Stones give plenty of satisfaction

The Rolling Stones worked their mojo on a sellout crowd at Washington-Grizzly Stadium at a mid-week concert in early October that at times seemed more like an invasion than a rock concert. The physical requirements of the show, as well as the draw of the legendary band, challenged UM’s event planners, security team, and faculty, staff and students alike.

The stage for the Stones’ A Bigger Bang tour took four days to assemble, and the tour’s 70 semi-trailers required 12 percent of campus parking for the better part of a week. The campus buzzed with the construction and preconcert anticipation. Mass-transit options were upped early in the week and put into overdrive for the Oct. 4 concert. Security was at an all-time high.

But UM planning proved more than adequate, with the night coming off with nary a hitch. Montana weather even cooperated — it was balmy and clear as the swarms filed in; the light rain predicted for the evening began only as the crowd snaked out of the stadium.

A San Francisco band, the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, opened for the aging rockers while a near-full moon rose over Mount Sentinel. About a half hour after their set, the 21,000 revelers, satisfied with the time given for socializing and consuming snacks and beverages, began a wave that coursed through the arena several times. Outside thousands opted for free-of-charge proximity to the happenings by climbing Mount Sentinel or Mount Jumbo or simply placing lawn chairs on the campus grass.

When the Stones appeared with a stunning fireworks display to open with “Jumpin Jack Flash” a roar arose and people were on their feet, some not sitting for the next two hours. A massive sound system allowed people in downtown Missoula and the Rattlesnake area to hear many of the songs.

Set on a six-story backstage, the world-class spectacle included amazing lighting and a 40-foot video screen. Thirty-foot tongues of fire (something like the jet propulsion associated with rockets) shot from the top of the backstage that lit the arena as if daylight had arrived. A moving stage mounted on a catwalk brought the rockers the length of the stadium and put many of the audience within a few feet of the band. On the backstage, the band’s signature lips and tongue protruded and pulsated in what appeared to be a nearly house-sized helium sculpture.

The musicians delivered an impressive performance, with Mick Jagger strutting his stuff and Keith Richards charming the crowd by noting he found Montana, on his first trip here, to be “beautiful country.” He added he was “thinking about moving in.”

The rockers dispelled any suggestion that the band may be over the hill as they delivered more than two hours of hits such as “Let’s Spend the Night Together” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” Happily, the same couldn’t be said for the three or four generations of Montanans who filed out of Washington-Grizzly Stadium that night.

— Joan Melcher

Editor’s Note: UM obtained a market analysis of where the concert tickets were purchased. Here is a smattering of the results: Arizona, 194; Florida, 71; Texas, 223; and New Hampshire, 296.