I was lucky to see the Stones in their prime. The Stones were still in their twenties, and I was twelve years old. It was 1969, in Philadelphia at the Spectrum with my friend El. Our mothers took us! Our entourage was comprised of our two moms and six boys, including me and El. The boys ranged in age from ten to sixteen. There was me and my two brothers, my older brother's friend, and El and his little brother. At the time, I thought that we must have been an odd looking group. We probably looked like a lot of people you see at a Stones concert nowadays. It was a fantastic concert! It came just a day or two before or after the famous shows at Madison Square Garden, immortalized on "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out."

Three years later, El and I saw the Stones again at the Spectrum. Now fifteen years old, we had camped out overnight at the Spectrum to get tickets. I can't believe that our parents let us camp out! The day before tickets were to go on sale, we staked out a good spot right in front of the box office window, . But later that afternoon, they made us move to the side because there was a show at the Spectrum that evening. Three Dog Night, I still remember. (I've never forgiven Three Dog Night for making me lose my great spot on line.) The next morning was pure mayhem. The surging crowd pressed in against the box office window from both sides and in front. And after a person was lucky enough to complete a transaction at the box office window, there was no easy way to get out of the crowd. So people were lifted up, clutching the prized tickets, and passed overhead to the back of the crowd. The tickets cost only $6.50 back then. The Stones 1972 show was the best concert I've ever seen, by the Stones or any band. At that concert, the crowd and the arena seemed to be throbbing with intensity as the Stones played. The '72 concert was even better than the show we had seen three years before. Many other Stones fans consider the '72 Stones tour to be their best ever.

The rest of the 70s, 80s and 90s brought several memorable Stones concerts and solo performances by Mick and Keith and Ronnie at Live Aid in 1985; Keith a couple times at the Beacon; and even Mick Taylor at the Bottom Line in 1986. And Steel Wheels at Shea Stadium in 1989.

A personal highlight of those years occurred In 1981. After college, I was living in New York, where P, a friend of mine, had also moved. P was working for a certain well-known person. And it seemed that the Stones had hired that very same person. So suddenly my friend P was on tour with the f***ing Rolling Stones! I could not believe it! I begged P to tell me where the Stones were rehearsing in NYC. But he said that he was sworn to secrecy, and he wasn't allowed to tell. However one afternoon, the phone rang and it was P calling. "Whatever it is that you're doing..." he said, "Just drop it. Grab your camera and get over here to St. Mark's Bar and Grill now. The Rolling Stones are here shooting a video!" I may have remembered to lock the door and shut the lights behind me as I ran out... Sure enough, there they were: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, just hanging out on a stoop. It was their shoot for "Waiting On A Friend." Keith actually walked right by me. And I thought what I could possibly say to one of my guitar heroes, Keith Richards? I said simply, "Keith, can I shake your hand?" He came over and extended his right hand, while he ran his other hand through his shaggy hair.



Later, after it was dark, the Stones were taking a break on their tour bus, which was parked next to the bar. The door to the bus opened, and P stepped out. He walked over to me, and he handed me a "cigarette," which was still burning. He said it was from Keith. As I held it, I was torn. Should I save this or smoke this? I wondered. On one hand, I thought: Keith would want me to smoke it. On the other hand, if I saved it forever, it would make a great momento. I won't tell you which I chose. A short time later though, P got off the bus once again, and he handed me a red guitar pick that he said Keith had been using. I will say that I do still have the guitar pick. I saw the Stones that summer at JFK Stadium in Philly.

Skip ahead a few years and several Stones concerts. In 2002, the Stones announced that they were touring again. When the tickets for the Philadelphia concert went on sale there was revelation* and divine intervention*, and I got through. A voice on the phone said, "Ticketmaster, can I help you?" I said, "Hello, I'd like four tickets for the Rolling Stones in Philadelphia, please." "Sorry, we have one seat left," the agent answered, "It is in section 1, on row 7 in front of the stage. The price is $300. Would you like to purchase this ticket?" I held my breath, then I said ... YES! I had never paid that much for a ticket... even to a scalper, let alone its face value. Yet that concert was easily the most memorable Stones concert I've ever been to. Because it's a completely better experience, to see a concert that close up. The Pretenders were great too. It truly was a wonderful concert. I saw them a few weeks later at Madison Square Garden and then again after that in Hartford, Connecticut to cap off 2002.

I was able to see them several more times in 2005 and 2006. Twice at MSG In NYC, once each in Philadelphia and Giants Stadium. All great shows. And in March 2006, after I read some really shocking news on the Internet. The Rolling Stones were going to be playing a charity concert the next night at Radio City Music Hall. How could I possibly have not known about this before? I knew that I had to at least try to go! "Guess who's playing at a benefit concert tomorrow night at Radio City Music Hall" I said to my wife at dinner. When I told her it was the Rolling Stones, she asked rhetorically if I was going to try to get in.

On the night of the show, I took the subway over to Rockefeller Center at 8 pm after work. I emerged from the subway, and looked around at all the security and police and barricades. I called my wife and said, "It doesn't look like I'll get in, I'll be home in about an hour." I walked around the block. I then noticed that the side lobby doors had been opened, for the intermission. Concert-goers were standing outside smoking and talking on the sidewalk within a barricaded area. Security personnel stood nearby watchfully. A security guard parted the barricades, allowing two guys to leave the enclosure. As they were walking away from the hall, I ran over to them. "Excuse me, are you guys leaving the concert?" "Yes," one of them said, explaining that he wasn't feeling well. "Would you be willing to give me your ticket?" I asked. "Sure, good luck," he said, and I raced around the corner towards the main entrance at 50th Street and Sixth Avenue. Because it was the intermission, there were many concert-goers milling about. I held out the ticket for someone to scan. I was already a few paces past him by the time he looked down at his electronic scanner, and noticed that this ticket had already been used by someone. "Were you already inside?" he asked me, looking at all the smokers and people milling around out front. "Did you just come outside during the intermission?" "Yes," I answered, and I quickly hurried away inside, into the middle of the opulent lobby of Radio City, amid the intermission crowd, dumbstruck. I climbed up the grand stairs to the third mezzanine. Halfway through the Stones' set, I made my way downstairs, where I found an empty aisle seat and I enjoyed the rest of the amazing show. Perhaps it was me being on the floor near the stage... it seemed like the Stones had kicked it up a notch, and they really rocked out during the second half. They sounded great. While they were playing "Sympathy For The Devil," Keith climbed some narrow stairs at the side of the stage. He continued to climb... his path continuing upward past the empty loge seats at the side of the hall, until he was near the first mezzanine and he couldn't go any further. There, right above me, Keith Richards played his solo for "Sympathy." This was a Stones fan's dream. But this was not a dream. This really happened.

When the Stones returned to the area yet again recently, it was at Giants Stadium. I paid less than face value to a scalper (f*** them), The sound at that distant seat sucked big time, due to a concrete overhang. I moved closer... I was near a railing by the left side of the wide stage. Keith had come over to that same  railing to play the famous magical repeating riff at the end of the song as Mick & Co. chanted, "You got to roll..." I found an empty seat nearby, and enjoyed that rest of the show from there.  Another great show!

Most of this is from my losing Beacon contest essay. I was so hoping to win a pair of the eight or ten or twelve tickets they were giving away. Thanks for looking and reading. I hoped you've enjoyed.



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 2006-11-29 02:26 by schillid.

Thanks for sharing, I love seeing things like this. As it all goes back now 30-40 years or even more, items like this are actually becoming quite historic - apart from stating the obvious that they're enormously sentimental to whomsoever they belong. I was trying to make sense of my own RS ticket stubs the other day and unfortunately the earliest I could find was Wembley Stadium 1982, inspite of the fact that I first saw them at Knebworth in 1976. But I do still have a copy of the Melody Maker newspaper in which there's a review of that show. And reading it from time to time takes me back to when I was a whippersnapper of a pup and my college friends and I got shitfaced on gin and lemonade on a summer's night in the grounds of Knebworth House and that KR performed a blinding version of Wild Horses. Didn't he just ?

Your first one from November 25th 1969 is a gem, absolutely priceless. THIRTY SEVEN years old !! Wow !! Congratulations, and thanks again for scanning & posting. A joy to behold.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-11-06 14:27 by paulywaul.

Nice collection

Here are some of mine.
Luckily, before the 2nd half of the 1990ies, european concert tickest were much nicer than in the US :
Stones : [www.doctorstones.net]
Others : [www.doctorstones.net]

Just a selection of the best looking ones

[doctorstonesblog.blogspot.com]

Pauly, the reason why you won't have your ticket stub for Knebworth (me neither) is that the swines on the gate took the whole ticket off us that day!

No guesses as to where some of them ended up a few minutes later!

Yep, Knebworth was my first live Stones show too!! I remember getting so pissed off 'cos they made us wait so long!

sarahunwin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yep, Knebworth was my first live Stones show too!!
> I remember getting so pissed off 'cos they made
> us wait so long!


Here's why!

I did notice a drastic rise in price over the years!

You guys are insane fetishists ;-)

micwer Wrote:
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> You guys are insane fetishists ;-)

Nah ...... just fans.

-



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2006-11-06 23:42 by schillid.

Thats a great story schillid,i read the entire thing.

I've looked, I've read, and yes, I have enjoyed!

Absolutely superb post, schillid! Many thanks!

Great story!

btw
YOU SMOKED IT, RIGHT?
;-)

Great story, schillid!
Thanks for sharing.

TooTough Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great story!
>
> btw
> YOU SMOKED IT, RIGHT?
> ;-)


Like "The Lady Or The Tiger"...
what do you suppose, dear reader?

schillid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Like "The Lady Or The Tiger"...
> what do you suppose, dear reader?


I suppose that you took one deep drag
(even as a non-smoker) and then you put the rest out.

Of course you kept it (behind glass).

Like that Dylan fan who found a cig in Bob´s waste (in the 60s):
He: "I´ve found Bob´s cigarette!"
The other: "?"
He: "Don´t you understand? Now we have got his DNA!"

Something I didn't mention about that first show in '69. We almost did not get to see the show.

We had tickets for a matinee show, scheduled for 4:00 on a Tuesday afternoon. In those days, in was not uncommon for a band to play two shows in the same day, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Unfortunately, a few days before the date, they cancelled the afternoom show. On the day of the show, we were dejected.

Luckily though, the (rock) stars were smiling upon us. A cousin of mine had gone down to the Spectrum, hoping to buy a ticket. A few hours before the show, we got a call from my cousin outside the Spectrum. He tells us that he had found this guy with dozens of tickets to that night's show, and he even manages to get the ticket guy to speak to us on the phone. Ticket Guy tells us that he is sympathetic to the plight of people who had purchased tickets to the cancelled show, and he is willing to swap tickets from the cancelled afternoon show for tickets to the sold out evening show. He'd redeem the cancelled tickets later at the box office for face value, he explained. He promised to save eight tickets for us. Imagine this nowadays!

We piled frantically into the car, and drove to the Spectrum, 45 minutes away. We were going to see the Rolling Stones after all! We found our cousin, who introduced us to the generous ticket seller. He was surrounded by many people, all eagerly buying tickets. Not surprisingly, he had raised his price a bit since we had spoken to him. He was now asking a whopping $10 for the tickets. Imagine that. For us, however, he kept his word, exchanging the tickets at face value: just $7.50. Imagine any of this nowadays!

Thanks, Ticket Guy, wherever you are!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-11-07 02:21 by schillid.

fantastic!......thanx for sharin'.....about Keef's cig......i would've smoked part of it....and saved the rest