The Cabbage Patch was a de facto mental institution for much of the day, actually

The whole day was one of the best ever, quite honestly. The only drawback with so many people being there is that its not possible to get quality time with absolutely everyone - but I enjoyed every minute of it. Some people I've known through Stones forums and social media for years but have never met, others I only get to see every few years or so - but it never disappoints. I had a couple of friends with me who were new to this kind of thing and they enjoyed it immensely as well.

As Ade said, bittersweet indeed, because with it being my last show of this tour, it may well be the last time I get to do all this. Here's hoping it wont be. I just wish everyone had been there.

To the gig itself and in all honesty the Stones are a better live band in their 70s than they were in their 60's. Its staggering. Having two guitarists who have both got their shit together helps immensely. I dont think that its a coincidence that the show is far less reliant on extra musicians or special effects than in previous years.  They're probably deliberately tailoring a show to a limited selection of songs that they feel they can do well  - but performance wise you could hardly fault that effort.

Its very easy to make allowances for their age and say that they put on a great gig for a band in their 70s - but theres no real need to. They're still a superb live act purely on their own merits.

Really enjoyed 'Street Fighting Man' as an opener - it surely deserves to be a warhorse. 'Sympathy' and 'Rambler' were great as usual - shit, I even liked 'Miss You' - its not the bloated waste of 10-12 minutes that it was on previous tours, even though I could do without the bass solo.  I dont think 'You Got The Silver' quite came off, but Keith really turned things up a notch with a riproaring 'Before They Make Me Run'. The guitar meshing between him and Ronnie on this one and a few others was pretty glorious. Ronnie really was on fine form - its great to see him concentrating on playing instead of mugging, which has been the case in previous years.  The whole band really seemed to be loving it and Mick really is the living definition of a 'force of nature'. James Bay joined the band for 'Beast of Burden' which was the one genuine song choice surprise of the night. He did ok - didnt really overdo it or get in the way too much and everyone on stage seemed to enjoy it. It was a nice moment for him which I'm sure he'll always treasure.

'Bitch' won the fanvote and they did a fine job of it



The last UK show this year and it should be mentioned that Mick didnt really hint at future intentions for the band, as he has done on previous 'final' shows.  Keith actually sounded and looked very emotional when saying 'Im gonna miss you guys' before his solo spot.  And it seemed that they didnt want it to end....'Satisfaction' came to an end, and as the final drumbeat sounded to finish the song - Keith started the riff again, Charlie joined in and they jammed the ending out again for another couple of minutes right up to the curfew. It seemed to take the other two by surprise - Ronnie already had taken his guitar strap off and played the rest of the song by just holding his instrument in his hand.

'No Stopping', indeed.

After reading this post I am SO REGRETFUL that I missed this show!  SHIT hope you aren't right in admitting this could be the end of the line, Gazza. I got that same feeling in Edinburgh as the band extended some song endings and they would just surprise each other. ROnnie and KEEF were laughing at MICK during Rambler and Miss You, they switched it up. MICK jumped back on board after turning and scowling at them but in a fun way. They were playing! NO ONE moves like Jagger! Seriously don't think its the end quite yet, they are still going strong!