Well, in 1976 I saw the Stones for the first time, at the same time this was my first big stadium concert. When I told my father I was going he said "You're crazy!" but he did not forbid it. So I went there with a few friends. The atmosphere was great. They had announced Robin Trower (whom I did not know) but he backed out and John Miles with his monster hit 'Music' filled for him - a great replacement.
I cannot really remember the Meters or Little feat because I did not know their songs so it was a steady flow of music. But we were soaking up the atmosphere - lots and lots of people. We were totally amazed to meet many other Stones fans.
When it grew dark there was an immense excitement. We had to wait for almost an hour before the lights went out and everything was dark. I had brought my cassette recorder with an excellent Sennheiser microphone and had succeeded in smuggling it in to record the Stones concert.
Suddenly everything was flashing with red light and there was Mick Jagger dancing and singing Honky ton women. Everybody went crazy because the Stones were hugely popular at the time (you really cannot compare the excitement they created to today's concerts). I clearly remember the two drummers Charlie Watts and Ollie Brown, and Ian Stewart on the piano.
Jagger was running all around for almost the whole show but a touching moment came when he sat on the piano to open Fool to cry. That was a real highlight. The other highlight was ‘You gotta move’ when Keith, Ron and Billy Preston shared a microphone to sing the gospel harmonies. And of course Midnight rambler was introduced to a storm of applause.
But there were also some difficulties. As we were sitting on the lawn some people began to stand up so you did not see the band anymore. So we kept yelling 'Sit down! Sit down' which spoiled for example the song '@#$%&'.
During some song (I do not remember which one it was) Jagger and Preston did their gay show. I was the time when the bisexual aspects were featured prominently in the choreography.
The final songs ‘Jumpin’ jack flash’ and ‘Street fighting man’ were played very fast, with the latter ending in a sea of noise. Then it was all over with some fireworks going on.
When I looked after my cassette player I found out that I had erroneously pulled the microphones out so nothing was recorded! A friend of mine had recorded it with a primitive cassette recorder and he had laid the cheap microphone on his head! So we had at least a rather scratchy audio memory of the show.
However, I was disappointed that the Stones had not played any oldies except for ‘Get off of my cloud’. Jagger’s singing was not too good, either, due to his sloppy pronounciation. But of course it was a great event in an era when the Stones were still legendary.
In 1982 it was the same feeling but in 1990 that feeling had vanished. Despite they delivered a great show it appeared theatrical and very technical, the choreography almost drowned the music out. The massive sampling of instruments not present on stage tightened that image. In 2006 I saw them again but now it was completely commercialized, sort of a Vegas show in a stadium. Although Jagger was incredibly fit for his age the ‘greatest hits show’ left me rather emotionally cold because of the cold professionalism where I missed the touching moments. Interestingly enough the song I liked most was a great version of ‘Satisfaction’, a song which I had outworn completely by listening to it frequently. It was amazing how fresh their 2006 live version still sounded.

vox12string Wrote:
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> I remember seeing the Kinks & 5-6 other bands @
> the Guildford Odeon, cost me 5-6 shillings, in
> 1966, my first concert.
>
> We had a youth club in my area which had sat night
> dances with local groups, this would have been
> 1965-6, it cost 1 shilling to get in. One night
> there was another band playing down the road but
> that cost 2 shillings & sixpence to get in, so I
> went to the youth club. Later on in the night some
> guys came back from the other gig, they said it
> was alright but there were only about 20 people
> there.
>
> That other band was The Who, I really blew it for
> the sake of 1/6 & I still regret it some 40 years
> later...


Oh Man! Yeah that'd have been awesome to see the Who still in their Mod days, when they were arrogant and smashed equipment.
Salt, Ive heard boots of the stones 75/76 tour and I didnt like their sound then, especially Mick, but it sounds like actually seeing them was different. Id love to have seen the stones even then in 75/76, even if I didnt like their current sound.
BTW, its great hearing all of these old concert memories. It helps reinforce the one point I left out: from the sounds of it these concerts were a party you went to with several friends and drank and took illegal drugs and had a good time. Now however, for the older generation to see the stones or the who or mccartney is a place for people to be seen. I went to see the who because i like the music, but as ive posted once before, my friend and I wanted to get up and dance and air guitar to the music, but the crowd we were by was sitting. SITTING AT A ROCK CONCERT! I think that just says is it all.

Edith Grove Wrote:
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> I went to many shows from '72 onwards and had a
> great time.
>
> Have to admit, though, that I really don't miss
> the
> smoke-filled arenas, general admission seating
> and
> stumbling over filthy drunk "fans" that are
> passed out on the floor in a pool of their own
> vomit!
> Aah, the good old days!
>
> Guess I'm just getting old.

That's exactly what I DO miss ;^)