RSFCO

Set list:
Start Me Up - It's Only Rock'n'Roll - If You Can't Rock Me - Don't Stop - All Down The Line - Wild Horses - Dead Flowers - Bitch - Cant's You Hear Me Knocking - Tumbling Dice - Street Fighting Man - Slipping Away - Happy - Love Train - Satisfaction - Honky Tonk Women - Mannish Boy - You Got Me Rockin - Brown Sugar - Jumping Jack Flash

SUNRISE · The Rolling Stones chose Start Me Up as the first song of a two-night South Florida stand, and the metaphor made perfect sense. A decades-old rock `n' roll leviathan, the Stones came rumbling slowly to life on Tuesday night at the Office Depot Center as if kick-started and slowly turning over.

The opener coughed a bit, as singer Mick Jagger, 59, appeared to lose his microphone signal and his place in the song for a second. But he strutted as regally, paving over the vocal gaps with high-stepping stage presence and a glossy purple jacket. As Jagger's old foil, guitarist Keith Richards, played the tune's back-stepping chords, and the rest of the band fell in line, the Stones found their gear and took off.

Jagger and Richards, the peacock and the reptile, joined by fellow long-timers Charlie Watts on drums and Ron Wood on guitar, plus backing musicians on bass and keyboards, let a sellout crowd of about 15,000 take over Start Me Up's chorus. They segued to another Stones standard, It's Only Rock `n' Roll, Jagger's vocal yelps jousting with Richards' snarly two- and three-string note bends.

There was brio enough in the opening volley to answer the question posed by one fan before the show: "Why do we still want to be here?"

Beverly Ambrosio, 37, had a dozen answers involving timelessness and brilliance for her own query, as did husband Scott, 38, and 12-year-old son Michael. Leaning against the family car in the parking lot, the Plantation clan pledged its alliegance to the self-proclaimed "world's greatest rock `n' roll band."

The grayest, certainly, but the Ambrosios insisted the famed British rockers could still dish out satisfaction. The Stones, led by a singer and guitarist fast approaching 60, would get two chances to prove it here. They also perform tonight at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami. The Ambrosios predicted nothing but sparks and great music.

Scott Ambrosio did offer one caveat, based on past experience: "I think after tonight his voice is going to go a little bit. The first night is always better."

Tough luck, Miami. That's age for you.

Stones' fans of many ages and shapes turned out in force to celebrate, one imagines, their own age-defying qualities as much as those of the Stones, who seem to have redefined "old" to the particular liking of an eternally optimistic and free-spending Baby-Boom generation. Tickets on this tour run from $100 for obstructed-view nosebleed seats and surpass $300 for premium sight lines and proximity. T-shirts started at $35.

Whatever the knocks on the unsinkable Stones, they still bring out an audience that applauds the deferral of retirement and drops cash right through the current economic tailspin.

"That's the world's oldest teenager," quipped Bob Harp, pointing to his wife, Pam. The Tyler, Texas couple, who gave their ages as "mid-50's," had flown all the way from home for Tuesday's concert, and expected to see the band at least three more times on the current tour.

Asked what singular Stones talent kept him coming to their shows, Bob Harp said, "Being alive -- I mean if you've taken every drug known to man and you're still here, that's something."

The crowd skewed middle-aged but was dotted with people born around the time some critics were urging the Stones to hang it up. Sara Santelli, 21, and Melissa May, 22, looked as happy to be here as any veteran Stones fan, but the two noted that attending had become more attractive once they landed a pair of free tickets.

"This is my first time," said Santelli, a student at Florida International University.

She was not, however, approaching the experience with anything like apprehension: "I wouldn't waste my time on them if I thought they were going to be dreadful, not even for free tickets."

Sean Piccoli