Rock With Love fundraiser for cancer research planned for Nov. 7 at The Opera House

By MATTHEW STEPHENS

For the fifth year running, East Toronto’s McComb family will celebrate the legacy of their mother Sarah and raise money for cancer research through their annual Rock With Love concert.

“The night is unlike your usual charity event; it is a party with a purpose. Old friends, new friends, and families come together with laughter, good music, and some happy tears,” Sarah’s son Nicholas McComb told Beach Metro Community News.

The concert will be returning to The Opera House (735 Queen St. E., near Broadview Avenue) on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased via the Rock With Love webpage on Ticket Web at https://www.ticketweb.ca/event/rock-with-love-5-featuring-the-opera-house-tickets/15047813

All proceeds from the concert go towards the Sarah McComb Award for Cancer Research.

The band performing at this year’s Rock With Love will be a “10-member supergroup” that has headlined big venues such as the Budweiser Stage.

“They swap in and out members and instruments to play a wide variety of songs across the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. It’s a high-energy show that makes the crowd dance and sing,” said Nicholas.

Sarah lost her life to cancer in 2021, prompting the McComb family to find a special way to honour her memory and help others facing the uncertainty of a cancer diagnosis.

Since the event kicked off five years ago, Rock With Love has raised more than $1.1 million in funding for cancer research and has since become one of the biggest community fundraising events for St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.

Funds raised in previous years have helped jumpstart several cutting-edge cancer research projects at St. Michael’s Hospital, including brainwave therapy and a promising new approach to cancer immunotherapy with custom-engineered viruses.

According to Nicholas, Rock With Love was supposed to come to an end after the 2025 event – but during the encore of the last performance that night – residents resoundingly called for a 2026 comeback.

“Rock with Love was planned to end with 2025 but when the band stopped the crowd chanted ‘One more year!’ So, we are doing an encore at their behest,” explained Nicholas.

For more information about Rock With Love, please head to the Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/rockwithlove1/?hl=en