After the incredible experience I had had a year before in 2005 by seeing the Rolling Stones in Calgary, it was with the same enthusiasm that I reacted to the news that in October 2006 they would be making their first ever appearance in Regina, Saskatchewan. The parallels between the spontaneous lead up to the Rolling Stones concert the year before and how the 2006 concert came to happen didn't escape me. Despite my excitement, I accepted early on that I wasn't going to be able to go. Even with the concert in the city where I was going to university, the demand and price of tickets and made it unrealistic for a broke student. I reasoned with myself that I'd seen them once already, and that was nothing to be disappointed about. As the date of the concert approached, Regina was buzzing. It was on the news every night, papers were counting down the days, and talk around the university continually floated around who was going and how amazing it was going to be. I might have downplayed it in my mind up until then, but who was I kidding? I really wanted to go. And then the news came in. Due to demand and enough time in their scheduling, the Rolling Stones were going to start selling tickets to a second Regina show. This was clearly a sign, although I was still on the fence about whether I could swing it. I asked my friend Dave, who always seemed willing to indulge my whims, and we kind of talked each other into it. The concert was a go if we could get tickets. With both shows sold out, it was a little over a week before the concert that I started scouring eBay for tickets. The prices were still incredibly high and I wasn't convinced at that point that things would pan out. The concerts were taking place over the Thanksgiving weekend and I was heading home on the Friday night. It would still be possible to make the Sunday concert, and wouldn't you know it, on the Thursday night some last minute tickets became available.
I bid and won, and in a rare twist, because my purchase came so close to the wire I paid $30 below list price for each ticket. They were overnighted to me, and on Friday I had the two tickets in hand. It was actually going to happen! From there it was a rush trip back to Alberta to see the family for Thanksgiving, and on Sunday morning I was back on the road to make the October 8th Rolling Stones concert at Mosaic Stadium.
That Sunday afternoon Dave and I met up to have some drinks before joining the crowds surrounding Mosaic. It was an incredible scene. People were selling parking space on their front lawns. Everyone from kids to grandparents were decked out in Rolling Stones gear. I've been to Roughrider games, and even went to the Grey Cup in Regina in 2003, but the vibe surrounding the concert made it feel so much bigger. You could tell even then that the Stones in Regina was momentous as much for its novelty as anything else.
Our seats were in section A7, which looked good when I saw them online, but I really had no idea how amazing they'd turn out to be. As we entered the stadium we passed one checkpoint, then were directed further down through another checkpoint, and then another. We were getting closer and closer to the main stage and it wasn't until we were there that it hit us that section A7, row 5, was actually the fifth row of the concert. We were literally just a few meters from the main stage, and were seated right along a central aisle with an unobstructed view. If the concert wasn't amazing enough, the reality of getting the chance to see the Rolling Stones live again, and from those seats, was an absolutely unforgettable, totally enthralling experience. Here's a bit of what I wrote on my old blog after the show in 2006:
The stage was overwhelming (especially from our vantage point) and the lighting, the pyro, and the sound was done to match. The heat from the explosions on the top of the stage was instantly felt. A giant blow up tongue erupting from the centre of the stage was almost as amazing as the final explosion where banners of fabric shot off of the structure and draped the entire frame of the stage. I got a huge rush from the spectacle of it all. While the Stones were on a stage I did a few 360s to take in the sea of people behind us and high up into the stadium who were just as mesmerized and caught up in the excitement. We were loving every minute of it.
What wasn't to love? I'll never forget that concert with Dave.
After my Grandma passed this summer, we each received care packages that had a bunch of different mementos. When asked, I was all too happy to have her old record player and inherit her collection of campy German records. My vinyl collection up to this point was almost exclusively awful records from thrift stores and garage sales that I simply wanted for their cover art. My aunt Bev, noticing my interest, offered me her old record player and collection too. The thing was, her collection was actually amazing. While in Calgary on my way back from Vegas, I stopped to load up the Jag with my care package of Grandma's things as well as two crates of records from my aunt. That night back at home, I set up my Grandma's old record player and started digging through the crates. I really didn't have high expectations for what I'd find, but only a few minutes in I was already hooked.
I pulled out original presses of Rolling Stones albums like Sticky Fingers and Let it Bleed. There was Billy Idol, the Police, George Harrison, Pink Floyd, Gensis, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, the Traveling Wilburys, Stevie Wonder, John Lennon, Eric Clapton, and even the original release of Michael Jackson's Thriller. I have so many of these albums and artists on my iPod, and grew up listening to a lot of these through my parents. Seeing all of this tangible music was really cool. On top of it all, I was discovering liner notes and artwork that I'd never seen before. Listening to records is an experience steeped in a nostalgia that I never really got to experience. The crackling audio is actually enhanced by the time you take looking at the artwork, reading the notes, and scanning the covers. It's not the same as a CD, as these giant cardboard panels command more attention and their presentation is more elaborate; multi-folding covers, decorated sleeves, etc. In addition to this, you actually interact with the record by moving the needle to select the songs you want to hear. After years of nothing but iTunes and CDs, the action of changing sides after 4 or 5 songs and then putting everything back in its sleeve requires you to be a bit more engaged. It's kind of endearing and makes listening to music an activity, instead of a supplement to something else. There's also the appreciation you get from knowing that this is what this music sounded like when it first came out. No digital remastering or alteration, this is how it was. The quality isn't great, the technology is cumbersome, and there's not really a practical reason to listen to records anymore. Maybe that's why I enjoy it so much. I love the history of places and things that have fallen from significance - there's a romance to it all. I look forward to my continued vinyl discoveries in the coming weeks, and hope to share more soon.
I have seen the Rolling Stones live in concert twice. The first time was in Calgary in 2005, and the second time was in Regina in 2006. Both shows were part of their A Bigger Bang tour, and both times came about in uniquely spontaneous ways. After recently coming across and buying a DVD box set of the Rolling Stones featuring their Bigger Bang tour highlights, all of my memories from those concerts came flooding back and I felt compelled to write them down.
This was my experience leading up to and at the Calgary show on October 28, 2005. In the fall of 2005 I had just started another semester of film school at the University of Regina. Within the first month of classes I'd been left feeling restless and uninspired due to the fact that it was the first time I had no production courses. Creativity was lacking. All I had were a few electives and a film theory course. In all honesty, I was taking it pretty easy on myself and was simply craving new experiences. Cue Kelly Dodd (AKA Doddsy, as I called her).
Doddsy was a friend who had lived in the dorms next to me the previous year, but she was now attending SAIT in Calgary. It was late October. During a chat with Kelly over messenger (these were the low-tech days before facebook after all) she mentioned how she wanted to go to the Rolling Stones show in Calgary that was happening in 3 days. We entered into one of those conversations full of hypothetical situations where we could do whatever we wanted whenever it suited us. Ah, to be a student again.
We had a good back and forth going when Doddsy admitted that she'd looked into the cost of tickets that were up on eBay. I remember the idea suddenly becoming more tangible and soon we were making deals. I did my best to encourage her to bid, and proposed that if she was able to get the tickets I'd make the 700km+ drive from Regina to come see the show with her that Friday night. As it turned out, we won the auction.
Being a broke student at the time, something I didn't originally admit was that I had actually dropped one of my electives so that I'd have enough cash to make the trip. This was short-sighted, yes, but of all the foolish things I did in university this is one that I'm proud of. I don't remember what the class was that I dropped, but I definitely still remember this concert. On the 27th I was cruising down the Trans-Canada in my old Buick, buzzing about going to see the Rolling Stones.
The entire experience was a blur just because of how much had happened in 3 days. That Friday, Doddsy and I spent the afternoon in the campus pub at SAIT with a few of her friends to have some drinks before the show. A short train ride later, through a security checkpoint, and there we were sitting in the Saddledome.
Here's some of what I wrote just days after the show in 2005. This comes from my old (now defunct) blog:
Sitting, waiting, bored beyond belief, an hour passed by where we had nothing better to do than watch the mish-mash of old and young filter in and find their seats. We were higher up (no pun intended) but were parallel to the side of the stage and had one of the giant screens directly in front of us. Thirty minutes elapsed and I felt my afternoon buzz being replaced by sleepiness. I began thinking I wasn't going to enjoy the show, and for a brief moment I second guessed whether all of the effort had been worth it.
Suddenly the lights began to fade, the screen in front of us burst to life with the Stones logo, and the mumbles throughout the crowd erupted into an eager and instantly awakening cheer that engulfed the entire stadium. This was it, October 28, 2005 at the Rolling Stones concert in Calgary. As the first few chords of Start Me Up echoed towards us, I went from almost falling asleep to nearly pissing my pants. It was so good!
I won't cover the whole show, and clearly it's not the same anyway, but I came to hear the classics (as most do) and the Stones didn't disappoint. My personal favorites included a soulful rendition of Wild Horses that had the stadium a glow in lighters, and an encore performance of You Can't Always Get What You Want. It's truly something that I'll never forget seeing.
All these years later, I'm still amazed sometimes by the fact that I made it to that show. The last minute rushing around, the willingness of Kelly to make it happen, and the ultimate payoff of the show being everything we had hoped it would be. All of that just locks the experience in my mind. Little did I know at the time, but less than a year later the opportunity would unexpectedly emerge AGAIN.
You know when you're killing time in an airport, or your hanging out in a hotel lobby, or you finish exploring a tourist trap and end up in a gift shop? I can't seem to help myself when it comes to buying a magnet and a few postcards. What can I say? It's a habit that feeds my love of nostalgia and they fit in a suitcase easily. They're also relatively cheap things to collect that give you something tangible from the place you've just been. As you can see below, I'm into that.
This notable track from the Stones' 1969 album, Let it Bleed is fueled with a distinctly urban and raw sound. I always think of a 70's era cop drama when I hear it - it may have also been in a Scorsese movie (the Departed?).
To me this is a quintessential Rolling Stones track, in that it seems almost improvised, slightly chaotic, with a great hook and a lot of energy. I've had the pleasure of seeing the Rolling Stones twice in concert and that has pretty much solidified my appreciation for the group's iconic status. Gimme Shelter, and the entire album for that matter, is required listening for anyone with an interest in rock music. It pulls you in, tells a story, and has you singing along even when you don't know the words.
You don't have to take my word for it though. Rolling Stone magazine placed Gimme Shelter at #38 on their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
And then the news came in. Due to demand and enough time in their scheduling, the Rolling Stones were going to start selling tickets to a second Regina show. This was clearly a sign, although I was still on the fence about whether I could swing it. I asked my friend Dave, who always seemed willing to indulge my whims, and we kind of talked each other into it. The concert was a go if we could get tickets.
