 The
Stones Heat Up “Hot’Lanta” in February at Phillips Arena
by Blue Lena.
(from her tour diary)
I arose at
3:30am
in the morning so I could start my 45 minute drive to
Pittsburgh
International
Airport
at
4:30am
to catch a
6:40am
flight to
Atlanta
. I was hoping for some warmer weather in
Atlanta
since the current temp in the ‘Burgh was 18 degrees. This
trip to Atlanta was actually an unplanned one, since I had only returned from a
back to back out of town trip to see the Stones in Chicago and then vacation in
Miami just last week. But, thanks to Gimmelildrink who used her fan club code
and scored 4, 5th row tix on the catwalk on Ronnie’s side for $99
each and kindly offered tix to me and my friend E, we were now all headed for
more Stones in Georgia!
The flights were uneventful, thankfully,
and E took the redeye from
San Francisco
and we met at the airport around
8:30am
& cabbed it into
Atlanta
. The weather was sunny, but a cold 28 degrees, with a high
of around 50 expected by days end. Jaggerfan1 & Gimmelildrink were already
checked into The Glenn Hotel, having arrived the afternoon before. Good thing
they were, because when we arrived at the hotel at
9:30am
, they informed us that there would definitely not be a room
ready before
3pm
. The Glenn is a brand spanking new boutique hotel right next
to
CNN
Center
& the Phillips Arena…but, the problem with newness is
that no one at the hotel had a clue. The hotel literally only opened last week,
wasn’t even finished yet and we became the test guinea pig guests, which
isn’t always a good thing. I am sure when the hotel is up and running it will
be fine, it’s ultra hip and modern, with auto dimming lights in the room, flat
screen plasma HDTV, and a shower that you can see from the bedroom (another
thing we didn’t like!). But in our short stay we sure had a litany of
complaints.
We tried to get a drink around
10:20am
and were informed that by
Georgia
law we couldn’t have alcohol until at least
11am
…the restaurant wasn’t open until
11:30
…so we couldn’t even eat! Even though we were told by
phone that we could sit in the restaurant and have bloody Marys until the
restaurant opened. We found they didn’t even have bloody Mary mix in the hotel
at all. So, the next best thing was
to hop a cab to Buckhead to the Stones hotel where we could easily get a drink
and have lunch, which we ended up doing until around 2pm in the afternoon.
Finally when we returned to the Glenn at
3pm
, we got a room so we could take a nap, shower and change for
the show.
Gimmelildrink & Jaggerfan1 headed to
a pre-party at a bar called Jocks & Jills and E and I napped a bit longer
then headed to
CNN
Center
to a Mexican place where we each had a margarita and a
double shot of Petron Platinum to wake us up and get us ready for the show.
Sound check was a bit later at 5-6pm tonight, which was why the doors didn’t
open at 6…they opened a bit late around 6:17pm.
We were some of the first people in the
venue and after assessing that there was no special merchandise for the
Atlanta
show we headed to the floor to check out the seats. They
looked perfect, 5th row seats 3-6 by the catwalk, great view. The
venue holds around 20,000. I called my friend BB and at
6:40pm
he came out and greeted us and led us on the backstage tour
past the dressing rooms, wardrobe, makeup, road cases, and various Stones people
and personnel into the Rattlesnake Inn. The Rattlenake was actually the Atlanta
Hawks basketball team’s practice court turned into a lounge! It was very dark,
and very large and didn’t have all the usual decorations such as the snakes,
skeletons, skulls and poker chips lying around. There were nice flowers on the
tables and candles and when we arrived we were told it was actually not open yet,
but to go ahead in anyway. We were also given special guitar picks with the
Atlanta
date on them. Thanks BB, we love ya!
The only folks inside so far were Tony
Russell and a group of his friends, who said hello to me, but I didn’t even
hear him, so sorry Tony I didn’t mean to ignore you! Chuck Leavell, his wife
Rose Lane
and their daughter Amy and son-in-law and some friends were
in the far corner and we said hello to them as well. Amy’s baby was actually
due that day! Chuck is so excited about his first grandchild.
Later Daryl came in and joined his
friends Marco & Joan, who have also become friends of mine. Lisa came in and
said hello and joined some of her friends and Bernard stopped in to eat, as did
Bobby. I asked Bernard about the Superbowl, and he said he didn’t really get
to do much, but it was crazy and he was tired. He gave me a high five for the
Steelers since he knows I’m from
Pittsburgh
. I think everyone was a bit drained after their 5 days in
Detroit
.
I was surprised not to see Tim Ries, and
later found out some sad news that Tim’s mother passed away unexpectedly
during the time the Stones were in
Detroit
for Superbowl rehearsals. Tim was with his family during
this difficult time and was not in
Atlanta
tonight. My deepest sympathy and condolences to Tim and his
family.
The food selection was distinctly
Southern tonight, with cheesy grits, fried green tomatoes, sweet potato fries,
collard greens and a myriad of other choices. Best dessert was huge chocolate
covered strawberries on skewers-yum! Clive was at the dessert table when I
returned from the WC, and I told him to go easy on the ‘tarts’…he laughed
and filled his plate and said “I think I’ll have a few of these, I gotta
take care of security!”. Alan Dunn came in around
8:15pm
and sat at our table to greet a few friends of his. I am a
friend of his brother Tony, who lives in
England
, and I reminded him of that and he gave us each a setlist,
which was cool. We were genuinely thrilled by what we saw on the list. We
sampled some more of the goodies, had a few Becks beers and around
8:30pm
the lounge was closed.
We managed to gather a few signs such as
“WC” (water closet, the sign for the restrooms), Wardrobe, Makeup, pass
identifications, and show schedules and then headed out into the hallway. I had
a rest on one of Keith’s road cases labeled “X-Ray”, before we headed to
our seats around 9pm. Jaggerfan1 & Gimmelildrink were just making their way
in too, and introduced us to a few friends who were sitting beside us, in front
of us and behind us-they had all been at the Jocks & Jills party together
earlier in the evening.
 Tonguelady called Fred who was sitting
in front of us and since I had the setlist, I read it to her over the phone
before the show began. The lights finally went down about
9:35pm
and Keith strolled out of the darkness playing “Jumping
Jack Flash”, this was show #55 of the tour and show #17 of the tour for me.
Wow. We all started dancing during “Let’s Spend the Night Together”, a
favorite of Jaggerfan1’s. “It’s Only Rock N’ Roll” was made extra
special tonight by Mick’s added line of “I bet you think you’re the only
bitches in Buckhead”, which was hilarious (Buckhead is a suburb of
Atlanta
where the Stones were staying). Next up “Oh No Not You
Again”…but it was songs #5 and #6 that I was holding my breath and waiting
for.
Mick said something like “This is a
song we don’t do very often, but I am sure it will be prefect” and the band
launched into “Sway”! Everyone around us went ballistic, knowing the rarity
of hearing such a gem, and the song came off really well, except maybe the
ending, which was a bit abrupt. But overall, it rocked and I had waited so long
to hear it. I think this was only the 3rd time it has been played
this tour (Columbus and MSG being the other venues).
There was no time to calm down after
“Sway” ended because the keyboard was pushed to the edge of the stage and I
knew I’d get to hear the song that was my favorite from the Aragon Ballroom
show of 2002…it was time for “Worried About You”. Mick’s falsetto was
absolutely brilliant, and those screams of “baaabbby” just gave us chills. A
very well done version, better than the second time I had heard it at Vredenberg
in
Holland
in 2003 and a close match for the
Aragon
version. Again, the people around me were hugely
appreciative of that number and there were smiles all around.
We had a bit of time to recover from
those 2 numbers during “Tumbling Dice” and then another perennial favorite
“Midnight Rambler” was launched. I never get tired of that song, and I have
never really heard it done exactly the same way twice, each time they put some
new twist on it here or there, and each time I think “this could be the best
version of Rambler I’ve heard yet”.
I was glad they stuck Ray Charles back
in with “Night Time” so that we could hear Miss Lisa Fischer’s powerful
vocals. She did a stellar job again tonight and as she sang “squeeze me…”,
Mick did just that! As the song ended band intros were completed and Chuck got a
massive ovation for being the boy from
Macon
,
GA.
Keith brought Charlie to the front of the drum kit, holding
his hand. And after the chants of “Keef, Keef, Keef” our boy came to the
front and said a few words and as always looked genuinely touched by the
applause and cheering in his honor. I was touched that he is still wearing the
silver sequined belt I gave him in
Chicago
a few weeks ago, which looks quite good sparkling on his
right hip. I was told he really likes it-cool. Keith did a great version of
“This Place is Empty” and the 4 of us laughed and joked when it came
to the line “come on baby, bare your breasts…” …if only we were young
again, hahahaha. A few girls did bare their breasts on the big screen during the
show, but not during Keith’s set! “Happy” followed after which we headed
to the B stage to secure a spot on the rail.
We arrived on the rail at Ronnie’s
side right in front of Chuck as “Miss You” continued to play on. Some idiot
almost took Mick our at the start by throwing something at his head, and Mick
ducked just in time. Chuck was really interacting with the crowd and everyone
seemed to be having a great time. A little boy about 9 or 10 was to the right of
me on the rail and ended up getting 2 guitar picks, and a hand slap from Mick
himself-the little guy was incredulous and really enjoying himself. “Rough
Justice” and “Get off My Cloud” were the next B stage numbers and Keith at
one point came to the back and asked for his amp to be turned up. At another
point Ronnie hit a chord and hit Keith by mistake as Keith walked behind him, so
Keith turned around and jokingly wacked him back. Someone threw a teddy bear on
stage and Mick threw it at Charlie and Charlie threw it back in front of the
drums. Everyone, band and fans seemed to be having a lot of fun back there. As
the band launched into Honky Tonk Women, Chuck tossed some picks to the crowd,
as did Keith and Ronnie and the stage moved back toward the main stage and we
made our way back to our seats just as “Sympathy” started.
The crowd got louder and louder towards
the end as “Start Me Up” and “Satisfaction” were played, two songs that
the general concert going fans want to hear. Mick spent quite a lot of time at
this show on the catwalk beside us, which was fine by us. “You Can’t Always
Get What You Want” created a nice sing-a-long for the crowd and Mick even
paused this time after “What’s your favorite flavor?”, to let the crowd
scream “cherry red”. At the end of the show Mick was wearing a bright pink
silk shirt that he slowly unbuttoned until it was fully open and free flowing by
the time “Brown Sugar” closed out the night. Keith had started the song
falsely, maybe forgetting that “Brown Sugar” was closing the show, not
“JJF” which had opened the show. He hit 2 chords, then laughed and
re-started the song.
The streamers fell from the ceiling
overhead and we became entangled in masses of the colorful paper, as the boys
came to the front for the final bow. Thanks Stones, thanks Keith, thanks BB,
thanks Gimmelildrink, Jaggrfan1 & E, that spur of the moment 24 hour jaunt
to Atlanta was really worth the trip!
Stay tuned for my end of the US Tour
report from
Las Vegas
and LA in early March 2006.
 till next, Blue
Lena
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