Time is on my side, or, gathering no moss

If you had told me back in 1975 that in the year 2005, Keith Richards would still be alive and well, I would have said "yeah, right, and you'll be able to carry a thousand songs around with you on a credit card-sized device clipped to your belt. Take another hit, dude".

Well, not only is Keef alive and well, he is ROCKIN' OUT!!! On Friday, October 21st, I saw the Rolling Stones in person for the first time in spite of having been a fan ever since Brown Sugar blasted across my transistor radio when I was in the 6th grade. I was aware of them in the 60s, but nothing "fired my imagination" like Brown Sugar. At the show, I'm afraid I sat there with a big s**t-eatin' grin on my face the whole time, except for one song, which I'll get to in a minute.

That said, here's my thoughts on the show -

Arena: Grade A - I would give it an A+, except for the expected first-event ever glitches and the lame-o beer selection. The credit card system quit working shortly after the doors opened, fortunately I had lots of cash, and some of the beer taps ran dry early on (what did they think, no one was gonna drink beer at a Stones concert???? ). Everything else seemed to be running smoothly, the facility is first rate, it is not as large circumference or diameter-wise as the old coliseum here in Charlotte, but rather taller vertically (at least it seems that way, from the first level to the second, they have one of those mile-long escalators like in the Atlanta subway). I was on the first row of the upper deck, and I have a prediction - during the life of the building, someone is gonna fall over, there was only a very low concrete wall with about a 4-inch piece of plexiglass on it, I nearly fell over myself getting into my seat. Great for sightlines, not so great for safety.

Opening Act: SEX do you remember all the controversy SEX about subliminal advertising? SEX
Nothing subliminal about SEX Joss Stone SEX the opening act. Someone SEX forgot to SEX tell her that SEX the Britney Spears SEX almost-nekkid look is out, add SEX that to the SEX baby-making soul SEX music she sings and the gyrating hips SEX and it all adds up to SEX. Not to mention she is HOT, but that's all SEX I'm going to say SEX about her, since I'm old enough SEX to be her daddy. Her guitar player does have the biggest pedalboard I have ever seen, and can wail. In spite of all the SEX, her music is kinda boring, at least to me.

Beer selection: Grade C - The usual BMC (BudMillerCoors for the uninitiated) crap, with the exception of one bar downstairs that had Sam Adams and Heinies on tap, and one upstairs that had Sam, Heinies, Bass, and Harp. I got a Sam downstairs, a Bass upstairs, both were green, I think they must have put those kegs in a month in advance, when I got the Bass, the guy had to go to three different taps to fill my smallish cup. Speaking of the cups, not only did they charge you $7, (large BMCs were $6.75) but it was in a tiny cup. I ended up getting large Buds for the rest of my beer consumption, they tasted much better, they weren't skanked. On the plus side, I never had to wait for a beer, they have plenty of stands.

Stones: A+++++++ I had to keep pinching myself to make sure I was really there, I was, and these geezers kick butt. If you came from another planet, and didn't know their age, you would think they were in their 40s at most, Mick is still Jumpin' Jack Flash, and Keith, Ronnie, and Charlie were rockin' hard. Keith and Ronnie play all kinds of variations on the beloved song licks with ease, like they been playing guitar for 50 years or something. Oh, yeah, they have. Keith's axe of choice was a big ole black Lucille-lookin' ES 335, Ronnie switched on just about every song. Ronnie beat Keith easily on the flipping-guitar-picks-to-the-crowd contest, he was doin' it in mid-song.

Here's the set list, in rough order, not entirely correct I'm sure, but you get the idea:

Start Me Up
You Got Me Rockin'
Shattered (SHA-DOOBIE!! )
Ruby Tuesday (brought tears to my eyes, sentimental ole fool that I am)
Oh No Not You Again (funniest moment of the show, as there was a mass exodus for beer/bathrooms)
Tumbling Dice
All Down The Line (One of my personal favorites, I had the S-E grin on big time for this one, it was SMOKIN' - four piece horn section including the venerable Bobby Keys. Worth the price of admission for this one alone)

The Night Time is the Right Time (awesome as well, Mick and the female backup singer traded vocal licks while Ronnie and Keith sat in front of Charlie and laid down fierce blues licks, Keith enwreathed in cig smoke)
The Worst
Nameless new song (sorry, no clue, Keith sang it)
Miss You
Somewhere around this point, the center of the stage took the boys, along with Darryl Jones and Chuck Leavell, out down the center aisle to a small stage at the other end of the floor.

There, not only did they crank up the guitars, but they played
It's Only Rock'n'Roll
Honky Tonk Women
Rough Justice (excellent new song)
Then they went back to the main stage for:
Brown Sugar
Jumpin Jack Flash
Paint It Black (Ronnie was playin' this wild lookin' electric sitar thingy)
Sympathy For The Devil (excellent, Keith was rockin!!!, Charlie was POUNDING on both this one and Paint It Black)

Encore:
You Can't Always Get What You Want (very cool double-time section at the end)
Satisfaction (not entirely satisfying, by this time the guitars were so loud it disentegrated into heavy-metal noise)

I told my wife the next morning that the Lord can take me now, I have experienced THE STONES!!!!!!!!!!!!!