Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Rolling Stones at Fenway Park

The Stones concert was fantastic. What could I possibly write about them that hasn't been written before? It was my first time to ever see them and Fenway Park was a great place to do that. It was an excellent evening overall. We found sort of reasonably priced parking a five minute walk from the stadium. We went past all the noisy, drunk people on Landsdowne Street down to a place called Jillians which was air conditioned, had a decent menu with reasonable prices and nice waitstaff. They also had a live Stones show playing on their big screens which was a nice way to get fueled and ready for the show without having to deal with drunk idiots. We were also spared the drunk idiot factor near our seats-- another bonus. I didn't see anyone falling from the rafters. Just saw one guy in the next section over get escorted out by the police for causing some kind of trouble. There didn't seem to be many people under 30 who weren't there with their parents, but it was kind of cool to see families making an evening of it.
We missed the opening act, The Black Eyed Peas. Can't say I regret that much and they went on much earlier than the Stones. The gates opened at 6:30. We were in our seats probably around 7:30 and the Stones went on around 8:30. Considering that Buddy Guy will be opening for the Stones in Milwaukee and Minneapolis, Beck will be opening for them in Columbus and Toronto and Pearl Jam will be doing the same in Pittsburgh, I figure Boston did not get the best pick of opening acts, but it doesn't matter much because really everyone was there to see the Rolling Stones.
Everything about the show was excellent. It was the second show of the tour so there were some things that weren't absolutely perfect, but seeing how it all gets handled with such poise, professionalism and a sense of humor is part of what was great. So many times throughout the performance I got chills from the power of it all. It must be incredible to have a stadium full of people singing your songs back at you, which happened pretty much straight through the show. It was everything you could want and hope a Stones to be. The music, the visuals, the fireworks and plumes of fire off the top of the stage, the set list. It was a rock and roll show by the guys who taught us all how it should be done.

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