Concert Review: Rolling Stones at CenturyLink Field

Image result for rolling stones logo
I do not go on many concerts very often, but when I do, I always have high expectations.

Last night, I had the pleasure and honor of seeing The Rolling Stones as part of their No Filter tour. The Stones announced a rescheduling of their North American tour dates that were originally cancelled. In this post, I elaborate on some of the key takeaways.

The View:

 Folks, this has got to be perhaps THE most important part of attending concerts. Despite buying tickets late, I had the advantage of a rather bird's eye view. Even so, the band on stage looked more like ground forces as seen from a helicopter.

The picture below shows the stage before the show, as you can see, it is rather narrow.

Now here is a picture of the full stage with the band playing.



The Sound:

 Another important concept of a concert venue is its overall sound. Being an outdoor show at at sports stadiumm, the audio was rather good. You can always expect a slight distortion during the guitar solos and the song commentary can be hard to understand sometimes. Being halfway up the stand, the sound was "as good as it could be."

Opening Act and Timing:

 Timing of a concert is very tricky. Usually when an early time is stated (such as between 6 and 8PM), you can expect an opening act. Sometimes, the opening act may be local, but otherwise it is very likely that the band will be unsigned and lifting off. For me, that was Lukas Nelson & The Promise of The Real, a country rock band based in Los Angeles. They had been around off and on for the last ten years, but only two years ago became serious about recording. They worked with Neil Young in 2015 on two albums.

What I've usually noticed is the opening act tends to be sub-par. While they did make some iconic rock, I was not into them very much.

Now the wait, the waiting is the hardest part. After Lukas Nelson and Promise of The Real left the stage, there was an hour long gap before the Stones came out to play. It is very likely during this time that you will hear growing excitement but don't ever let that fool you. The show don't begin until the lights start going out.

The Show Itself:

 The show began with a slightly cinematic video showing the four primary members. Then the band played Street Fighting Man. The set list continued with You Got me Rockin', Tumbling Dice, by request Beast of Burden, and so on. Halfway through the show, Keith Richards took lead vocals for You Got The Silver and Before They Make me Run.

The show continued with a lengthy performance of Miss You having an awesome bass solo, with the last songs of the main set being Paint it Black, Start me Up, and Brown Sugar. The band played Gimme Shelter and Satisfaction for their encore before a dazzling display of fireworks lit up the sky.

The lighting was extraordinary! I particularly liked how the lights flashed in sync with the chorus such as the "hey hey" during You Got me Rockin,' or the "yeah, yeah, yeah, wooh!" during Brown Sugar.

Overall:
The show was very well planned. Mick Jagger's unstoppable energy. For a 76-year old it was quite impressive not to have to take a break. My only gripe, they should have done It's Only Rock'n'Roll and Angie.

The Setlist 

 Lukas Nelson & The Promise of The Real (Pre Show):
Give me Something Real
Die Alone
Bad Case
Turn off The News (Build a Garden)
Rebel
Just Breathe
(Forget About) Georgia
Find Yourself

 The Stones Themselves:
Street Fighting Man
You Got me Rockin'
Tumbling Dice
Beast of Burden
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Sweet Virginia
Dead Flowers
Sympathy for The Devil (aka "Woot-woot")
Honky Tonk  Women/Band Intro
You Got The Silver
Before They Make me Run
Miss You
Midnight Rambler
Paint it Black
Start me Up
Jumpin' Jack Flash
Brown Sugar
Gimme Shelter (Encore)
Satisfaction (Encore)

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