elvis Presley on Aug. 31, 1957, and the Beatles on Aug. 22, 1964.

But the largest show at Empire was on Aug. 27, 1978, when Heart headlined an all-day concert dubbed Summer Sunday ’78.

The show also included the Little River Band, Bob Welch and Nick Gilder, and drew 44,000 fans. By contrast, Elvis drew 25,898, the Beatles 20,621.

At the time, Vancouver Sun rock critic Vaughn Palmer said gross ticket sales were $543,885.50. He estimated the Pacific National Exhibition made $150,000 in rent, commissions and food revenue for the show, “more than some of the pro sports franchises (at the PNE) pay for an entire season.”

But not everyone was happy. The Sun’s front page carried an aerial view of the giant crowd, but the story underneath it was he

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