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Topic: Hershey Park Stadium, Hershey, PA, Rocktober 1st, 2005 Setlist ,Photos & Reviews Return to archive Page: 1 2 3 4
October 3rd, 2005 09:57 PM
Maxmeister
quote:
Candace Youngblood wrote:
everybody say OW!!!

Oh Yeah!!!

My first Stone's show was very memorable. Thanks for a great weekend.
So nice meeting you guys...Marko, Maxmeister hope you had a good time at our house. You are welcome back any time!

Throbby & Luxury nice meeting you two and Great Pictures, btw!

SS - you rock. Thanks for making yummy lasagna.

And FPM, thank you for being the sweetest, most wonderful boyfriend in the world.



It was a pleasure meeting you. Thank you and FPM for your hospitality. If you ever get lost and end up down my way I would love to return the favor.

It was great to say hello to Luxy again and meet Throbby for the first time. Hopefully I can do a full pre party in NYC this January.

SS, FPM and that fucking mad, crazy bastard Marko, thanks for the great time. It won't be the last, some day it will happen again.

Rick







October 3rd, 2005 10:31 PM
FPM C10 Hershey was my 20th Stones show. I wanted it to be a great one for a number of reasons – it was my son’s first Stones concert; it was also my true love Miss Youngblood’s first; two of my C10 brothers, Maxmeister from Houston and Marko from Finland, were in town; and also for purely selfish reasons. I wanted it to be great, period.

It WAS.

Things started for me 24 hours before the show. Candace and I had taken personal days off work to prepare for our esteemed guests. I had just hung a sign in the window that said “RS VIP -->” (from the NS tour) when Maxmeister pulled up in front of my house with “Monkey Man” blaring from his rental car. We went into the house and I caught up with my C10 brother on his experiences during Hurricane Rita. Spared from total disaster, he had nonetheless been through a hell of a week. It was great to see him again – we met in Cleveland in August ’01, and had last seen each other in NYC in September ’02. We talked as Miss Youngblood started getting the food ready for dinner. SS had prepared a pan of lasagna and some Portobello mushrooms ahead of time, and Candace had whipped up two different kinds of hummus and some stuffed green peppers. Her step-mother (another Stones fanatic) whipped up some spinach dip. Maxmeister had brought along some truly excellent Texas salsa and habanero chips – a beggar’s banquet was soon laid out, with lots of cold Yuengling lager and Guinness to wash it all down. All we needed was one crazy Finnish bastard. Marko soon arrived, escorted by SS, and the party got under way. Marko was a little bleary from 30+ hours without sleep, but ready for a beer. Some of my friends arrived, anxious to meet 2 of the legendary C10, and we all ate and talked and drank and listened to tunes. My son Michael was thrilled to meet someone from Finland, and couldn’t wait to show me the 2 Euro coin Marko gave him.

After the kids were safely tucked into bed, we retired to the basement, and soon the air was thick with smoke and talk of politics. Then back to the living room to watch the DVD of Hampton ’81. Finally in the wee hours we turned in.

Marko is an early riser, and when Candace and I awoke he was already up. We sat down to a big breakfast, drank a pot of coffee and talked more. Marko showed me his new mini-disk recorder – as a test he recorded an interview with my cat Skip, and played back the sound of purring. After noon Maxmeister showed up (he had declined an invitation to breakfast), and then SS arrived with his son, who at age 9 was psyched for his second Stones show. He was decked out in black jeans, cowboy boots and a Steel Wheels t-shirt, while I gave my son my VL skeleton shirt to wear. The two boys were anxious to leave, but no more so than the adults. I ran to the beer distributor to get a case of lager for after the show, and then we hit the road.

It was an absolutely PERFECT day. Blue skies, puffy clouds – autumn in PA can be quite lovely. The trip to Hershey took a little over an hour. Once there we parked in a field that had temporarily become a Stones village – we walked through the rows of cars and vans and as we moved the sounds of dozens of different Stones songs blended into a gigantic unruly medley. We sought shelter from the bright sun in the shadow of a van, and met up with Miss Youngblood’s folks and Throbby & Luxy.

Wonderful to meet two more of the worldwide Stones family! As many of you already know, they don’t come any nicer (or more attractive) than these two, but having met Throbby, I gotta say that he DOESN’T look like Mick Jagger, he looks like a really handsome version of Roger Waters.

Nearby a large group who had chartered a bus danced, drank, and had a Stones karaoke contest, which was very amusing. Everybody over there looked wasted. I figured a good many of them would be passed out before the Stones even took the stage. Rookies!

There were cops EVERYWHERE in our little Stones village – on horseback, on foot, on bikes, and circling the area in helicopters. Every so often they would nab somebody who smoked the wrong brand of cigarettes and cart them off in handcuffs.
“Why are they arresting those people?” asked SS’s boy. “Well, because they had pot in their car, probably.” “Oh…we don’t have any pot in OUR car, do we, Dad?”

After awhile the karaoke machine switched to Pat Benatar, and we knew it was time to head into the venue. We joined the stream of humanity funneling into Hershey Stadium, a concrete monstrosity which I have always hated. It’s generally a lousy place to see a concert. We found our seats, in the back center section of the floor – we were a MILE away from the stage, but I’d specifically purchased floor seats because I knew we could at least see them up close on the B-Stage.

To be assured of that, Candace, Michael and I walked to where the B-stage would end up. There was a four-foot high metal fence running across the middle of the stadium, separating the $179 seats from the $350 seats, and the B-stage was on the other side of it. I walked up to a security guy and asked him what the plan was. “When they’re here, you will be allowed up to the b-stage,” he said. “We’re taking this fence down. You WILL be asked to return to your seats after they play three songs.”

Cool! Reassured that my loved ones would get to see my heroes from close quarters, we returned to our seats. After awhile there was a big surge in the sound coming from the P.A. – it took me a little while to realize it was Beck playing “Loser”. I really like Beck, and he and his band performed a really nice set, but seeing someone open for the Stones is the worst way to see them. Beck did bits and pieces of songs – he only did half of “Loser”, part of “Devil’s Haircut”, and one really interesting medley started with two verses of “No Expectations” and went through three other songs. Then Michael and I went out to buy him a t-shirt. A guy in line said “NICE shirt!” to him about his VL skeleton shirt, and said that HE used to have one but his wife threw it away. “When was the divorce final?” I asked jokingly. “Oh, I didn’t divorce her, but I had a choice of bringing her or my brother here tonight,” he said. He gestured to the guy next to him. “This is my brother.”

Back inside we chatted to a greybeard in front of me, who overheard the story about Michael’s shirt and introduced himself. “How many times ya seen ‘em?” he asked Michael. “This is my first,” he answered. I piped in “It’s my TWENTY-first.” (If you count the New Barbarians, which I usually do.) Greybeard said “It’s my FORTY-first.” I asked him when the first show he saw was, and he said “1976.” I said “You saw them in Europe?” “Nope, Buffalo.” Man, I HATE it when people get the dates of Stones tours wrong!

We were just coming back from the porta-potty when the lights went down and the stage exploded with “Start Me Up”. I don’t care how many times you see them, when they come out on stage it’s extremely EXCITING. The night before I had been sniffing about SMU being my least favorite warhorse, and that I wished they would just play a little bit of it and then go into something else. Now I was eating my words. It was GREAT and I loved every second of it. We couldn’t see much of the actual stage from our seats, but the screen was crystal clear and the sound was the best I’ve ever heard anywhere. IORR followed and was the best version I’ve ever heard them do – it seemed to me that Darryl was playing differently in a lot of songs and it held stuff together for Keith and Woody to riff on top of. Keith was wicked, slashing Chuck Berry riffs to ribbons. "She’s So Cold” was amazing, punky, fun – everyone all the way back to the back of the stadium was dancing throughout the show, and the excitement was palpable.

Mick came in a little late on TD and had to rush his words to get caught up, but that’s stuff only geeks like us would notice – otherwise the song was amazing and beautiful. Then Mick said “We like to mix it up a bit, play old stuff and new stuff,” before going into a version of “Rough Justice" that sounded exactly like the record – excellent. I got up on my tiptoes and saw that Mick was putting that cheapo guitar on, so I knew they were doing BOMH. My excitement level hadn’t stopped climbing and getting to hear that was one thing I’d hoped for. I thought it was a little bit off, for some reason, and not a great choice for a stadium, but I still loved it (more on that later). As soon as it was done, they started riffing, and when I heard Mick’s harp I knew it was Midnight Rambler. I was on the verge of exploding. This show was INCREDIBLE! Every song they’d played so far was the best version I’d ever heard, and the sound was perfect, loud, bracing.

They got momentarily lost a few times in “Rambler” but it didn’t detract from the song at all. They were hammering away at it, Keith playing leads throughout it, Darryl’s bass stomping it and kicking it, Mick wailing on harp. Holy mother of GAWD, does anything get any better than this? Mick led the audience in a great call-and-answer… “Everybody say OWWWW!!!!” The crowd was really fired up.

There was a slight stumble in the beginning of “All Down The Line”, but then it locked into, again, the best version of the song I’d ever heard them play. Woody NAILED the slide part, the horns were exactly where they needed to be and nowhere else, Keith driving the song like a demented engineer on a hellbound train.

“Night Time” took everything to a different level – a showcase to pay tribute to Brother Ray and to utilize all the musicians on the stage. Keith and Woody sat side by side on the drum riser getting every lick exactly right, and when Lisa started wailing “Baybayyy!!” she brought the house down. The horns danced, riding on Charlie’s impeccable sense of swing, and Mick howled the last verse, slipping into a falsetto. After ending it, they swung back into a reprise, keeping the audience shimmying and cheering.

Mick introduced the band without much embellishment, just Charlie “Slasher” Watts. Keith’s set was a chance for a breather. “The Worst” was gorgeous, Woody’s pedal steel chiming in the upper registers while Keith and Bernard shared a mike. “Infamy” was the low point of the show for me, but it wasn’t TOO low. It’s just not much of a song, and Keith was soloing in a strange key throughout it. Odd.

As “Miss You” started we left our seats to head for the B-stage. The fence was still there and security kept telling us to keep moving, so we shuttled back and forth as the B-stage got closer and closer, a surreal sight – a barge floating across the audience toward us, three strats intertwining, the song being played better than on any other tour in memory – I saw the same security guy I’d talked to earlier and said “YOU told us we could come up here!” He looked at me like I was crazy and said “You’re ON something! Go back to your seat!” But actually, for the first time ever, I was on NOTHING – not a drop of anything before or during the show – and I was still buzzed!

By that time hundreds of other people had left their seats and come forward, and all semblance of rows and seats had disappeared. We stayed at the 50-yard line fence for the rest of the show. On the B-stage ONNYA was a romp, GOMC was played very much as if Brian Jones was still alive, and HTW started the ship moving back toward the main stage.

The rest of the show was amazing – their energy and intensity level kept going up and up and up, through Sympathy to Paint It Black. Woody played his electric sitar (does Mick Taylor play one of those? I didn’t think so). Brown Sugar was GREAT – the millionth time I’ve heard it and I loved it. Bobby Keys walked forward to blow his immortal solo, and the audience couldn’t wait to go “WHOOOO!”

JJF was a blur – I don’t even know what it sounded like but I’m pretty sure it was great. The encore jacked things up even MORE, with Woody delivering his best solo of the night in a tremendous reading of YCAGWYW. Satisfaction was just insane, this perfect rock & roll song played with such abandon. Far from looking exhausted, Charlie could be seen laughing and smiling as he pounded the drums, and everyone was in motion. The tempo built and built, ending up in an absolute rampage as Mick sprinted the entire width of the stage before ending the song. It was stunning. It was just as good as I’ve ever seen them play. It would have been an amazing show if they’d been in their 30s. The fact that they’re twice that makes it veer over into the supernatural – their contract with Old Ned must be a really amazing document,

As they took their last bow I got really choked up, but I absolutely could not believe this band is anywhere near the end of the line. They are as good as they ever were, which is mighty fucking good. To be truthful, Keith is not quite as much of a driving force as he once was, but he is still Keith, and no slouch. Woody was very very good. Charlie and Mick, however, are gods. There is just no other explanation for their performances.

We shuffled out, pausing to watch the fireworks over our shoulders.

Getting out of the parking lot took hours. We listened to the radio - every station playing Stones. If some other band played, I would think "WHY do any other bands even TRY? Haven't they seen the Stones? Don't they know that no matter what they do they'll never be as good as what we just saw?

When we got home, Maxmeister, Marko and SS came over and we started drinking. After jabbering at each other excitedly we decided it might have been the best show any of us had ever seen. We couldn’t plug Marko’s mini-disk into my MAC so we passed it around like an opium pipe, listening to a few minutes of aural bliss before passing it along – I heard the first verse of BOMH and realized they had played an AMAZING version of it. The recording picked up the sound better than my ears had. Wait’ll you hear it!

We stayed up until 4, watching Paris Au Abattoirs and not wanting the buzz to end. The next day was beautiful too, and we took it easy. The boys went to watch a football game. That evening we watched The C10 movie on a 62” TV before parting company.

The weekend was so complex, so remarkable – there were so many different layers to the experience. My son’s first show. Miss Youngblood’s first show. My C10 Brothers reuniting. The Stones playing as close to my backyard as they’ll ever get and throwing down an absolutely jawdropping performance. A really great setlist full of personal favorites.

Ahhhh… this is what it’s all about, babies!

[Edited by FPM C10]
October 4th, 2005 10:35 AM
telecaster Nice review

I agree about SMU

It really gets the place going and lets face it, 90% plus of the people there want to hear it

Sounds like a great time had by all
October 4th, 2005 11:43 AM
Joey " After awhile the karaoke machine switched to Pat Benatar, and we knew it was time to head into the venue "


Priceless .
October 4th, 2005 12:17 PM
parmeda Great recap, Flea...

You, and a select few, have this "reviewing" down to a science.

October 4th, 2005 02:56 PM
Mr Jimmy Thanks FPM. I love reading reviews from true fans. It's only been a week since I've seen them and I'm suffering withdrawals. Sounds like you had a memorable time.
October 4th, 2005 03:16 PM
FPM C10 When the show was done I tried to put things in perspective. I ALWAYS walk out of Stones shows saying "THAT was the GREATEST show EVER" so I tried not to leap to that conclusion...then when we all got together at my house again, I looked at the crazed look in Maxmeister's eyes, and agreed with him that it very well MIGHT have been the best. But then when MARKO said it - that guy has a recording of nearly every show they've ever played - and he wasn't even hesitating.

Best. Stones. EVER.

And it would be amazing if they were 30, as I said, but they're in their freaking SIXTIES. It just boggles the mind and baffles science!

Now my buddy Fet was at MSG, Pittsburgh and Hershey, and HE says Pittsburgh was the best of the three.

But THEY didn't get Midnight Rambler.
October 4th, 2005 03:50 PM
Lavendar I'm Glad to read I am not Alone On "SENSORY OVERLOAD" AWE WOW
October 4th, 2005 04:38 PM
Joey
quote:
Lavendar wrote:
I'm Glad to read I am not Alone On "SENSORY OVERLOAD" AWE WOW



After reading flea's review :

I'm so excited that I am typing this with my penis .
October 4th, 2005 10:08 PM
Maxmeister
quote:
Joey wrote:
" After awhile the karaoke machine switched to Pat Benatar, and we knew it was time to head into the venue "


Priceless .




Some of the Stones karaoke was way out there, but the Benetar thing was downright bizarre and histerical.

Rick
October 5th, 2005 05:35 PM
Joey
quote:
Maxmeister wrote:



Some of the Stones karaoke was way out there, but the Benetar thing was downright bizarre and histerical.

Rick



Hello Rick ...........................................

From what Fleabit and the SS wrote , it sounds like you guys had a BLAST out there in Hershey . Damns , I should have been there partying with everyone ..........................

J. Fly !
October 5th, 2005 06:24 PM
FPM C10 I wish you could've been, my brother. Every time you made me sniggle while watching the C10 Movie - "I learned that in the NAM" - I wished that ALL of my C10 brothers were there.

October 5th, 2005 06:39 PM
BILL PERKS I SAID I WOULD GET A BEER DURING SMU-BUT OF COURSE I WAS ALL EXCITED LIKE I'VE NEVER HEARD IT LIVE BEFORE...IT WAS A TREMENDOUS EXPERIENCE..SOUND,SETLIST,VISUALS.
October 5th, 2005 06:53 PM
throbby
October 5th, 2005 06:53 PM
Bevy Help! Marko, how can I get your Hershey recording? It was my first Stones concert (Wow, though, what a First, huh?) and I'd love to hear what you got and have it for prosperity... I've tried searching, but I'm either doing something wrong or I'm just not that bright!!! Help!!! Thanks, Bev (okay, you can all quit snickering now... I am almost too embarassed to admit I couldn't find it, but having the Stones in Hershey is worth the price of embarassment anyday!!! LOL) Thanks, Bevy
October 5th, 2005 07:11 PM
Bevy Even more embarassing - (am I even spelling that right?) I meant POSTERITY!!! Sigh...
October 5th, 2005 07:27 PM
luxury1 SS and I decided it would be fruitless to take another photo, as it would be virtually impossible to get us all
to pay attention at the same time.......

l to r: Mini SS (damn, that kid has the MOST perfect eyebrows I have ever seen, and he is as "full o' the dickens" as his padre), Marko with mic, Maxmeister with beard, Flea holding on to Miss Youngblood, SS (like he needs an intro.), and the Expensive Winos (christ, I loved that tag Riffy, thanks.)
[Edited by luxury1]
October 5th, 2005 07:54 PM
Bevy Were Flea and Miss Youngblood sitting in E? They look like the people who were 2 or 3 rows in front of me!!! I mean, they REALLY LOOK like the people who were 3 rows in front of me!!! LOL
October 5th, 2005 08:53 PM
LadyJane
quote:
throbby wrote:




Great photo!!!!

Little SS is quite the looker!!!!!

LJ.
October 5th, 2005 09:15 PM
FPM C10
quote:
Bevy wrote:
Were Flea and Miss Youngblood sitting in E? They look like the people who were 2 or 3 rows in front of me!!! I mean, they REALLY LOOK like the people who were 3 rows in front of me!!! LOL



E3, row 131, seats 15-17...

Glad to make your acquaintence! We saw the greatest Stones show of my life together!
October 5th, 2005 09:21 PM
parmeda Looks like Little SS has inherited the demon-seed of his father...and I mean that in the most complimentary of ways

Luxy, I can see what you mean about trying to get everyone to possibly pose for 5 seconds...uh uh, not with THAT bunch, lol

But it really is a great picture of all of you.
Talk about capturing personalities? ...oh, yeah!
October 5th, 2005 09:34 PM
TomL Hi pamy, i gotta go to bed soon to get ready for six days of rock. U R the best In CHICAGO. Garden Jan 20th 2006. Summit of the century. Known as the SOC 50. Hope to c u soon. Bring extra rum 4 LJ. How's poopy??????????????
October 5th, 2005 10:14 PM
parmeda poopy's just fine, darlin'
...and I hope we can "cram-a-cab" in the dead middle of winter together, lmfao!

"Rock it if it's rollin', Tom!"
October 5th, 2005 11:12 PM
VoodooChileInWOnderl Who's the lady below FPM?

Very nice shot and great to see SS Jr.
October 6th, 2005 07:01 AM
Bevy We DID see you!!! We were in E3, 134, 8,9, and 10!!! WOW!!! How cool is that!!! Yes, Miss Youngblood *definitely* had a great time at the show! I seeing you, thinking "How cool is that?" and wishing my own two were a bit older! Wow!!! What a coincidence!!!! Yes, glad to make everyone's acquaintance!!!
October 6th, 2005 08:32 AM
FPM C10
quote:
VoodooChileInWOnderl wrote:
Who's the lady below FPM?




That's my true love, soul mate, sometimes RO poster and hostess of Friday night's party, Miss Candace Youngblood. (See, Glencar, we ARE two different people! BTW I'm sorry we didn't run into you - it was a good day for normalizing relations and I had a hearty handshake all ready for you!)

I LOVE this picture (snapped, I believe, by Candace's stepmom) and will cherish it forever! What a great memento of a great day. Thanks for posting it, Throbby! You rock!
October 6th, 2005 11:29 AM
Joey
quote:
FPM C10 wrote:



I LOVE this picture (snapped, I believe, by Candace's stepmom) and will cherish it forever! What a great memento of a great day. Thanks for posting it, Throbby! You rock!




Here's another from My Baby Josh ! :



October 6th, 2005 11:39 AM
jb
quote:
Joey wrote:



Here's another from My Baby Josh ! :






Funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My son's vintage 78 tour shirtis beautiful.....but not as beautiful as the people I met!!!!
October 6th, 2005 12:37 PM
Joey
quote:
jb wrote:

Funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My son's vintage 78 tour shirtis beautiful.....but not as beautiful as the people I met!!!!



Amen
October 6th, 2005 01:08 PM
FPM C10 What a handsome bunch!

Is that FG beside SS?

Wish I could've made it to that one. Hey...is it January 20 yet?
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