Local Writer Tries Too Hard
Stones wow with sensory overload
By JACI WEBB
Of The Gazette Staff
The moon hovered over Missoula's Washington-Grizzly Stadium Wednesday night, the planets aligned, and the Rolling Stones came out rocking, guitars blazing and Mick Jagger strutting to "Jumpin' Jack Flash."
You didn't even have to be a Stones fan to appreciate the pyrotechnics, 100-foot-high video screens and six-story set. It was like Disneyland, Las Vegas and the Fourth of July combined with the best rock show imaginable. The sensory overload was enough to fill your head for weeks to come.
Don Casey, a Billings school librarian, said no other live show he's been to compares with seeing the Rolling Stones perform in his hometown.
"It's much more than I expected," Casey said. "I've gone to football games at the stadium and just seeing the transformation into a concert venue was just amazing." The word is that the Stones were so energized for the Missoula show because they'd spent Tuesday fishing the Blackfoot River. Jagger told the audience, "I shot an elk. Don't worry, I'll put it back."
Then Keith Richards, struggling for a moment to speak when he got to the microphone, said, "This is new territory for me. I've been a lot of places, but I've never been here. It's real pretty, think I'll move in."
Rockin' Rudy's manager, Kelly Archibald-Wilson, said later that Richards can move in next door to him anytime. Archibald-Wilson, who has seen the Rolling Stones five times, said the Missoula show was the best yet, partially because it was in Montana under a nearly full moon.
With a floor seat, Archibald-Wilson stood just inches away from Jagger, who several times reached into the crowd to shake hands.
"At one moment, I know Mick and I made eye contact," Archibald-Wilson said.
The Missoula show was presented at the smallest venue on the Stones' world tour, "The Bigger Bang." The stadium was filled to capacity with 21,000 fans ranging from grade school students to senior citizens. Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger took in the show from University of Montana president George Dennison's box. Schweitzer originally planned to mingle with the crowd during the concert, but the Stones' management prohibited it for security reasons.
Before the concert, thousands of people gathered at Missoula's Caras Park in a pre-show party and hundreds of people flocked to Rockin' Rudy's to buy T-shirts and Stones memorabilia before the show. Rockin' Rudy's sold out of the T-shirts the store designed and printed that read "Stones Rock Missoula."
"I had people in here from all over - Georgia, California - looking for anything with The Stones on it," Archibald-Wilson said.
The Stones didn't hit their full stride until after guitarist Richards sang his two songs - "Little T&A" and "You Got the Silver" - in the middle of their two-hour-set. In all, the Stones ran through 19 songs, highlighted by an extended jam on "Midnight Rambler" and a very hot "Start Me Up" with twin 40-foot flames shooting into the sky from each side of the stage. Jagger donned a sparkly red top hat and jacket for "Sympathy for the Devil" and the 100-foot screens projected images of a naked black woman cuddling with the Taj Mahal, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Eiffel Tower during "Brown Sugar." The visual is so sensual that the Rolling Stones were banned from performing the song in China.
To judge from the set lists at other venues during this tour, it's clear the Rolling Stones don't always perform "Can't Always Get What you Want," but they nailed it as their first encore number in Missoula. For the second encore, Jagger sprinted toward the second stage, never missing a beat of "Satisfaction" as he ran. Two sweat-soaked body guards ran after him on either side of the ramp, struggling to keep up with the 63-year-old singer.
"I see why they're still touring after 40 years," Ken Kindelman, of Billings, said.
"They put so much into performing and they put on an amazing show."
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