No Filter 2019 At Gillette

It's weird how these things happen: the passage of time, the gradual lessening of expectations, the creep of reality.  But it happens to all of us that we somehow find that at some point we stopped expecting specific things we'd always desired.  It's sad when it's something that could still be achieved, but usually it's something like realizing that one will never be an astronaut.

And sometimes this happens without you really noticing it, just sliding away by small degrees from the "someday I will" through the "maybe I still can" to the "no way am I ever going to."  I for one had made up my mind and accepted at some point, probably way in the past now, that I was never going to see the Rolling Stones.

There are many reasons for this.  For one thing, all of us amateur actuaries thought they were going to kick the bucket at a young age.  And for another the price to go see them was always higher than what I would pay for a concert.  And there's the fact that since the 70s their shows had become ... well, shows rather than what a snob like me would consider a true music experience.  And I had decided that I'd never see a "concert" in a stadium (see prior post).  Without realizing it, in the back of my mind, I had become certain that seeing the Rolling Stones would never happen to me.

But they've always been genuinely one of the few best rock and roll bands in the world; their authenticity can't be questioned, though it might be covered with glitz.  Their most recent record is old blues covers, Jagger is finally showing signs of being human (having recently had heart surgery), and I'd just been to that excellent Dead & Company concert at Gillette Stadium, making me think that maybe another band could fill it with great sound.  I was ripe for my negative expectation to be exposed as false.

When I heard that there were still seats available at original price (not the inflated prices charged by re-sellers) for the Stones stop in Foxborough on their No Filter tour, I looked into it out of curiosity at least.  Because of Jagger's sudden medical difficulties their tour had been postponed and then the Foxborough stop was suddenly rescheduled for July 7th, probably an inconvenient time for a lot of people who had already made Summer plans.  The tickets on the field ($450) and in the first bowl ($350) were still ridiculously expensive, but there were a few at original price ($160) up in the third bowl, and we had no plans for that weekend.

I said to Sarah that if we were ever going to see the Rolling Stones then we were being handed the opportunity, like Satan tempting us to deal away our souls.  And she agreed that we just had to grab the chance.  David was seeing Phish at Fenway that Friday and Saturday and so opted out of the Stones in Gillette on Sunday, a tough decision he may regret many times.  But I went ahead and bought two tickets, sending myself into a state of shock!

We were suddenly going to see the Rolling Stones and I for one got very excited, like suddenly being told you were an astronaut.  I have to mention a few more details, since it was another beautiful early-Summer day and a great pre-concert experience.

• We decided to get there early again because we did not want to get stressed out sitting in a line of traffic, and they let us into lot P2 (near the Stadium, not across the highway), where we set up our chairs, had a beer and a sandwich, and talked with some nice Deadhead neighbors.
• There were many Dead t-shirts there (though way outnumbered by Stones shirts of course), including my own Dead/Bruins black shirt.  I was hoping for Paint It Black and dressed accordingly.  And I saw another guy wearing the same shirt!
• I realized I could go over to the ticket window early and there was no line at the Will Call window.  So I picked up my tickets even more easily than I had for DeadCo.
• AND ... then the band started up!  They were doing soundcheck and they suddenly were playing Bitch in the beautiful Massachusetts sky.  I and everybody else there (there were already a lot of people waiting for the gates to open) were very happy about this.  I could have stuck around for more soundcheck but went back to the lot for another beer and sandwich.
• We timed it very well, packing up our chairs and stuff and then making our way in past security after some delay.  A woman in front of us was trying to bring in a full-size purse.  What an idiot.
• After we got in it was a LONG walk up and up and up the ramps to the third bowl, don't think I've ever been that high up in Gillette before.  But they had great restrooms near our seats and a craft beer place with a lot of choices and no line.
• We were in the middle of the third row in section 308, about on the visiting team's 45 yard line.  The sight lines from there were excellent.  The stage was about on the home team's 35 and a pier extended out into the crowd to a smaller stage at about the 50.

And very soon after we got to our seats with beer and a mixed drink, Gary Clark Jr. came on as the opener.  He played a fantastic set of funk blues-rock, showing his great guitar style.  We'd seen him in videos with Phil & Friends and with a few other bands, and in the flesh as bandleader himself he was excellent.  There was an echo for us in the third bowl (and maybe lower in the Stadium) for his first few tunes, but they soon got it straightened out and I was pretty impressed by how good the sound was, including the sight lines as I say.  We were up on top and though we were pretty far away, we could see everything on stage clearly.

The Stones stage set had 5 huge (reported as "6 story") video screens, which were not totally fired up for Clark's set, but promised even more visuals.  But we didn't need them.  We could see everyone on stage fine, especially when the Stones set up on the small stage at the 50.

OK, maybe I'm wasting time here.  I really don't know how to describe the thrill of the Stones coming out and opening with Street Fighting Man and then ripping through a setlist to die for.  I could criticize a few things like Jagger's voice not being as dynamic as I'd hoped (they seemed to be mixing him in a tight range, maybe making sure the best parts of his voice were accentuated), Richards not shining on his two vocals, and a few slow spots where they lost their head of steam.  But that's more than enough criticism, this concert/show/whatever it was would have had me in tears if I'd been fool enough to cry.

Well, let me start with the setlist.  They only did one set but there was a slight break when they moved out to the small stage to do Play With Fire and Dead Flowers with just the core four on acoustic guitars and a small kit:

Street Fighting Man
It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)
Tumbling Dice
She's So Cold
Ride 'Em on Down (with Gary Clark Jr.)
2120 South Michigan Avenue
Play With Fire
Dead Flowers
Sympathy for the Devil
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Honky Tonk Women
Slipping Away
Before They Make Me Run
Miss You
Paint It Black
Midnight Rambler
Start Me Up
Jumpin' Jack Flash
Brown Sugar

Encore:
Gimme Shelter
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

They were changing instruments with almost every song and Jagger played guitar on several tunes, including a great rhythm on Dead Flowers; he also played some great harp, which was delightful.  This was enthralling!  The incredible moments just poured out from them to everyone in the crowd.  Say what you will about Jagger strutting, but he was all over that set, singing to everyone in the audience.  They did the tunes but did not hesitate to crank out measure after measure of the finest blues-rock ever between the buttons (er, verses).

She's So Cold was their crowd choice (they've been having the crowd vote on a song for them to play with every show on this tour) and that's still echoing in my mind.  Ronnie Wood was incredibly versatile, playing an electric sitar on Paint It Black; I was in heaven.  And Richards and Watts were like, Richards and Watts ... but they were right there in front of me.  People have been asking me, "How was the concert?" and I have to say, "It was just like watching the Rolling Stones."  I was there!

And their band was excellent, besides the core four it was: Darryl Jones on electric bass, Chuck Leavell on keyboards, Sasha Allen on vocals (she belted out Gimme Shelter like she was born to do it), Karl Denson and Tim Ries on saxophones, Matt Clifford on another keyboard and also French horn, and Bernard Fowler on congas and some excellent backup vocals.  As I say, they had their sound down, it was mixed amazingly well.  And a significant part of it was the support of Jagger's vocals on the low end by Fowler.

I was beginning to wish that they had taken a set break and thinking that maybe I could sneak out for a quick trip to the concourse between songs.  But as I say the tunes just kept coming and I decided that I was not going to miss a second, though the bathroom was a welcome relief when it was over.

They had a rack of clothes on stage for some reason, maybe so Jagger could change in full sight??  But instead he strutted off a couple of times and came back on with a different outfit, which he proceeded to rip off in his exuberance to bare his ubiquitous black t-shirt.  He had started with almost a Bruins jersey, a black and gold jacket-thing.  During one of his wardrobe changes Richards did his two songs, his own Slipping Away and then Before They Make Me Run, which were not up to par.

But then Jagger came back on and the night just went up and up and up from there.  I mean, look at that setlist!  Of many details I could mention, the most perfect touch for me was when they dragged out the bluesy ending to Midnight Rambler and Jagger was all over the stage, moaning, and then they brought it to a climax and he oozed out, "I'll stick my knife right down your throat," just like they did on Ya-Yas and just like my image of the bad boy Stones.

Oh well, what more can I say?  Gimme Shelter with Sasha Allen was as world-stopping as you might imagine.  And then they capped it off with Satisfaction, the first and last rock and roll song.

I was just so delighted I can't tell you.  Probably ended around 11:30 or so, I have no idea.  It took a long time to hit the restrooms and walk back and forth down the endless ramps with a full stadium of people of all ages, and make it back to the car.  We got out the chairs and sat there for another 45 minutes or so talking to our neighbors and chilling out (really, it had gotten a little breezy and I had my windbreaker on).  Finally the cars started moving and we joined the line, Sarah driving.

Still, it was a long slow (Harlem) shuffle out of the lot and up route 1 to 95, where the traffic didn't really let up.  Finally made it up to 128 and the long drive around to Woburn.  Had to feed the kitties when we got home and didn't get to bed until 2, but OMG, this was an amazing experience.