2019/8/5 Rolling Stones @ Met Life Stadium
On December 15, 2012 the Rolling Stones played a star-studded event in the Prudential Center with special guests Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen, the Black Keys, and John Mayer and was live pay-per-viewed on DirecTV. I was fairly certain this would be the only time I would ever see the Stones in my lifetime and boy was it a bucket-list kind of night. Fast forward seven years to last night and clearly the universe had other plans for me.
It was one of those nights where everything just worked. Parking was easy and pleasant. Tailgate was perfect. Hung with the very best crew of lifelong friends, some friends I made in the last few years, and a teacher buddy from work. SIde story…one of the newer friends is a dude who I met exactly two years ago to the day. I know that because I was the lucky recipient of his extra ticket for Boston Cream at the MSG. We shared something special that night and became friends for life. Have seen a bunch of shows together since but I didn’t know he was coming last night until he literally almost ran me over in the parking lot. Small world stuff.
So a group of seven of us all had GA field tickets and went in together for Lukas Nelson who I thought was awesome although I had a hard time getting engaged in his set. IMO he’s gonna blow up big time. Between sets we walked into the first few rows of the lower deck to have a seat and take a load off and ended up spending the night in the back of the endzone with a direct head-on view of the stage with six rows of eight seats to share for the seven of us. I’m pretty sure these were $500+ seats and I can’t really explain how we had $24,000 of unoccupied seats in a sold out stadium. Needless to say, we danced our asses off with more space than I ever could’ve imagined for a 2019 Rolling Stones show.
From the opening notes, this was a spectacle – a twice-in-a-lifetime event to be sure. I mean, put 55,000 people together to see, as Jeff so eloquently stated, the “Fucking Rolling Motherfucking Stones” and a party of epic proportions is gonna happen. {Ok, maybe that’s not exactly what he said, it was Fucking Charlie Motherfucking Watts but it was well worth stealing and paraphrasing.} The video screens were as simple and perfect as four 100-foot (?) screens could be. The sound was as perfect and dialed in as one would expect for a show of this magnitude, at least from our seats almost directly between two large stacks.
So after months of anticipation, the clock struck 9:26 and, “Ladies and gentlemen, The Rolling Stones!” rang through the stadium as the boys (not quite) from across the pond took the stage to thunderous applause and the opening notes of Jumping Jack Flash rang out. And that’s how you open a 55,000 rock ‘n roll show. Here’s the setlist:
Jumpin’ Jack Flash, You Got Me Rocking, Tumbling Dice, Harlem Shuffle, Monkey Man, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Let It Bleed, Dead Flowers, Sympathy for the Devil, Honky Tonk Women, You Got the Silver, Before They Make Me Run, Miss You, Midnight Rambler, Paint It Black, Start Me Up, Brown Sugar
Encore: Gimme Shelter, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
As has already been discussed (I wouldn’t have known this on my own even though Mick said “We haven’t played this one in a while and I hope we don’t fuck it up), Harlem Shuffle was a 29 year bustout. Monkey Man was a fan’s choice as the result of an online poll. Let It Bleed and Dead Flowers were acoustically played from the 50-yard line. Sympathy For the Devil was everything you’d expect and more. Honkey Tonk raged. Keith took the mic for the next two songs before my personal highlight…
MISS YOU! Sweet Jesus was that some stadium-sized funk with an extended bass solo from Daryl Jones that rearranged my insides. Midnight Rambler was insane as Keith layed down some power chords that rattled my bones. The whole show had these incredible bluesy-as-fuck undertones that constantly tied into their collective Muddy Waters influence. Paint It Black was another personal highlight. Start Me Up was insane. I mean, is anyone going to argue that their catalog is relentless and high amongst the best ever conversation. Karl D was his badass self and really shined brightest during Brown Sugar.
Gimme Shelter was insane but no version of this song will ever match the night in 2012 when Lady Gaga, one of very few people on the planet with the balls to go toe-to-toe with Mick, guested in the Pru Center. Speaking of MIck, his energy, charisma, voice and performance were spectacular, even more so in light of his recent health scare. Hit the back of the floor for Satisfaction where we jumped around like lunatics and started down the corridors with a couple verses to go. I singularly serenaded a few hundred people at the top of my lungs {inexplicably I was the only one singing} with my favorite Bobby lines from this one as we walked out (When I’m watchin’ my TV and a man comes on and tells me, How white my shirts can be, But, he can’t be a man ’cause he doesn’t smoke, The same cigarettes as me.) I’ll never forget seeing the Dead play this song on Jerry’s birthday in the Palace at Auburn Hills in 1994 but that’s a story for another day. Walked out of the stadium at 11:26, 3 minutes before the fireworks, and was in my driveway at 12:20. Special night shared with special people.
Danced 9,744 steps that felt like three times that much (the not all steps are created equal is a conversation for another thread on another day). Thanks again for giving me the forum to relive these incredible nights – I love you all!
