Opening act : Ghost Hounds

Tickets : https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1600582ADE9D6F5F

Fanvote :

https://vote.rollingstones.com/

Choices are :

Worried About You
Play With Fire
Angie
Fool To Cry

iorr's "nasty habits" has done a nice alt poster

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51538545588_82aa51dafc_c.jpg

Hoping for "Worried About You," but c'mon, "Angie" has this clinched. The vote is a joke. Should be a great show nonetheless.

Wishing every concert goer a great show.

Is there a get-together I can pout across the street from? 

1) supposed to rain today in pittsburgh

2) can also be reasonably interpreted as the "trouble's a coming" poster

3) um, uh, fellatio


https://i.imgur.com/jPK4XXO.jpg

The Cathedral of Learning

(i was gonna do an alt poster based on this photo earlier today, but didnt feel inspired.
if i'd have thought of the blow-job idea...)


https://i.imgur.com/CEoBUPw.jpeg

With this current schedule, we could squeeze in Omaha.

That's potsin' on loan from God right there!

What a great poster if you worked in that building

I still have no clue what the Charlotte poster design was about...must really, really be a Charlotte thing.

Dudes! I thought the show was last night! Gonna need to move some things around. Beer run!

Excited for all yinz

Hope you get another great show!

Sure they will!

Pre-show art inspiration! #Goya 🎨🎸

https://twitter.com/i/status/1445124913124282372

Again Ronnie: Anybody seen my baby?

https://twitter.com/i/status/1445135459496218625

Yet another Ronnie: On my way to the soundcheck

https://twitter.com/i/status/1445125143345471506

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FA4c2YuWUAALaOn.jpg

From the Rolling Stones: "This poster is from the Rolling Stones first ever show in Pittsburgh on June 17 1964 and tonight they return once again as the No Filter 2021 tour continues!"

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FA4zuBvX0AMWBa0.jpg

Just a quick warm up before the Pittsburgh show

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FA4wgT7X0A0EdCI?.jpg

FPM wrote on Oct 3^rd, 2021 at 10:49pm:

Is there a get-together I can pout across the street from?

Nice, very funny. It’s been over 15 years since that get together and concert.
I know you’re going to have a great time tonight, just one more time.
Take care, Jon.

Rick

Charlie Charlie Charlie!

1.- Street Fighting Man
2.- Let's Spend the Night Together
3.- Tumbling Dice
4.- 19th Nervous Breakdown

5.- Trouble's a Coming

1.- Street Fighting Man
2.- Let's Spend the Night Together
3.- Tumbling Dice
4.- 19th Nervous Breakdown
5.- Trouble's a Coming
6.- Angie (vote)

1.- Street Fighting Man
2.- Let's Spend the Night Together
3.- Tumbling Dice
4.- 19th Nervous Breakdown
5.- Trouble's a Coming
6.- Angie (Vote)
7.- You Can't Always Get What You Want

1.- Street Fighting Man
2.- Let's Spend the Night Together
3.- Tumbling Dice
4.- 19th Nervous Breakdown
5.- Trouble's a Coming
6.- Angie (Vote)
7.- You Can't Always Get What You Want
8.- Living in a ghost town

1.- Street Fighting Man
2.- Let's Spend the Night Together
3.- Tumbling Dice
4.- 19th Nervous Breakdown
5.- Trouble's a Coming
6.- Angie (Vote)
7.- You Can't Always Get What You Want
8.- Living in a ghost town
9.- Start me Uo
10.- Honky Tonk Women
11.-

Picture with thanks to Rogerriffin, not source given but thanks

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FA5bDqPWYAg-PcH.jpg

1.- Street Fighting Man
2.- Let's Spend the Night Together
3.- Tumbling Dice
4.- 19th Nervous Breakdown
5.- Trouble's a Coming
6.- Angie (Vote)
7.- You Can't Always Get What You Want
8.- Living in a ghost town
9.- Start me Uo
10.- Honky Tonk Women
11.- Before they make me run

1.- Street Fighting Man
2.- Let's Spend the Night Together
3.- Tumbling Dice
4.- 19th Nervous Breakdown
5.- Trouble's a Coming
6.- Angie (Vote)
7.- You Can't Always Get What You Want
8.- Living in a ghost town
9.- Start me Uo
10.- Honky Tonk Women
11.- Before they make me run
12.- Slipping Away


The rest is so predictable (agree with Rogerriffin who posted this prediction at our message board in Spanish)



13.- Miss You
14.- Midnight Rambler
15.- Paint it Black
16.- Sympathy for the Devil
17.- Jumping Jack Flash
18.- Gimme Shelter
19.- Satisfaction

Bring back dat brown sugah baby

Holden wrote on Oct 4^th, 2021 at 11:13pm:

Bring back dat brown sugah baby

Seconded.

Was a very good show.

Personal favorite was '19th Nervous Breakdown' (they punked the song up even more than the original).

Best sounding .. well they all sounded quite good .. but hey .. JJF.

Start Me Up had a busier drum approach .. much more direct / a bit different sound .. It had busy drumming and it was a good version. It went over very well. Was refreshing.

HTW was the best I saw it performed since 1989.

Great fireworks at the end. Not that this is a new concept for The Stones but the pyro show at the end was da bomb and blazing!

Midnight Rambler has a bit of a new new arrangment as do a few others ... It was kept fresh with a different approach.

Charlie was missed on Satisfaction and Paint It Black to my ears.

Speaking of Charlie ... he was remembered well. This is a kind of new / alternate approach .. not saying its better .. simply saying it's different now. It will suffice.

*Oh yeah .. one more thing ... I do believe I saw Mick Jagger size up .. and then unexpectedly kiss Daryl Jones .. (<< and no .. I'm not kidding).

Ian

Ian Billen wrote on Oct 5^th, 2021 at 1:30am:

Oh yeah .. one more thing ... I do believe I saw Mick Jagger size up.. and then unexpectedly kiss Daryl Jones .. and no .. I'm not kidding.

yeah, its unplanned and it staggers darryl

(at about 5:45 of this vid)

https://www.facebook.com/jeff.anhang/videos/865327794372576

so yeah, even though it won't be announced for a while, darryl (and steve) are IN!

Made Men.

sorry, chuck, youre a great player and important to the stones but 1) piano
players, like non-sicilians, don't get to be made men, and 2) like stu, simply
would be wrong for the image

I hear it was sold out.

https://youtu.be/CRinzxnlT-k

Thanks Pittsburg.

Damn YT's sound good. They will be on fire by Nov 11. Plus the 9 new will be widely available.

FYI- doors were blowed.

https://youtu.be/9wt8j6ABTb8

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FA66SWUWUAEHL_s.jpg

With thanks to Renbar

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FA6Gxf5WQAMGq_p.jpg

The following six pictures with special thanks to the one and only SweetVirginia!!!


http://www.rocksoff.org/headers2021/j1-posterpittsburgh-01.jpg

http://www.rocksoff.org/headers2021/j1-posterpittsburgh-02.jpg

http://www.rocksoff.org/headers2021/j1-posterpittsburgh-03.jpg

http://www.rocksoff.org/headers2021/j1-posterpittsburgh-04.jpg

http://www.rocksoff.org/headers2021/j1-posterpittsburgh-05.jpg

http://www.rocksoff.org/headers2021/j1-posterpittsburgh-06.jpg

http://www.rocksoff.org/headers2021/j1-posterpittsburgh-07.jpg

Stunning photos. Thanks Jini

Gazza wrote on Oct 5^th, 2021 at 11:44am:

Stunning photos. Thanks Jini

Agreed. That pic of Ronny is stunning...the look in his eyes...what goes on in that head during a performance??

And what is that on his shirt? Spit-up from the twins?? LOL
Is that a custom Stones t shirt he has on?
Looks way cooler than what they sell...

Love the
Paranoid Android wrote on Oct 5^th, 2021 at 12:20pm:

[quote author=694F54544F2E0 link=1633220389/44#44 date=1633452245] And what is that on his shirt? Spit-up from the twins?? LOL Is that a custom Stones t shirt he has on? Looks way cooler than what they sell...[/size]

Looks like an Urban Jungle t-shirt. Love that he is still wearing that. Always felt like that was the tour that everyone accepted him as a full member.

Yeah thats 'Skippy' - the Urban Jungle tour logo.

That particular shirt certainly wasn't available on that tour (I should know - I must have bought every fucking t shirt variation they had that summer!) so I guess it's a retro one.

The very notion of retro shirts from the 1990 tour makes me suddenly feel very old.

HOLY CATS!!!!!

That show was a jaw-dropper.  It was like hearing all the warhorses for the first time. 

Gazza wrote on Oct 5^th, 2021 at 1:27pm:

Yeah thats 'Skippy' - the Urban Jungle tour logo. That particular shirt certainly wasn't available on that tour (I should know - I must have bought every fucking t shirt variation they had that summer!) so I guess it's a retro one. The very notion of retro shirts from the 1990 tour makes me suddenly feel very old.

Sorry Gazza ....but you are...lol

Review: The Rolling Stones show why they’re the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette logo
SCOTT MERVIS
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
[email protected]
October 5, 2021

https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/music/2021/10/04/rolling-stones-pittsburgh-2021-concert-review/stories/202110040134

https://9b16f79ca967fd0708d1-2713572fef44aa49ec323e813b06d2d9.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/1140x_a10-7_cTC/20211004emRollingStones02-1-1633448205.jpg

Above picture (1) and those in the article (a total of 30 pictures) by Emily Matthews/Post-Gazette

darryl, miss you, wanna kiss you @5:45

(before the kiss, i think mick sings part of prince's "i wanna be your lover"and then
mick re-enacts when prince lays a surprise kiss on wendy onstage in "purple rain")


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Boiu-tvrDSM

"Jumping Jack Flash" was, again, a monster, and I love how Keith played "Gimme Shelter."

Rev 20 Redlights wrote on Oct 5^th, 2021 at 4:31pm:

darryl, miss you, wanna kiss you @5:45 (before the kiss, i think mick sings part of prince's "i wanna be your lover"and then mick re-enacts when prince lays a surprise kiss on wendy onstage in "purple rain") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Boiu-tvrDSM

______________________________



Great catch. I knew I saw it .. I told the people I was with and they missed it.

IB

Rev 20 Redlights wrote on Oct 5^th, 2021 at 4:55am:

Ian Billen wrote on Oct 5th, 2021 at 1:30am: Oh yeah .. one more thing ... I do believe I saw Mick Jagger size up.. and then unexpectedly kiss Daryl Jones .. and no .. I'm not kidding. yeah, its unplanned and it staggers darryl (at about 5:45 of this vid) https://www.facebook.com/jeff.anhang/videos/865327794372576 so yeah, even though it won't be announced for a while, darryl (and steve) are IN! Made Men. sorry, chuck, youre a great player and important to the stones but 1) piano players, like non-sicilians, don't get to be made men, and 2) like stu, simply would be wrong for the image

___________________________

Ikr. I was like to the folks around me ..'Mick just kissed Darryl Jones .. ha!' .. and nobody around me caught it.

It's why I was like .. I 'know' I saw it! Lol

Ian

Rev 20 Redlights wrote on Oct 5^th, 2021 at 4:31pm:

darryl, miss you, wanna kiss you @5:45 (before the kiss, i think mick sings part of prince's "i wanna be your lover"and then mick re-enacts when prince lays a surprise kiss on wendy onstage in "purple rain")

Good spot. It is indeed 'I Wanna Be Your Lover' and thats  exactly what he did.

So when I saw them in Philly in 2019, during the slow walk back on the catwalk during Midnight Rambler, Mick broke into a little Robert Johnson's Walking Blues.  Traded a moment with Keith.  I had not seen them do that before.  But now I notice they have played Come On in My Kitchen in St. Louis and Pittsburgh.  And Hellhound on My Tail in Charlotte. 

Gazza wrote on Oct 6^th, 2021 at 6:46am:

Rev 20 Redlights wrote on Oct 5th, 2021 at 4:31pm: darryl, miss you, wanna kiss you @5:45 (before the kiss, i think mick sings part of prince's "i wanna be your lover"and then mick re-enacts when prince lays a surprise kiss on wendy onstage in "purple rain") Good spot. It is indeed 'I Wanna Be Your Lover' and thats  exactly what he did.

What about proper Covid protocols?

Gazza wrote on Oct 6^th, 2021 at 6:46am:

Rev 20 Redlights wrote on Oct 5th, 2021 at 4:31pm: darryl, miss you, wanna kiss you @5:45 (before the kiss, i think mick sings part of prince's "i wanna be your lover"and then mick re-enacts when prince lays a surprise kiss on wendy onstage in "purple rain") Good spot. It is indeed 'I Wanna Be Your Lover' and thats  exactly what he did.

(thanks G) and slightly earlier @5:10 you can see mick enlist ronnie to play
some prince-ish scratch guitar, to set up the prank. dudes are having fun.

Mick Jagger: Thanks Pittsburgh for giving us a great time!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FA_wiIwUYAg9Dev.jpg

I approached the Stones’ appearance in Pittsburgh as an End of an Era.   For the first time in 47 years, I bought into the Stones’ evergreen sales pitch - the underlying murmur of “this could be The Last Time” which I’ve heard every tour since my first in 1975.   In ’75, they were all over 30, and they’d said they didn’t fancy playing “Satisfaction” at that advanced age; in ’78, it was because Keith was squeezing in a tour before his impending drug trafficking trial in Canada which might net him 20 years.  After ’81, they didn’t come back for eight years, and everyone assumed they were done. Instead they had nearly broken up, but were eventually lured back to the Road by unbelievable stacks of show biz cash.  They become a corporate entity of old men playing young men’s songs; every show from 1989 on strained the credulity of their ever topping what they had just pulled off. Their creative output diminished (after Tattoo You in my estimation) but they replaced it with a mind-blowing circus of the latest technology, each tour with a more elaborate stage than the last, the ever-larger video screens bringing a whole new element to the show. None of that would matter very much if  it wasn’t being used to share the most crucial music of my young life and the lives of millions of other fans. But it was. 
From my first show, in 1975 at age 17,  until yesterday, The Rolling Stones have provided the soundtrack of my timeline and the milestones of my life. Going to see them has been a rite of passage, never more so than the last 5 shows I attended with my son Michael.  But with the unexpected death of their drummer Charlie Watts, I thought back to numerous interviews over the years where Keith opined that Charlie WAS the Rolling Stones; I had always taken him at his word. Charlie DID seem irreplaceable, the literal heartbeat of the band. He didn’t play like anybody else. And he was universally loved - if you knew who he was, you loved him.  The initial plan, that Charlie was just sitting out this tour, made me excited to hear them with Steve Jordan, a drummer who’s worked with Keith for 30 years.   But then came the news of Charlie passing. I got blackout drunk with friends that night, and I immediately started looking at the upcoming show like going to a funeral. Charlie’s , and that of my youth. 
On the drive to Pittsburgh, the sky alternated between threatening clouds and blue sky, breaking out in showers twice.  In the highlands of northeastern PA the sky was evenly split between dark and light, the sun shining brightly while rain pelted the windshield. We looked in the rearview mirror and saw a vivid rainbow arching across the sky behind us. “Keith is waving his rainstick,” I said. Keith Richards has a walking stick he picked up somewhere in his travels which will ward off storms if waved with the proper juju.  I think he used it the last time I saw them in Pittsburgh.
We arrived at the stadium without much trouble, but entered through the wrong gate and wound up having to circumnavigate the entire structure via an endless series of ramps. I quickly grew exhausted but continued struggling forward, using my cane and holding onto railings when possible. The place was packed, the air was stale. I had on two t-shirts and I sweat through both of them. At a halfway point I took a rest, catching my breath. Then I bought us two bottles of water ($5.95 ea) and we pushed on.   The crowd oozed slowly up an escalator, and I stepped carefully to avoid having my dragging foot being caught in it.  Then we entered the darkened stadium where the Ghost Hounds were playing a competent set through a fraction of the PA system. We had to climb 30 rows up, and my right foot by that time was barely responding to my brain’s requests for upward motion. An usher shone a light from above me, and I could hear people murmuring “aw…” as I pulled myself up the railing, dragging my unresponsive foot up each step. At the landing I caught my breath for a moment, but I still had to stumble in to the middle of the row, causing 5 or 6 people to stand up to let me pass, before I could finally sit down, panting for air as I peeled my outer shirt off.
So far, this funeral was going pretty much the way I expected. These stadium shows are too much for me - unless it’s the Stones.  And this is probably the last one. Sigh.
As is often the case, these nightmarish struggles to remain ambulatory are rough, but I recover from them quickly.  Within a few minutes I felt fine.  The beauty of the evening and the open air of our second level seats revived me, and the gummies I’d eaten started to kick in.  The stadium seemed smaller than I remembered.  The lights flickered and went off, and the crowd roared in anticipation.  The four monolithic video screens each showed a melting rendition of the band’s tongue logo on a yellow backdrop.  Soon they were replaced by a lovely collage of pictures and video clips of the late Charlie Watts while a recording of him keeping a simple back beat played. It was a beautiful tribute.  A hot tear rolled down my left cheek.  On the screens Charlie hit a cymbal as an announcer said excitedly: “Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones!” A burst of fireworks distracted us as Keith Richards hit the opening chords to “Street Fighting Man”, and then it was on.  The entire stadium was on its feet.  The sound was loud and clear, and the band dashed through a strong version of “Let’s Spend the Night Together.”   Then Mick, Keith and Ronnie, arm in arm, came forward as Mick dedicated the show to Charlie.  While we cheered they resumed with “Tumbling Dice”, and continued, strength after strength, to play absolutely thrilling versions of what fanatics call “The Warhorses”, the songs they HAVE to play. And every one was like hearing it for the first time because of the personnel changes in the engine room.  “Miss you” in particular was absolutely transformed.  New songs often take the momentum out of a show, but their recent release “Living In a Ghost Town” and their cover of “Trouble’s A’Coming”  by the Chi-Lights were both well rehearsed and delightful additions to a setlist which I otherwise know by heart.
Keith’s set was strong and lucid, and “Slipping Away” was the finest performance I’ve ever seen him do.   All thoughts of any goddamn funerals had been kicked the hell out of my mind as  I was taking in this incredible performance.  The final run, from an absolutely magnificent “Midnight Rambler” (with a verse of “Come On In My Kitchen” thrown in), to a hypnotic, pounding “Paint It Black”, to an astonishing “Sympathy” to an absolutely feral “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, were all as good as it gets.   The encore, “Gimme Shelter” and “Satisfaction”, just underlined the amazing fact that the Greatest Rock & Roll Band in the World is still the Rolling Stones, and it’s really not open for debate.
It was after 11 when the show finally ended with a fireworks display and a smiling image of Charlie on the video screens.
“They’ll be back next year,” I said to Michael.  “It’s their 60th anniversary next year.”

Ian Billen wrote on Oct 5^th, 2021 at 7:56pm:

Rev 20 Redlights wrote on Oct 5th, 2021 at 4:55am: Ian Billen wrote on Oct 5th, 2021 at 1:30am: Oh yeah .. one more thing ... I do believe I saw Mick Jagger size up.. and then unexpectedly kiss Daryl Jones .. and no .. I'm not kidding. yeah, its unplanned and it staggers darryl (at about 5:45 of this vid) https://www.facebook.com/jeff.anhang/videos/865327794372576 so yeah, even though it won't be announced for a while, darryl (and steve) are IN! Made Men. sorry, chuck, youre a great player and important to the stones but 1) piano players, like non-sicilians, don't get to be made men, and 2) like stu, simply would be wrong for the image Billy Preston took moments like that better in 1975... ___________________________ Ikr. I was like to the folks around me ..'Mick just kissed Darryl Jones .. ha!' .. and nobody around me caught it. It's why I was like .. I 'know' I saw it! Lol Ian

Some Guy wrote on Oct 6^th, 2021 at 8:38am:

Gazza wrote on Oct 6th, 2021 at 6:46am: Rev 20 Redlights wrote on Oct 5th, 2021 at 4:31pm: darryl, miss you, wanna kiss you @5:45 (before the kiss, i think mick sings part of prince's "i wanna be your lover"and then mick re-enacts when prince lays a surprise kiss on wendy onstage in "purple rain") Good spot. It is indeed 'I Wanna Be Your Lover' and thats  exactly what he did. What about proper Covid protocols?

they are in the same bubble

FPM wrote on Oct 6^th, 2021 at 12:13pm:

From my first show, in 1975 at age 17,  until yesterday, The Rolling Stones have provided the soundtrack of my timeline and the milestones of my life

Love that part FPM... I'm on the same line

BTW... We're the same age, but the shows here in 1975 were cancelled, my first one was until 1981

Videos from shows like that made me score LA #2!

FPM wrote on Oct 6^th, 2021 at 12:13pm:

I approached the Stones’ appearance in Pittsburgh as an End of an Era.   For the first time in 47 years, I bought into the Stones’ evergreen sales pitch - the underlying murmur of “this could be The Last Time” which I’ve heard every tour since my first in 1975.   In ’75, they were all over 30, and they’d said they didn’t fancy playing “Satisfaction” at that advanced age; in ’78, it was because Keith was squeezing in a tour before his impending drug trafficking trial in Canada which might net him 20 years.  After ’81, they didn’t come back for eight years, and everyone assumed they were done. Instead they had nearly broken up, but were eventually lured back to the Road by unbelievable stacks of show biz cash.  They become a corporate entity of old men playing young men’s songs; every show from 1989 on strained the credulity of their ever topping what they had just pulled off. Their creative output diminished (after Tattoo You in my estimation) but they replaced it with a mind-blowing circus of the latest technology, each tour with a more elaborate stage than the last, the ever-larger video screens bringing a whole new element to the show. None of that would matter very much if  it wasn’t being used to share the most crucial music of my young life and the lives of millions of other fans. But it was.  From my first show, in 1975 at age 17,  until yesterday, The Rolling Stones have provided the soundtrack of my timeline and the milestones of my life. Going to see them has been a rite of passage, never more so than the last 5 shows I attended with my son Michael.  But with the unexpected death of their drummer Charlie Watts, I thought back to numerous interviews over the years where Keith opined that Charlie WAS the Rolling Stones; I had always taken him at his word. Charlie DID seem irreplaceable, the literal heartbeat of the band. He didn’t play like anybody else. And he was universally loved - if you knew who he was, you loved him.  The initial plan, that Charlie was just sitting out this tour, made me excited to hear them with Steve Jordan, a drummer who’s worked with Keith for 30 years.   But then came the news of Charlie passing. I got blackout drunk with friends that night, and I immediately started looking at the upcoming show like going to a funeral. Charlie’s , and that of my youth.  On the drive to Pittsburgh, the sky alternated between threatening clouds and blue sky, breaking out in showers twice.  In the highlands of northeastern PA the sky was evenly split between dark and light, the sun shining brightly while rain pelted the windshield. We looked in the rearview mirror and saw a vivid rainbow arching across the sky behind us. “Keith is waving his rainstick,” I said. Keith Richards has a walking stick he picked up somewhere in his travels which will ward off storms if waved with the proper juju.  I think he used it the last time I saw them in Pittsburgh. We arrived at the stadium without much trouble, but entered through the wrong gate and wound up having to circumnavigate the entire structure via an endless series of ramps. I quickly grew exhausted but continued struggling forward, using my cane and holding onto railings when possible. The place was packed, the air was stale. I had on two t-shirts and I sweat through both of them. At a halfway point I took a rest, catching my breath. Then I bought us two bottles of water ($5.95 ea) and we pushed on.   The crowd oozed slowly up an escalator, and I stepped carefully to avoid having my dragging foot being caught in it.  Then we entered the darkened stadium where the Ghost Hounds were playing a competent set through a fraction of the PA system. We had to climb 30 rows up, and my right foot by that time was barely responding to my brain’s requests for upward motion. An usher shone a light from above me, and I could hear people murmuring “aw…” as I pulled myself up the railing, dragging my unresponsive foot up each step. At the landing I caught my breath for a moment, but I still had to stumble in to the middle of the row, causing 5 or 6 people to stand up to let me pass, before I could finally sit down, panting for air as I peeled my outer shirt off. So far, this funeral was going pretty much the way I expected. These stadium shows are too much for me - unless it’s the Stones.  And this is probably the last one. Sigh. As is often the case, these nightmarish struggles to remain ambulatory are rough, but I recover from them quickly.  Within a few minutes I felt fine.  The beauty of the evening and the open air of our second level seats revived me, and the gummies I’d eaten started to kick in.  The stadium seemed smaller than I remembered.  The lights flickered and went off, and the crowd roared in anticipation.  The four monolithic video screens each showed a melting rendition of the band’s tongue logo on a yellow backdrop.  Soon they were replaced by a lovely collage of pictures and video clips of the late Charlie Watts while a recording of him keeping a simple back beat played. It was a beautiful tribute.  A hot tear rolled down my left cheek.  On the screens Charlie hit a cymbal as an announcer said excitedly: “Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones!” A burst of fireworks distracted us as Keith Richards hit the opening chords to “Street Fighting Man”, and then it was on.  The entire stadium was on its feet.  The sound was loud and clear, and the band dashed through a strong version of “Let’s Spend the Night Together.”   Then Mick, Keith and Ronnie, arm in arm, came forward as Mick dedicated the show to Charlie.  While we cheered they resumed with “Tumbling Dice”, and continued, strength after strength, to play absolutely thrilling versions of what fanatics call “The Warhorses”, the songs they HAVE to play. And every one was like hearing it for the first time because of the personnel changes in the engine room.  “Miss you” in particular was absolutely transformed.  New songs often take the momentum out of a show, but their recent release “Living In a Ghost Town” and their cover of “Trouble’s A’Coming”  by the Chi-Lights were both well rehearsed and delightful additions to a setlist which I otherwise know by heart. Keith’s set was strong and lucid, and “Slipping Away” was the finest performance I’ve ever seen him do.   All thoughts of any goddamn funerals had been kicked the hell out of my mind as  I was taking in this incredible performance.  The final run, from an absolutely magnificent “Midnight Rambler” (with a verse of “Come On In My Kitchen” thrown in), to a hypnotic, pounding “Paint It Black”, to an astonishing “Sympathy” to an absolutely feral “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, were all as good as it gets.   The encore, “Gimme Shelter” and “Satisfaction”, just underlined the amazing fact that the Greatest Rock & Roll Band in the World is still the Rolling Stones, and it’s really not open for debate. It was after 11 when the show finally ended with a fireworks display and a smiling image of Charlie on the video screens. “They’ll be back next year,” I said to Michael.  “It’s their 60th anniversary next year.”

Absolutely stunning review FPM. Your eloquent words have me wiping tears.
Thank you for sharing and I'm so happy you made it to the show.

Good heavens, FPM....what a beautiful and perfect review.


FPM wrote on Oct 6^th, 2021 at 12:13pm:

I approached the Stones’ appearance in Pittsburgh as an End of an Era.   For the first time in 47 years, I bought into the Stones’ evergreen sales pitch - the underlying murmur of “this could be The Last Time” which I’ve heard every tour since my first in 1975.   In ’75, they were all over 30, and they’d said they didn’t fancy playing “Satisfaction” at that advanced age; in ’78, it was because Keith was squeezing in a tour before his impending drug trafficking trial in Canada which might net him 20 years.  After ’81, they didn’t come back for eight years, and everyone assumed they were done. Instead they had nearly broken up, but were eventually lured back to the Road by unbelievable stacks of show biz cash.  They become a corporate entity of old men playing young men’s songs; every show from 1989 on strained the credulity of their ever topping what they had just pulled off. Their creative output diminished (after Tattoo You in my estimation) but they replaced it with a mind-blowing circus of the latest technology, each tour with a more elaborate stage than the last, the ever-larger video screens bringing a whole new element to the show. None of that would matter very much if  it wasn’t being used to share the most crucial music of my young life and the lives of millions of other fans. But it was.  From my first show, in 1975 at age 17,  until yesterday, The Rolling Stones have provided the soundtrack of my timeline and the milestones of my life. Going to see them has been a rite of passage, never more so than the last 5 shows I attended with my son Michael.  But with the unexpected death of their drummer Charlie Watts, I thought back to numerous interviews over the years where Keith opined that Charlie WAS the Rolling Stones; I had always taken him at his word. Charlie DID seem irreplaceable, the literal heartbeat of the band. He didn’t play like anybody else. And he was universally loved - if you knew who he was, you loved him.  The initial plan, that Charlie was just sitting out this tour, made me excited to hear them with Steve Jordan, a drummer who’s worked with Keith for 30 years.   But then came the news of Charlie passing. I got blackout drunk with friends that night, and I immediately started looking at the upcoming show like going to a funeral. Charlie’s , and that of my youth.  On the drive to Pittsburgh, the sky alternated between threatening clouds and blue sky, breaking out in showers twice.  In the highlands of northeastern PA the sky was evenly split between dark and light, the sun shining brightly while rain pelted the windshield. We looked in the rearview mirror and saw a vivid rainbow arching across the sky behind us. “Keith is waving his rainstick,” I said. Keith Richards has a walking stick he picked up somewhere in his travels which will ward off storms if waved with the proper juju.  I think he used it the last time I saw them in Pittsburgh. We arrived at the stadium without much trouble, but entered through the wrong gate and wound up having to circumnavigate the entire structure via an endless series of ramps. I quickly grew exhausted but continued struggling forward, using my cane and holding onto railings when possible. The place was packed, the air was stale. I had on two t-shirts and I sweat through both of them. At a halfway point I took a rest, catching my breath. Then I bought us two bottles of water ($5.95 ea) and we pushed on.   The crowd oozed slowly up an escalator, and I stepped carefully to avoid having my dragging foot being caught in it.  Then we entered the darkened stadium where the Ghost Hounds were playing a competent set through a fraction of the PA system. We had to climb 30 rows up, and my right foot by that time was barely responding to my brain’s requests for upward motion. An usher shone a light from above me, and I could hear people murmuring “aw…” as I pulled myself up the railing, dragging my unresponsive foot up each step. At the landing I caught my breath for a moment, but I still had to stumble in to the middle of the row, causing 5 or 6 people to stand up to let me pass, before I could finally sit down, panting for air as I peeled my outer shirt off. So far, this funeral was going pretty much the way I expected. These stadium shows are too much for me - unless it’s the Stones.  And this is probably the last one. Sigh. As is often the case, these nightmarish struggles to remain ambulatory are rough, but I recover from them quickly.  Within a few minutes I felt fine.  The beauty of the evening and the open air of our second level seats revived me, and the gummies I’d eaten started to kick in.  The stadium seemed smaller than I remembered.  The lights flickered and went off, and the crowd roared in anticipation.  The four monolithic video screens each showed a melting rendition of the band’s tongue logo on a yellow backdrop.  Soon they were replaced by a lovely collage of pictures and video clips of the late Charlie Watts while a recording of him keeping a simple back beat played. It was a beautiful tribute.  A hot tear rolled down my left cheek.  On the screens Charlie hit a cymbal as an announcer said excitedly: “Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones!” A burst of fireworks distracted us as Keith Richards hit the opening chords to “Street Fighting Man”, and then it was on.  The entire stadium was on its feet.  The sound was loud and clear, and the band dashed through a strong version of “Let’s Spend the Night Together.”   Then Mick, Keith and Ronnie, arm in arm, came forward as Mick dedicated the show to Charlie.  While we cheered they resumed with “Tumbling Dice”, and continued, strength after strength, to play absolutely thrilling versions of what fanatics call “The Warhorses”, the songs they HAVE to play. And every one was like hearing it for the first time because of the personnel changes in the engine room.  “Miss you” in particular was absolutely transformed.  New songs often take the momentum out of a show, but their recent release “Living In a Ghost Town” and their cover of “Trouble’s A’Coming”  by the Chi-Lights were both well rehearsed and delightful additions to a setlist which I otherwise know by heart. Keith’s set was strong and lucid, and “Slipping Away” was the finest performance I’ve ever seen him do.   All thoughts of any goddamn funerals had been kicked the hell out of my mind as  I was taking in this incredible performance.  The final run, from an absolutely magnificent “Midnight Rambler” (with a verse of “Come On In My Kitchen” thrown in), to a hypnotic, pounding “Paint It Black”, to an astonishing “Sympathy” to an absolutely feral “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, were all as good as it gets.   The encore, “Gimme Shelter” and “Satisfaction”, just underlined the amazing fact that the Greatest Rock & Roll Band in the World is still the Rolling Stones, and it’s really not open for debate. It was after 11 when the show finally ended with a fireworks display and a smiling image of Charlie on the video screens. “They’ll be back next year,” I said to Michael.  “It’s their 60th anniversary next year.”

Great review, mate. Stay well.

FPM, awesome review as you always have had through the decades.
Take care, wishing you well, and as always rock on forever.

Rick

Charlie Charlie Charlie!

Thanks everybody!  Let's all get together next year. 

Perks went to Pittsburgh thinking it was the last time I'd ever see them live. They were so great I have every expectation of seeing them again. Steve has given them a slight kick in the arse. Missing Charlie of course but he was honored very well. They just never cease to amaze me.