The Rolling Stones Sept 26 St. Louis
In June, When I heard the Rolling Stones were going to resume their canceled US Tour beginning in last night in St. Louis, I bought tickets immediately. I have never seen them live, and figured I better do so now before one of them dies. Sadly, it was a prescient decision due to the passing of Charlie Watts last month. Last night, I was privileged to see one of the greatest musical spectacles of my life. I lived in St. Louis from 1990-2003 and hadn’t been back since. Happy to be back in STL and staying with friends, we headed off to see the Stones. The concert was in the Dome at America's Center and I couldn’t believe it was the same place I watched the Ram’s play in their great Superbowl years here with Kurt Warner and the Greatest Show on Turf.
Every aspect of the evening was eye opening. To begin, we weaved our way into the building through the back of the venue where we passed the 50 tractor trailers that routinely carry the tour.
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It’s hard to understand why a small army of vehicles is necessary to transport the gear for a tour of this magnitude- until you see the stage.
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The logistics of setting up a production like this are intimidating. Every part of the ginormous stage is labeled, set up and disassembled according to a precise plan for every arena on the tour. It must take dozens of people to manage this feat with a variety of technical crew people and roadies. All I can say is that I’m convinced the Stones crew could have gotten us out of Afghanistan far more efficiently than the folks we had on the ground there that tried so hard but stumbled. The stage and the entire audio-visual production was first rate and is surely a high water mark for rock and roll concerts in the current age. The sound was, well, loud. Duh. But I was so engrossed in the concert that I forgot to take out my trusty /SPL meter on the iphone! Nobody should ever attend a concert like this without earplugs. I have a collection of many, but I find that simple tissue, lightly moistened, can be put in the ear canal with just the right density and location to allow an adequate bandwidth for complete musical enjoyment while preventing potential damage from peaks that I’m sure were over 110dB (which is typical for a rock concert these days. Springsteen hit that easily at Meadowlands a few years ago.)
As far as the performance itself, all I can say is wowza. To begin, it is instantly apparent that you are witnessing a performance by an entertainer that defies description because Jagger is simply not human. No mere mortal, 78 years old, should be able to do what this guy does. Not only is his voice in excellent form, but the prancing, preening, strutting and the total energy is so off the charts that it needs to be seen to be believed. When watching Jagger, you can't help realize you are watching a legend because he is more than one of the high priests of R&R. In fact, he is and one if its greatest prophets. And then you realize- he’s a freakin' great grandfather!! How could I be seeing what I’m seeing? It can’t be real. But it is. This sort of showmanship and talent comes along so rarely. How rare? Well, if Tom Brady plays football at 78 like he does now, only then can you make a meaningful comparisons! Until then, Brady is human, Jagger is just... not. They did 19 songs in about 2 ¼ hours and I was exhausted just from watching and dancing in my seat. Again, that Jagger did this without requiring an IV and a trip the hospital is just astonishing. Somebody read that during a typical performance, he covers about 3-4 miles on stage. I'm not surprised.
When watching Jagger the performer it’s easy to forget he his other talents that include playing the harmonica and the guitar, both of which he did several times during the show. Especially easy to forget or take for granted is that he not only performs the songs, but
he wrote virtually all of them as well! The team of Jagger and Richards is one of the most accomplished in the history of R&R with Jagger writing most of the lyrics and Richards the music, although they have reversed roles on some songs. They consider themselves a songwriting team (they referred to themselves by their pseudonym, The Glimmer Twins) with a catalogue of incredible commercial hits over 5 decades.
Two other take-aways. First, I finally figured out why Keith Richards (also 78) isn’t dead! Despite all the abuse he is known to have endured (mostly self-afflicted) I really think that he isn’t dead yet is because, quite simply, he loves what he does! And which he’s damned good at! This guy smiles so much and so often on stage that you can see he is just having a grand old time, which I'm convinced is why he has defeated the grim reaper for so long. The second take away is that I never appreciated how integral and important Ron Woods ( a mere "kid" at 74) is to the sound of the Stones. His contribution is far easier to appreciate live than through regular listening at home. Forget “you are there” vs “they are here” comparisons. When you get to “you and they are truly in the same room”, there’s a level of appreciation for all the members that just can’t be equaled any other way. Nor would you want it to be. It’s what live music is all about.
When they finally left the stage with images of Charlie Watts hanging on the screens overhead after they paid their deep respect, we were left in somber mourning as well, all the while knowing that hope really does spring eternal as evidenced by the incredible music they just played and the joy it generated.
Two years of summer concerts were lost to COVID. The Stones concert reminded me of just how great a loss that was. I sure hope we are moving past that as soon as possible. Next up are concerts by Steely Dan next month, and another high priest and prophet, the great Billy Joel at the Garden in January. Add to those the resumption of Carnegie (Yuja Wang - I'm coming for you, baby!) and the NY Phil seasons after a year and half of silence, and things really are looking up!
