Stones roll toward UM:
University gathers no moss
preparing for big concert

In case you’ve been vacationing on Mars, one of rock’s most legendary bands, the Rolling Stones, has planned an Oct. 4 concert in Washington-Grizzly Stadium at The University of Montana.

General seating tickets ranging in price from $78 to $500 (or more) went on sale Aug. 14 and sold out quickly. Now the hard part is waiting for Mick, Keith, Ron and Charlie to actually perform beneath the giant M on Mount Sentinel.

“I think the Rolling Stones coming to The University of Montana and coming to Missoula is just huge for this institution,” said UM Executive Vice President Jim Foley. “There are a lot of folks working together on campus to make this work. They are working together with campus and people downtown to make this an event that not just The University of Montana and Missoula can be proud of, but Montana can be proud of.”

And the best part? Foley gets to go.

“And the governor and lieutenant governor will be here. It’s going to be interesting,” he said.

Washington-Grizzly Stadium may be the largest venue in Montana, but the roughly 22,000 it holds for concerts is small potatoes to the Rolling Stones. So how did UM land the gig?

According to Adams Center Director Mary Muse, it started earlier this year when the Stones decided to add some new North American dates to their A Bigger Bang Tour. The group apparently decided to visit some smaller markets where they had never played — places such as Montana.

Staff members for Live Nation, the Stones’ promoter, surfed the Web looking for suitable venues in Big Sky Country and hit upon Washington-Grizzly Stadium, which is how they wound up calling Associate Athletic Director Chuck Maes.

“Chuck wasn’t even sure what they were talking about at first,” Muse said. “The guy on the phone said ‘Live Nation’ and Chuck thought they said ‘libation.’ He wasn’t sure it was a legitimate call. But when he figured out what was going on, he transferred the call to Tom Webster, the director of the University Theatre who does our entertainment coordinating.”

Webster has produced and promoted shows since 1985, with 12 of those years at UM. He was vacationing in Columbia Falls during spring break when the Live Nation people started calling his cell phone.

“I never thought I would be dealing with the Rolling Stones,” said Webster, who has seen the band in concert five times and says they keep getting better with age. “Honestly, at first I was surprised they wanted to attempt an outdoor concert in Montana in October. But you can’t say no to something like this.

“I believe they are the biggest name in entertainment, and we’ve never had anyone of their stature play at (UM) or in Montana,” he said. “The only thing you can compare it to in the history of the state is the Jack Dempsey (heavyweight boxing) fight in Shelby (in 1923).

As he slips into promoter mode, Webster said the Stones are the best at what they do. “How else could they sustain a 40-year career? And I don’t think they’ve played a market as small as ours since the 1960s.”

But back in March, Live Nation was just checking out the venue. Muse and Webster e-mailed photos of the stadium and negotiations began. Representatives from Live Nation and the Stones’ road crew also visited the stadium and decided it could work for them.

Muse said every concert at UM involves a high level of cooperation among athletics, which always gets displaced or otherwise inconvenienced by the event; the Adams Center, which handles big venue and ticketing issues; and UM Productions, the student funded and operated organization that handles hospitality, catering, construction, logistics and more.

As the Stones concert began to seem like it might really happen, Muse and the other planners asked for a green light from top UM administrators, who had one big question: How does UM coach Bobby Hauck feel about having a concert right in the middle of football season?

“So I called Bobby at home one evening and asked him, ‘So, Bobby, what do you think?’” Muse said. “And he said, ‘You know, Mary, you will probably never get another chance at this again because these guys are going to die soon. So go ahead, we’ll make it work.’ It just made me appreciate what a team player he was.”

UM Productions Director Gale Price, a 23-year-old student, said all her staff members have Rolling Stones binders to help them keep track of all the details for the upcoming big event.

“Our staff has been amazing, and this is the chance of a lifetime for our crew,” Price said. “And we are up to the task. A lot of people are like, ‘Oh, my gosh! How different is this?’ It isn’t that much different than a normal concert. It’s on a bigger scale, but it’s all the same components.”

Price has seen initial drawings for the stage, which will face north and may include a walkway extending out into the crowd. She said most seats will offer excellent views of the band, but people on Mount Sentinel won’t be able to see much.

Webster said they did a pretty good job keeping the possibility of a Stones concert secret for months, though rumors began swirling this summer. “I spent a lot of time telling media people that I can neither confirm nor deny,” he said. “I have to admit we felt a lot of elation when we got final confirmation on the show about a month ago.”

One slight hiccup happened when the initial concert date was moved from Oct. 6 to Oct 4, but that wound up being a blessing since it provides two more days to prepare the stadium for the Homecoming football game on Oct. 14.

Foley said he, Muse, Maes and others meet in a small group every Thursday to ensure coordination for the big concert is going well. This group is led by UM Vice President for Administration and Finance Bob Duringer.

Muse said UM structured a deal in which the University is guaranteed not to lose money. “This is a straight-up rental deal,” she said. “We are not at risk.”

She hopes the Stones concert may bring more big-name acts to Washington-Grizzly Stadium, which hasn’t hosted such an event since Pearl Jam in 1998.

“If we could host at least one show every year, what a neat thing that would be for Montana,” Muse said. “I think it’s also a big image builder for the University.”

As for Webster, he said, the Rolling Stones concert has brought him back into contact with a lot of old friends.
“I’m from Glendive, and I’ve been hearing from people I haven’t spoken to in 30 years,” he said.

“They all want tickets.”