The Stones Are Here!

The date was September 27, 1981.

I paid $15 for the ticket and went to the show with my buddies John Cataldo, Tom Ryback and my brother John. I honestly can't believe that my mother let me go.

I was just sixteen years old!

But she was going to have a rough time keeping me away - I was that much of a Stones fan.

In fact, I almost felt like I was a member of the band!

(Thanks Chris).

George Thorogood opened the show and was great. Lonesome George was a revelation, actually. Who knew that he was such a great rocker. The crowd loved him...well, most of the crowd. There was a guy sleeping in the parking lot in a mud puddle - and that surprised a naive kid from a small town.

And I believe that John Cataldo was reading from a novel during George's performance.

Anywhoha...

Journey was next and Cataldo was the only guy who wanted to see them. Poor Journey got booed as the crowd pushed to the stage...waiting for Mick and Keith.

I recall a man trying to cross over the field on one of the wires - he made it. I also recall the stadium announcer begging people to back up away from the stage.

No one was listening.

So Mick came out.

He waved his hand and the crowd took an enormous step back.

And then they were there.

The opened with Under my Thumb and also did Let's Spend the Night Together within the first 3 songs. Then Just My Imagination with Keith's awesome guitar licks in the middle.

I remember we talked about the Stones being old - they were in their late-30's, but Mick never stopped moving. And he is so painfully skinny that it's almost funny. Keith had a cigarette either in his mouth or in the neck of his guitar. He traded riffs with Ronny Wood.

Awesome.

Time is On My Side, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Let it Bleed!, Tumbling Dice, Brown Sugar, Street Fighting Man, Miss You, Start Me Up, Honkey Tonk Woman, Jumpin' Jack Flash.

26 songs in all.

For $15.

The tickets are a lot more now, but as I drove around on Friday, listening to one Stones song after another I thought about that 16-year-old kid that was sitting there.

I thought the Stones were old then!

There's no way you could have convinced me that they would return to the stadium 34 years later.

As a 50-year-old man I'm a little nostalgic about the entire experience.

Mick and Keith and Charlie are going to be playing tomorrow night.

Will they still sound great?

I think so.

Will they still sing a few songs that make me think of love lost, love gained, love missed and love still to come?

I know so.

"Is it sponsored by AARP?" Someone asked me.

"That's way too much money," Someone else said.

I don't think so.

It's only rock and roll...

...but I like it.