"Hey, what's the matter, man?
We're gonna come around at twelve
With some Puerto Rican girls that's been just dyin' to meet you
We're gonna bring a case of wine
Hey, let's go mess and fool around
You know, like we used to"
I started to write an entry about the first "big" concert I'd been too since Covid (Wilco/Sleater Kinney last week in Richmond) but I couldn't get a cohesive post together. I'll get back to that one shortly but for obvious reasons it seemed like a good time to write about the Stones after the passing of Charlie Watts.
When my wife and I first starting dating we had lists of bands or artists that we wanted to see before..well you know, they weren't around anymore. She had Paul McCartney and Paul Simon. My list was Black Sabbath and The Rolling Stones. Happy to report that in the past decade plus we've been able to cross off all these names. Caught McCartney in San Francisco, Paul Simon in Atlanta, Black Sabbath in DC and The Rolling Stones in Kansas City.
The Stones show was labeled the Zip Code Tour of 2015. This was a big year in our household as we were getting ready to move from Charleston, SC to Richmond, VA. Having a house on the market and getting ready to change our lives was a bit stressful at times. When the Stones tour was announced we went through the schedule and tried to find a Saturday night date and a city we hadn't been too. I think it was between Nashville and Kansas City. Tickets and hotels were cheaper in KC so let's goooooo! It was a perfect time to skip town and forgot about new jobs, packing, leaving friends and family, etc.
We had a chill Friday in the city, visiting the nearby Power and Light district and grabbing dinner at a German Restaurant. Saturday we hopped over to the Westport neighborhood to check out the funky shops and restaurants. Loved going into the Mills Record Company where the owner welcomed me back (I've never been to Kansan City, always wild when that happens. Suppose we all have a doppleganger or two out there?) was able to snag two of my musical heroes in the used bin section (see below picture) Also enjoyed a couple pints at the KC Bier Co.
After running around it was time to head back to our hotel. (A beautiful 1920's building taken over by Hilton -Hilton President Downtown Kansas City) We grabbed a couple cocktails at the speakeasy-ish bar where apparently Frank Sinatra used to hang while in town. At the bar we met a couple from Nebraska who were also in town for the show. After chatting for a bit we found out they had a driver taking them out to Arrowhead and said they had room if we wanted a free ride. Why not? Unfortunately a ride home wasn't part of the deal so we ended up waiting over an hour for a Uber at the Denny's across the street from Arrowhead Stadium..and yes I had mozzarella sticks)After we made it to the stadium we bought the couple a round of drinks as a thank you and headed down to our seats. I figured this may be my first and only Stones show so we went all out and made our way to our floor seats. I was so excited I even bought the token $10,000 dollar concert t-shirt. Ed Sheeran opened the show and then the lights came up and the riff to Start Me Up came out of Keith's amp. The band sounded amazing and Mick strutted and danced his way around the stage for over two hours. He even had a few costume changes wearing a red sequined jacket during Sympathy For the Devil and a vest with bedazzled horses for, you guessed it, Wild Horses. So glad we got to go when we did and see the full band in action.
Hard to pick a song for today's post but I'm going with the opening track off the Some Girls album. Love the sound of this record with it's disco/punk/new wave/country songs. Mick said his writing was influenced from living in New York at the time and this album has that 70's New York sleaze all over it. Another reason for this tune is that I was at a cousin's wedding when this song came on and one of my uncle's starting shimmying a la Mick, repeated the line typed above and then disappeared (I guess to hit the dance floor?) my wife and I still smile about that moment and picture it every time we hear this tune. RIP Charlie. Cheers.
