On Friday June 14th The Rolling Stones took to the stage at the Boston Garden for the second night of their two night stand on their 50 & Counting Tour. You could tell that everyone was excited for the festivities that night, as almost everyone outside of The Garden was decked out in Rolling Stones merchandise. As our party entered the stadium our intensity level went even further through the roof, as we realized we were only eleven rows from the stage.
At about 8:50 the house lights went down and the band’s intro video came on, and that’s when the crowds intensity skyrocketed. The whole Garden was clapping, whistling, and waiting not so patiently for the show to begin. Then, The Rolling Stones Appeared. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, and Ronnie Wood in the flesh, and that’s when the place erupted, and the band launched into the first chords of “Get Off My Cloud.”
The band sounded tight on their first few numbers, but on the fourth song of the night, “Gimme Shelter” you could tell that the band was on fire, and it would be a great night of some of the Stone’s best material. They played “All Down The Lane” and for Boston’s fan voted song they played, “Memory Motel” which coincidentally features the lyric “When I asked her where she headed for ‘Back up to Boston I’m singing in a bar.’”
“When The Whip Comes Down” a classic cut from 1978’s Some Girls was up next, and that was followed by one of my least favorite Stones’ tracks, “Emotional Rescue.” The band then launched into the two new tracks which they recorded for their latest greatest hits album Grrr! which was released last November. “Doom and Gloom,” a political rocker was one of these new songs and that went over well, but you could tell that by the time they got into “One More Shot” people were using these new tracks as an opportunity to use the bathroom. I dig the new tracks, especially “Doom and Gloom,” and I felt I was one of the few people in the audience that new the track.
Keith Richards then busted into the riff for “Honkey Tonk Women” which brought the crowd back into the action. The band then did introductions, and after that Keith Richards took to the microphone performing two of my favorite Stones’ songs “You Got The Silver” and “Happy.” These two tracks went over well especially “Happy” which had a great number of fans singing along.
“Midnight Rambler” was up next and this was when Mick Taylor joined the band. Taylor looked happy to be there, but his playing was really not up to muster. In fact it felt like they buried his guitar in the live mix to cover any mistakes. Watts and Richards really held the band together on this track especially the very loose last part of the song at the end.
The band played “Miss You” and “Start Me Up” which both received enormous hands from the crowd who went up another notch when the band launched into the intro of “Start Me Up.” The band finished off their set with “Tumbling Dice,” “Brown Sugar,” and “Sympathy For The Devil.” These songs were all excellent especially “Sympathy For The Devil.”
The stage went dark, and the crowd called for an encore, and their wishes were granted when B.U.’s choir came to the stage with the band and performed a haunting rendition of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” The band closed the night with the two crowd pleasers, “Jumping Jack Flash” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”
The Rolling Stones were amazing and if you get the opportunity to see them, you definitely should not let that opportunity pass you by.
-B. Harlow
