Back in 1994, The Rolling Stones launched their Voodoo Lounge Tour and to my amazement they scheduled a stop in Salt Lake City. At the time, this seemed like the biggest thing that ever happened in my home town. They performed at the then called, Rice Stadium, only a few blocks from my house. I couldn't believe that Mick Jagger was going to be just a short walk from my home. Everyone was ecstatic, but to my dismay, they played on a day that I was unable to attend. I was heartbroken, but sat on my garage roof listening to whatever I could that reached me from the stadium. At the time, I had no idea if the Stones would ever come back or even tour again. Back then it wasn't commonplace that legendary rockers could just successfully tour forever. Of course, being the greatest rock and roll band of all time, they continued to tour for more than 20 more years and recently came my way. Well, sort of my way. They put on a show here, about 4 hours away from me.
My sister drove out from DC to meet me and so I was living the dream: seeing the Stones live, with my sister!
They put up a stage and created VIP, Gold, Silver, and Bronze sections for people to pile into, music festival style (no assigned seats, all general admission). You could buy tickets for any of these sections (prices ranging from around $70 all the way to about $300, with the VIPs being under just a $1,000), but they also offered something called a "Lucky Dip". These were more limited, but they could land you tickets in any of the above sections. You had to buy 2 tickets, but for just $35 each, it was quite the deal. I took the fiscally sensible gamble and when I went to pick up the tickets, I was handed a box with hundreds of envelopes and was told to take my "lucky dip". I reached in, pulled out a random envelope, opened it and found these gold wristbands! Jackpot!
We entered our section and moved our way as close to the stage as we could while the opening act played. Unfortunately we were a little late so were weren't right next to the stage, but fortunately the opening act was Rascal Flatts and we missed most of their set, but we did catch their cover of that Tom Cochrane song that was everywhere 10 years ago. Just as the sun had set, the stage lit up, the familiar opening chords of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" erupted, and Mick, Keith, Ronnie, and Charlie took the stage!
Here's the entire setlist from the show:
- Jumpin' Jack Flash
- It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)
- Let's Spend the Night Together
- Tumbling Dice
- Out of Control
- Let it Bleed (by request)
- Wild Horses
- Bitch
- Honky Tonk Women
- Before They Make Me Run (Keith on lead vocals)
- Happy (Keith on lead vocals)
- Midnight Rambler
- Miss You
- Gimme Shelter
- Start Me Up
- Sympathy for the Devil
- Brown Sugar
Encore:
- You Can't Always Get What You Want (with Butler University Chorale)
- (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
Yea, there's not a bad song there and they have so many hits they could have easily gone for hours and hours more. I'd love to have heard some others, but no complaints and plus, at the end of Keith's songs, he bid us all farewell with his "Gold rings on you all", which has become a favorite phrase of mine.
Maybe we weren't right next to the stage, but we were close to the catwalk that was built for Mick to strut on. This meant that Mick Jagger danced out to us and was only 10 or 15 yards away, multiple times throughout the night!
Now, I've been that close to former presidents of the United States, billionaires, and Nobel Prize winners, but clearly Mick is bigger than them all! And during an extended version of "Midnight Rambler", Keith and Ronnie came out and joined him.
To think that 20 years ago I was on my garage trying to catch as much as I could of a Rolling Stones concert and now, here I was within just a short distance from them! It's amazing! I have no idea how much these guys love doing what they do, but they've been at it for over 50 years now and they are awfully good at it! As old as they are, they are still rocking and rolling more than most these dang kids these days ever will. Shoot, I mean Mick is nearly twice my age and he still has more energy than I've probably ever had in my life. It was just a great show!
It was July 4th, so afterwards there were fireworks. Lots of them and they were great, but honestly, following The Rolling Stones, they sort of paled in comparison. Probably the first time ever that a couple of fellas from England overshadowed our nation's birthday party.
I've never really had a bucket list sort of thing, but if I ever did, I'd have one less thing to list now. Really can't believe how lucky we were. I figured that we'd be able to say that we went to a Rolling Stones concert, but would have just watched a big screen and enjoyed the show. Instead we were right there with a great view and just next to them multiple times throughout the night! It all just fell into place. If they ever come your way, and you actually are human and like Rock 'n' Roll, I highly recommend you go and see them. Considering they are still going and that conventional weapons cannot kill Keith Richards, you just might get the chance.
