From the immediately invigorating opener “Street Fighting Man” , the Stones reminded us why they’re still widely regarded as the world’s greatest rock & roll band.
Four huge vertical jumbotrons dominated the large but mostly simple stage set, beaming crystal-clear high-definition video of the performance to the far reaches of the venue’s back lawn.
Speaking to the American-Statesman last month, production director Dale Skjerseth said the show was designed to emphasize “the importance of the sound,” and what we heard verified that he was good for his word.
• The new “Living in a Ghost Town,” released during the pandemic and introduced by Jagger as “our lockdown song,” was one of just two selections taken from the 1980s onward ” came from the 1970s.
He paced back and forth across the full length of the nearly football-field-sized stage often, also using an extended runway that jutted out into the standing-room section of the audience.
New drummer Steve Jordan filled in admirably for Watts, playing with precision throughout and bringing thunderous power when called for .
Behind them, keyboardist and musical director Chuck Leavell led the rest of the band: bassist Darryl Jones, backing vocalist/percussionist Bernard Fowler, keyboardist Matt Clifford, and saxophonists Karl Denson and Tim Ries.
Following Richards’ mid-set mic-turn with “Connection” and “You Got the Silver,” the band grooved into the home stretch with extended arrangements of 1978’s “Miss You” and 1969’s “Midnight Rambler,” each of which ran beyond 10 minutes.
The show’s most dazzling moment was the next-to-last song of the main set, “Sympathy for the Devil.” It kicked off with sparkler-type fireworks spewing from the top of the stage, followed by a full-on pyrotechnic blast into the sky at the first chorus.
Ghost Hounds, a Pittsburgh band that has opened about half the shows on this fall’s tour, took the stage at 7:15 p.m.
As memorable as the Stones’ performance was, fairly significant issues with traffic and crowd-flow at the venue led to frustrating experiences for many concertgoers.
Many fans took to Twitter with stories of ditching their cars on the side of the road and walking the rest of the way.
Inside the venue, some fans with general-admission lawn seats had problems just getting to their designated area because of foot-traffic bottlenecks at one of the entrance gates.