It’s been almost five years since I was at a live concert. As a young adult I frequented various venues with my high school friends that lasted a nice amount of time from the early 1980’s to the early 2000’s. I think over the recent years, my friends and I all moved and family life with different interest in music, may have put the brakes on encounters. The pandemic closed the door for a while. Moving down south further made it more difficult.

Well, when the Rolling Stones tour was announced and ticket availability at Camping World Stadium in Orlando was available, I couldn’t resist to order three tickets for my wife and son and made it a Holiday gift at the end of 2023. The day has finally come, and the concert is upon us. Joe has never been to a rock concert before, my wife, only to one at Jones beach back in July of 2019. She hates the smell of pot (as do I) and she swore off rock concerts after that experience. But this is the Stones, one of the greatest and long-lived bands out there. What would she think? What would Joe think as his first seeing of a major live band?

Well after a long wait to get into the stadium (30 minutes past what they advertised), getting not so good, overpriced stadium food and having the most difficult time finding out section (old stadium with minimal pass thorough if in the upper deck and ushers clearly hired for this event with no stadium layout experience). We finally got seated and watched Tyler Childers, the opening band which was not my flavor of country/ bluegrass music but were very good performers non the less. It was loud, but tolerable without earplugs. After their forty-five-minute set and another 45 minutes to switch the stage out, the lights dimmed, and we were ready.

The Stones came on and got right into Start Me up and the place went crazy. I had brought foam ear plugs for all of us (at an early age my hearing was affected by the likes of Aerosmith in New Haven circa mid 80’s and I never forgot the discomfort and days later of ringing). They Stones came on loud and strong and we all enjoyed the live experience immensely. My favorite reaction post show was my son Joe stating there was nothing like “feeling” the music in a live venue. He, like myself, is an audio aficionado and is learning acoustics, clarity and feel that music can provide. The bass was a bit overly distorted to my taste as their sound system was pushed to its maximum capacity, but the place was literally rocking and shaking.

As for the band, yes, they have aged and signs of it showed here and there with the technical playing of Keith (80), Ronnie (77) but I doubt I will even make it to that age let alone be able to put on a two-hour show, so who really cared. The rest of the band was tight and fantastic. Backup vocals on Gimme Shelter by Chanel Haynes was truly breathtaking and not to be missed. But for me, most impressive performer was Mick Jagger’s voice. This 80-year-old can still sing with the best of them.

It was a memorable show, I took a lot of short videos, and my phone ran out of battery just as they were doing their last encore, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. As for my wife, she enjoyed the music, not so much the drunk, smokers behind and in front of us. But I know deep down she enjoyed the show from the rewatching of videos she took when we got home and this morning. My son was so thrilled, he insisted on getting a concert tee (which he passed on when my wife and I got ours before the show started). I guess it goes to show you the younger generation can still enjoy the older with their music and abilities.  Glad to be back at a live concert again.