Stones. Fenway. Tour. Opening night. I was there. You weren't.
FlynnFiles returned to the United States with an exclamation point Sunday night. I caught the opening night of the Rolling Stones's tour at Fenway Park on August 21. The ghosts of Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, and Tony Conigliero watched with me.
Sans ticket, I approached Fenway with the intent of making an exchange after the Stones began. Shortly after "Start Me Up," with a wannabe scalper in a panic, I offered face value ($120) for a ticket. He agreed, and I saw the concert without making a major ATM withdrawal.
New songs "Infamy" (a Keith Richards number) and "Out of Control" reminded audience members that they weren't witnessing a purely greatest-hits show. "Heartbreaker," "Brown Sugar," and "She's So Cold," which Mick Jaggar noted that the Stones had rarely played live, brought the Mecca of Baseball to its knees. Other highlights included the '70s disco track, "Miss You," and the later-Stones song, "You Got Me Rocking"--both of which sound better live than the studio versions. Mick Jaggar praised Arnold Schwarzenegger, who held a fundraiser at the event, and Keith Richards made some incomprehensible mumblings. The smell of marijuana, and the look of middle age, was in the air.
The tour's stage set-up is unrivaled. With Mick Jaggar covering a distance greater than from Manny Ramirez to Trot Nixon, the Stones's stage at times approached the infield and reached higher than the Green Monster. The background appears as a massive hotel, with concert-goers populating two floors of the backdrop. A giant, inflatable, Rolling Stones mouth closed the pre-encore concert. While ownership refused to sell tickets for the infield, bleachers, and Green-Monster seats, every other space within the city box remained occupied. At expense, and look, the stage's set is like nothing else at any rock show.
The Rolling Stones are a travelling party, and closing with "It's Only Rock n Roll" amidst 40,000 fellow party-goers while letting off a fireworks display, seems about as appropriate an encore as it gets. Get invited when the party comes to your town.
You go boy! Glad you had a blast!
What were the top songs? What were the highlights? Any mistakes? Celeb sightings? How were the seats.
The Who is still better. Long live Rock!!!
Sarge, my favorite Stones song played was "Brown Sugar," but since I expected that, and didn't expect "Heartbreaker" or "She's So Cold," those were my highlights. Also, "Miss You" came off really well live.
Us old family guys can only live vicariously through the exploits of fellows like you.
Glad you had a good time and thanks for the report.
Must have been a Boomer reunion though.
I made a few updates to the main post, as it was initially written under the influence of the excessive late-night jubilance that often accompanies the concert experience.
I partook in the pre show festivities. One thing that stands out at all Stones shows is the attitude of the women in attendence. Not many femminists attend Stones shows. Many seem to resemble Mick in looks and in attitude, that is sex, drugs and rock and roll. To paraphrase Mick Shrimton, " I could do without the rock and roll as long as I have the sex and drugs."
A former girlfriend summed it up this way: they keep writing songs about women but their attitude towards them never changes (matures).
I say: It's only rock 'n roll, but I like it....
Did they do the neocon song?
PoliSci going mainstream.... YES!!
;-)
Heard tonight that the BoSox game tonight was delayed b/c the Stones tore up the outfield w/ their stage. something like 40 square yards of sod had to be trucked in to replace the torn up grass.
