I am a 24 year old from long island, after seeing footage of the blimp from last tour, i vowed i would be at the next press conference.

Started reading rumors earlier in the week that they would play, they wouldn't play etc.

I told 2 friends who are big stones fans that when the press conference was, they agreed to come just cause they love the stones, but proceded to make fun of me for being a stones dork and finding out about it through the message boards.

Got to the conference about an hour and a half early and was very suprised to see about 600 people there already, surprised mostly because new york media had absolutely no inkling that this was going to happen, not the classic rock station, not the newspapers, nowhere.

My uncle is a high up NYC police officer, very high up, as in most cops in NYC will know his name, i figured i could use this to my advantage and get close to the stage. In my first attempts none of the cops were helping me out, they were all saying that it was lincoln center security that was in charge, they couldnt do anything to help me. Finnally in a last ditch effort a cop told me to go stand over by this woman in black, about ten minutes before the show they would be letting people in 20 at a time to go stand in the pit.

Jackpot!!! i grabbed my two friends and we went and stood right behind the ladie, this made me nervous as the place was really filling up now and we relinquished some really good spots to go stand by her, however, ten minutes before the show i saw a security guard give the go sign to the ladie and she let us in, i was the first to walkin in and it was only 20 at a time anyway, i got to choose the perfect spot to watch, i was about 20 feet away from the stage, the only people closer to the stage was the juliard students.

The stones came out and ripped start me up, for people on this message board already knocking them and saying i wonder what juliard students thought, i'll tell you this, they loved it, they were all rocking along. Guitars were high up in the mix and mick was great.

The new song "Oh no not you again" did not disapoint. You could see the apprehention in micks face when he was counting them in. He was the conducter on this one, he didnt want to screw it up. He was watching and directing everyone for every bridge, i saw him turn to charlie and say "End now" when it was time to end. I played on the Memory Motel softball team in Montaulk 2 summers ago, i have saved the great jersey we had for my next stones event, i cant believe its been 2 years since i last saw them, anyway, during "Oh No" Ronnie saw my jersey and waved to me, i dont know if there is any live footage of the show, but when you see him point and wave, its to me, i'm not lieing either, quit possibly the greatest day of my life.

When the burst into Brown Suger, Crowd continued to go wild. Before the show started One security guard said to the security guard right in front of me "you dont know how lucky we are right now". THe security guard replied "I dont listen to old white boy music." Well by brown sugar, this guy was going wild, i guess he didnt realize what this white boy music is based on. When the song ended there was about 20 seconds of a "One More Song" chant, but it ended quickly as the curtain that dropped was hoisted back up again. Understandable because they really havent rehearsed, but a rumor was going around at the show that they had changed it to six songs, and i was so close i didnt want it to end.

The press conference itself was cool if for no other reason then the boys were standing ten feet away from me shooting the shit down. I mean that literally as there was some really bad questions asked. Two good replies where when a guy in an accent was asking about argentina fans, Keith who couldnt understand what this guy was saying replied "Yeah Man Whatever you say" Mick quikly did the recovery and said "We Love Argentinian fans".

Great day for all and i am glad i had this experience in my life, dont know how many times i have left to see them, little surprised to see they are not playing madison sq garden, my favorite place to see them. As we were walking out my friends thanked me for being a stones dork, a great time for all.

P.s. Dont know if this has been mentioned, but alot of really really hot girls their today, kept my eyes busy while waiting for the band to come on!!!

Good post, thanx Mick

Any pics of the hot girls?

C

Don't count out MSG yet, from what I understand they still have arena and theater gigs to announce.

no pics of anything and i was so close, i forgot my camera do to a hangover in the morning... still lookin foward to hearin about the garden

Hey man,
If your day defines being a "Stones dork"... Long live us dorks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for sharing the story.
AWESOME.

What a great story. I really like the parts about Mick conducting the new song, (they may have never rehearsed it in full band format), and, the "old white boy music" thing is great! Glad to hear that guy was converted by the groove

I ain't stupid, I'm just guitarded.

Great posting sounds a perfect day

More stories from you who were there... !