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| Rolling Stones in Denver BayBEE! I think the dude on my right in The Beatles shirt and bermuda shorts is photobombing me |
My buddy, Oss is the world's greatest Rolling Stones fan. For twenty years after college, he tried to get me to see a Stones show. For one reason or another, I was too busy, too broke, too far away or too all of the above. In 2002, I had just moved back to the area and he called me This is what he said, word for word, "Gary, The Stones are going to be in Denver on February 2nd. I just bought you a ticket, you owe me a hundred dollars." *click*. Everybody needs a friend like Oss. I went to see The Stones the following February and the show was incredible. After the end of the show, I turned to him and said, "You will never have to convince me again." Since then, he and I have seen The Stones several times, The Who several times, Heart, Roger Waters B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Bob Seger and a bunch more together. Sometimes I have to travel to see the show and sometimes he does. It's been an awesome journey.
We had tickets to see The Stones around Memorial Day Weekend but for some reason the show was postponed. I think Mick had to have open heart surgery. That happens when you are an aging rockstar. The show was rescheduled for August, which actually worked out better for me because both The Hot Chick and I are off in August, so she could come with me. Instead of flying we were driving, and driving meant Roadtrip!
The first day, we just gutted it up and drove straight through to Denver. We didn't stop to see the sights, we just headed east and got there as quick as we could. Denver is about a ten hour drive from my home, give or take potty breaks and fill ups. We stayed the night at Oss' house and spent some good time in Denver with him during the day.
Model Railroad
His boss is a model railroad enthusiast and he allowed me to take some photos. When we got there, he was in the backyard showing the trains to neighbor kids or grandkids, I wasn't sure which. He wasn't only into model trains, he was also into bonsai gardening. His train rig ran through a bonsai garden. The whole setup took up the entirety of his backyard. I am pretty sure he was modeling in G-scale, which is the largest of the standard scales for railroad modeling. It was quite the setup.
I'll post the pics and then talk about The Stones.
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| Bonsai garden |
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| Steam locomotive coming out of the tunnel |
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| Model town |
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| This stuff filled the yard. It was a small yard, granted, but it was everywhere |
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| Pond |
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| Bonsai trees in scale for an old growth pine forest |
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| Depot |
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| Amtrak. My bucket list includes riding Amtrak on one of the great scenic railrides in the country. There are several |
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| Control station |
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| Amtrak |
The Stones BayBEE!
With everything that is going on, COVID, sheltering in place, murder hornets, attack goats, the days of big stadium shows might be over. I hope not, I have a ticket to see KISS in September, 2020. It was already postponed once.
We drove into Denver and parked away from the stadium. The show was played in Mile High Stadium, where the Broncos play. Oss knows things. He knows that if you try to park near the arena, you will be hours trying to get home after the show. So we parked a few miles away at a light rail station and rode the train right to the venue. When the show was over, we hopped the light rail back to the car park, got in the car and drove home. In and out. Slick.
I'm a theatre designer and technician, so I can't go into a show like that and not see the tech. The stage was at one end of the arena with a walkway to a smaller stage. This has become a standard set for The Rolling Stones. Behind the band, there were four LED towers that I estimated were 18' wide and 70' tall. It was quite an impressive rig. Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, a local band were the opening act. They played, and they did what an opening act is supposed to do, warmed up the audience a little, made the audience a little cantankerous, saying, "C'mon, where are The Stones?!" That being said, they weren't bad in fact they were very good, they just weren't The Stones.
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| The opening act |
When the opening act was done, the crowd started to get a little restless. It was about twenty minutes of down time between the opening act and the main event. We were in standing room only on the field, and we were situated between the two spotlight towers. Each spot tower had four follow spots. The people in the crowd around me were wondering when it was going to start. I looked at the spot rigs and saw that there were no follow spot operators harnessed in and I told them it wasn't ready to start yet. They wanted to know how I was an expert in those things, so I pointed out that the band couldn't take the stage until the follow spot operators were harnessed in, the sound guy was at his station, the LBO (Light Board Operator) was in place and the Stage Manager had the headset on.
Everybody around me then started watching the tech and started seeing the spot ops climb the rig and harness up. They genuinely seemed to enjoy knowing something they didn't know before. It gave them something to do.
When the technicians were all in place, I told the people that the concert would begin.......NOW. And it did. I like knowing things.
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| And so it begins |
The Stones hit the stage and we were off
Setlist
- Street Fighting Man
- This is the second show I have seen that The Stones started with this song. If this song doesn't get your motor running, you might need an overhaul
- Let's Spend the Night Together
- Tumbling Dice
- Like a Rolling Stone
- The Stones put a survey on their website where we were able to vote on a song that would be played at the concert we were attending. Oss Had always wanted to see them play Like a Rolling Stone, the Bob Dylan tune. The song won by a handful of votes and that is what they played. Almost religious.
In all their glory - You Can't Always Get What You Want
- When my kids were little, they would tell me what they wanted, and if it was within my power to grant it, I usually did. Sometimes what they wanted was unrealistic or unreasonable, I would sing (badly) "You cain't, always get, what you wawant. You cain't, always get, what you wawant, You cain't, always get, what you wawant. But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you neeeeeeeed, aaaaaah yaaaaah" They were never amused, but I was.
- Sweet Virginia (B-Stage Acoustic)
- Dead Flowers (B-Stage Acoustic
- This is the mini stage out in the middle of the arena. They usually do a small set like this which allows them to high five the audience as they walk along the catwalk. It also got them closer to us
- Sympathy For The Devil
- Satisfaction may be their most famous song, but Sympathy For The Devil may be their most important song. Might be their entry into the most essential songs of all time list. (And before you get scandalized, if you listen to the lyrics, it is NOT a pro-devil song, just the opposite)
- Honky Tonk Women
Great Show - Band Introductions
- Mick always introduces the band, but he does not introduce himself, nor does anyone else introduce him. I suppose if you are going to see The Rolling Stones, you know who Mick Jagger is.
- You Got The Silver (Keith)
- This song is really important to me. The Who is my favorite band. The Stones are Oss's favorite band. In 2005 we saw The Rolling Stones in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Stones went on to finish their tour in Asia. When the tour was done, the members of the band decided they were not ready to come off the road and they decided to add tour dates to places they had never played before. Places like Nampa, Idaho and Missoula, Montana. So far as we know, they had never set foot in Idaho or Montana before. Oss called me up and said, "Gary, we need to go, this is historic." I agreed and found some money for a ticket. A week and a half after I had thrown down the money, Oss called me up and said, "Gary, I don't know how to tell you this, but The Who announced Salt Lake City the night before The Stones in Nampa." I told him I didn't know what to do because I had already spent my budget on The Stones. We hung up, and the next day, Oss called me up and said, "Gary, you don't understand, God will never give you The Who and The Stones on back to back nights again. We NEED to do this!" I agreed. Everybody needs a friend like Oss. Over the years, I had purchased some investment silver. I paid about five bucks an ounce for it. The silver spot price at that time was fourteen bucks. I turned in a bunch of silver and paid for my whole trip. So when Keith came out to sing his two songs (to give Mick a vocal break,) He sang, You Got The Silver. And I was paid.
- Before They Make Me Run (Keith)
You Got The Silver - Miss You
- No matter what, when my youngest son goes to Walmart, Miss You by The Rolling Stones comes on the store radio. He calls it "the Walmart song."
- Midnight Rambler
- This is also one of The Stones' greatest anthems. And I can tell you it is awesome in concert
- Paint It Black
- Also one of the great anthems
- Start Me Up
- This song was my real introduction to The Rolling Stones. It was the first radio hit I heard from the album Tattoo You, and that was the first Rolling Stones album I ever bought. That doesn't mean I had never heard The Rolling Stones before, of course I had. That would be ridiculous to suggest. But it was this song that got me interested in the band as less of a radio band and more of I wanna buy all of their albums band.
- Jumpin' Jack Flash
- Brown Sugar
Ronnie Wood and his Gibson - Band Offstage
- Gimme Shelter
- My personal favorite Rolling Stones song. Studio, live, alternate recording, bootleg, however I hear it, it is my favorite of their songs. Every now and then a song from a band just resonates with a person. Sometimes you can articulate it other times you can't. Sometimes it's just a feeling you have when you listen to it. Gimme Shelter is that song for me.
- Satisfaction
They say P.T. Barnum was the Greatest Showman. Maybe in his day. Jagger owns every
stage he is on, every time.
I hope we can return to normal, I am not yet ready to live post-apocalyptically. I don't have my Road Warrior outfit yet.
August 2019: Epic Roadtrip Part II: Rocky Mountain National Park
August 2019: Epic Roadtrip Part III: Bighorn Medicine Wheel
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