Sympathy for the Devil
Please allow me to introduce myself,
I’m a man of wealth and taste.
I’ve been around for a long, long year,
Stole many a man’s soul and faith.
The Rolling Stones blasted into San Diego’s Petco Park on Sunday and rocked the house before an estimated 45,000 fans. Mary & I, along with 5 friends (thanks for getting the great seats, Rich and CJ!) joined the madness on a cool spring evening to see The World’s Greatest Rock & Roll band perform. Getting into the stadium proved to be quite a challenge.
Our tickets stated the show would start at 7:00pm, but several days prior to the event, the word was that Gary Clark, Jr., the warm-up act, would start at 8:00pm. Huh?!? 2 calls placed to the ticket office to settle this discrepancy made it clear as mud – the 1st ticket agent said it WAS a 7:00 start, but a subsequent call made a day or so later told us, “…they start when they start, 7:00 or 8:00, you know how rock concerts are…” Great, thanks for clearing that up! Having sat for over an hour waiting for Paul McCartney to come on stage a few months previously, we didn’t really want to go thru that again. So, after finishing dinner at our house, the 7 of us decided to leave around 7:30 for the short drive downtown, leaving plenty of time to get inside by 8:00. HA!
Parking was a breeze just a few blocks away, and we were getting energized during the short walk to the venue. The local pedicabs prowling the streets looking for fares had Mick & the boys blasting from their on-board ghetto blasters, as they beckoned us to take a ride with them. However, our excitement was quickly tempered when we saw the line to the stadium entrance on 7th Ave. as it stretched non-stop down to 11th Ave. If my math is correct, that’s 4 solid blocks of old rock ‘n rollers waiting to get inside to see even older rock ‘n rollers! On the plus side, the line moved quickly, but the downside was the warm up act started while we were still a few blocks away. By the time we actually got to our seats he was about 3/4 of the way thru his set. Too bad, I really would have liked to see the entire set. Gary Clark is a hot guitarist who has played with B.B. King (RIP), Eric Clapton and other highly regarded musicians in the biz. At the 2012-13 Austin Music Awards ceremony, Clark walked away with 8 awards.
OK, on with the show!
In life, there are some universally accepted dreads; getting the middle seat in an airplane between 2 chatty, overweight, mouth-breathers; standing behind an elderly lady with a months’ worth of groceries at the checkout line who can’t find her 1) checkbook, 2) pen that works, and 3) her ID, all the while challenging prices as each item is scanned; or the 6’4” broad-shouldered, hat wearing guy sitting/standing directly in front of you at a rock concert. Guess which category I found myself in?? If I leaned to the left just enough, I could see the huge video screen looming over the top of the person sitting next to him, so all was good.
Early on in the show, in a tongue-in-cheek way, Mick thanked Petco, a retail pet & supply company, and whose name is on the venue, for providing the lamb and venison formula food backstage for the band and crew (if you don’t get the joke, ask a dog owner).
Mick, Keith, Ronnie & Charlie came screaming out amid exploding fireworks and opened with Jumpin’ Jack Flash and It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It). For nearly 2 ½ hours, we watched as Mick ran, skipped forward and backwards, pranced, danced, strutted, shimmied, shaked and slithered over every square inch of the huge T-shaped stage, all the while belting out his songs, never once out of breath. He had more energy than a room full of Jazzercise instructors being lead by Richard Simmons! When I’m 71, I’d like to half of Mick Jagger’s energy. Hell, why wait, I’d like to have it now! Even though the energy level was a solid 10, the sound didn’t match. At times, the music overpowered the vocals, or both over powered the venue, but it was still an awesome show.
Charlie Watts was cool and relaxed as ever, pounding away on the drums. Guitarist Ronnie Woods is looking like a bad wax figure of a Rod Stewart look-a-like that’s been left outside too long on a hot summer afternoon, but he can shred the guitar with the best of them. Surprisingly, Keith Richards looked clean and sober, but to call him ‘fresh looking’ would be going a bit too far. Gone seemed to be his trademark cigarette constantly dangling from the side of his mouth, as he blazes thru riff after guitar riff, but I did notice Ronnie smoking. Petco's No Smoking policy apparently doesn't apply to dopers, vapers or rock legends, as all were present and puffing. The band looked like they were truly having great fun being on stage as they played thru the crowd favorites – I Want To Hold Your Hand, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and a great Hey Jude… oh, sorry… wrong British Boy Band.
Seriously, love ‘em or loathe ‘em, they proved they are STILL The World’s Greatest Rock & Roll band!
On a side note - what is it about women and their outfits when going to rock concerts? Do they really try to look like they should be standing on a Hollywood street corner at 1:00am, looking for a ‘date’?
Here's a little vignette of the show. Sorry for poor video quality, I was using an iPhone while taping the video screen.
Keep on rockin’ in the free world!
