THE CONTINUING ADVENTURES OF THE X-PENSIVE GROUPIES - More 1997 Concert Reviews by Blue Lena

THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIENCE OCTOBER 11-13 1997
Ronnie & Keith in Philadelphia 97

The Set List: Satisfaction It's Only Rock'n Roll Flip The Switch Let's Spend The Night Together Gimme Shelter Sister Morphine Anybody Seen My Baby 19th Nervous Breakdown Out Of Control Memory Motel Miss You -- Introductions -- All About You (Keith) I Wanna Hold You (Keith) Little Queenie (center stage) Crazy Mama (center stage) The Last Time (center stage) Sympathy For The Devil Tumbling Dice Honky Tonk Women Start Me Up Jumping Jack Flash Brown Sugar (encore)
I arrived in NJ around 4:30 pm on Saturday Oct. 11. Holly & Joe greeted me at my car with the news that we had reservations for 8pm at the exclusive Philly restaurant, Suzanna Foo. Mick Jagger was rumored to be dining there, as he had done in 1994. We put on our best cocktail attire & headed to the Best Western Center City to pick up the rest of the Voodoo Lounge Chatroom Crew-Holly, Joe, me, Blinded, Jhabel, Sympathy, Micawber, Lenore, Michelle & Jimmy. WMMR was playing continuous Stones music as we barreled along in the mini van. Dinner was fabulous, and we cased the joint in pairs looking for any sign of Mick, but alas, we left with no Mick sighting & a $500 dinner tab! Never fear, Blinded suggested we head to the Ritz Carlton in search of the boys, and we did! Upon exiting the elevator we came face to face with Keith's body guard, who I recognized from a photo. We headed to the bar & laid out some cash for some seriously pricey beverages, but it was well worth it. Within an hour we found out that the Stones were indeed staying on floor 15. Mars Bar & Soul Survivor joined us at this point, making our party a total of 11 X-Pensive Groupies (thanks to Micawber for coining the phrase). We kept an eye on the restaurant door & soon were pleasantly surprised to see Ronnie & Jo Wood and their daughter exit the restaurant & breeze past us. We all said a quick greeting, but felt it was a bit too intrusive to ask for an autograph. A man sitting nearby us had gotten Ron's autograph earlier in the evening. Later we saw Bernard Fowler, Lisa Fischer and the road manager, Alan Dunn. We also believe that two of Mick's kids were at the bar. We closed down the bar at 2am without any sighting of Mick, Keith or Charlie, but seeing Ron made the whole evening worthwhile. Our party ended early Sunday morning about 4:30am at Holly's & unable to sleep because of the excitement of the impending show later that night, we were up again at 7:30am!
Charlie Watts in Philly 97
Holly & I arrived at Veteran's Stadium around 6pm, and were thrilled to get $5 parking, cheaper than in 94! We also parked near an exit which ensured an easy out after the show. We grabbed our brownies & some wine & beer & proceeded to gate F where we met up with the Sticky Fingers Journal contingent. We chatted a bit with Skippy, Misty, Dennis & Fred and a few other folks, then headed into the stadium. We got in line for the ladies room, but found the line length rather daunting so we made a B-line for the men's room & were in & out in 5 minutes, to the surprise of many guys at the urinals! We picked up some cool Bridges To Babylon stickers from WMMR & Holly bought an American tongue flag pin. Our tickets were for section A5, row 3, seats 37 & 38, but when we arrived down front (closer than we'd EVER been), we found no chairs set up for rows 1 & 2, and no seat numbers on the chairs. This ensured for several argumments over whose seats were whose before the show began, and then about 20 minutes after Blues Traveler finished, the security guys plunked down another row of chairs in front of us! We nodded at the folks beside us, and as the lights went down, we folded up the chairs & threw them over the fence-voila! Now we're in the FRONT ROW, stage right! I waited to see Keith standing in the shadows as I remembered from Columbus, and lo & behold there he was-once again decked out in cheetah coat & wrap-around shades-the epitomy of cool. The fireworks blasted from the oval behind the stage & the familiar chords of Satisfaction once again began the show. Mick started the show in a gold vest & white jacket, looking tres chic. We had the pleasure of Mick dancing directly in front of us on four separate occassions in four different outfits-that man looked, sounded & danced like never before-I could not believe he is 54 years old. Lisa Fischer did a little teasing in front of us also, wearing a dress that was slit up to you know where. Song-wise highlights again were Sister Morphine, Gimme Shelter, Out Of Control, Crazy Mama (at center stage), and the addition of Flip The Switch. But, the all-time best was Memory Motel! I was waiting sooooo long to hear that line trade off between Mick & Keith and it was well worth it (this song was voted in by the internet-thanks to VL & SFJ!), even if I was interupted by a crass security guard who insisted I show my ticket ONE MORE TIME, as Keith sang "she got a mind of her own, and she use it well, yeah, she's mighty fine, cuz she's one of a kind". Beautiful. And cool to see Mick sit at the piano for a spell. During Keith's set, in the middle of All About You, I received a marriage proposal from yet another security guard, which was humorous (he was bummed that I was married). All evening Holly & I stayed pressed against the fence, knees jammed between the steel bars (we have the bruises to prove it), waiting for Keith to make his way to stage right. We had a sign that said "WE LOVE YOU KEITH" and I had yet another skull scarf (this one black with multi-colored skulls) that I planned to whisk his way of the opportunity arose. Finally, when we thought the chance had passed, during the final song of the evening, Brown Sugar, Keith made his way over to us. Holly waved the sign, we screamed Keith's name & when he was within range, I threw my scarf onto the stage at his feet. He stepped over it & continued to play until he reached the end of the right ramp, hesistated, turned around, came back up to where we were, bent down & picked up the skull scarf, flung it over his left shoulder giving a look of thanks in our general direction. As he returned to center stage he threw the scarf on Charlie's drum kit & finished the song. We were so close to the cannons that shot off the fireworks that we could feel the heat on our face, and when the glitter was discharged, we got the brunt of it-in our hair, mouths, purses, bras, etc. Keith, lifted off his guitar, took off his shirt & put ON MY SCARF and walked to the front of the stage for the final bow with the band!!!

I was going nuts, I was shaking, it was unbelievable-Keith was wearing my scarf in front of all of Philadelphia!!! He is so cool, I mean what were the chances of me giving one scarf to Keith, let along two scarves at two shows in a row! WOW! I have heard that Keith wore the first scarf that I gave him to the airport in Canada. This one he wore THAT VERY NIGHT! I was tickled pink, Keith Richards made my life that night! And the best part is that this scarf contained a tag with my name, address, phone, email & website address...I expect to hear from you soon Keith :-)

KEITH IN PHILLY 10/12/97
Start Time: 9:25 p.m. End Time: 11:45 p.m.

The Set List: Satisfaction It's Only Rock'n Roll Let's Spend The Night Together Flip The Switch Gimme Shelter Sister Morphine Anybody Seen My Baby Bitch Out Of Control Star Star Miss You -- Introductions -- All About You (Keith) I Wanna Hold You (Keith) Little Queenie (center stage) Let It Bleed (center stage) You Got Me Rocking (center stage) Sympathy For The Devil Tumbling Dice Honky Tonk Women Start Me Up Jumping Jack Flash Brown Sugar (encore)

WASHINGTON, DC 10-23-97
Washington DC's Jack Kent Cooke Stadium was the site of concert number three for me. This was the kick-off concert for that brand new stadium & the Stones made several comments about it during the show. Keith remarked "you got a new room...I like it." I had the pleasure of staying at Carol's (Mrs. Taylor) house in Alexandria & met some fellow Sticky Fingers Journal folks, John, Mike, George & Tom. We headed to the stadium about 4:15 in rush hour traffic, but made it there just as they were letting cars into the lot. Set up a tailgate party in D-31, hanging my tongue banner on Mike's Explorer, tying red & gold balloons to the roof, and proceeding to chow down on the food Carol had packed in the cooler. Not long after we made our way to Gate E-1, where we hooked up with Skippy, Fred (Stray Cat), and Holly, more SFJ friends. Just then a police escort blaring sirens came by & everyone shouted "there's Mick in the van!" indeed Jagger had just arrived at the stadium! We proceeded to tie some balloons & a SFJ banner to a pole outside the stadium and within minutes I was able to meet Melissa & her husband Brian, some Voodoo Lounge folks. Holly & I scoped out the Sprint truck which had no free stuff to give away like in NJ. We checked the merchandise tents & throughout the night I showed great restraint by only purchasing 2 stickers (Rolling Stones Esablished 1962), and a tongue keychain. I tried on the varsity jacket though! As the sun went down, the night proceeded to get chillier. I was dressed in my black pants, black shirt with purple silk shirt over it & leopard jacket, and of course skull scarf around my waist (the standard Keithian concert outfit for me). Carol, Holly & I headed inside early & checked out our seats which were section 222, directly out from the center stage. Holly had a maragarita & in Keith's honor I had a Jack & Coke at the bar to keep us toasty. Sheryl Crow opened, and was the best opening act I've seen so far. Finally around 9pm the lights went down & I knew what was codming, once again there was Keith standing in the shadows as the fireworks reverberated through the stadium & the first notes of Satisfaction lit up the night! The crowd was 55,000 strong. Once again a fabulous show, although Skippy & Fred agreed that the NJ show took the cake so far. I was delighted that Bitch was added for tonight, with a stupendous horn section. Sister Morphine, what can ya say about that? Always a treat. And once again my prayers were answered in the internet vote-Star Star won, politically incorrect as it may be, I was dying to hear it! Miss You, which I can usually do without, was kicking & enturely renewed my interest in it. Anybody Seen My Baby was the best version I've heard so far, they're really polished it up. Out of Control rocked! Keith seemed to have forgotten most of the words to Wanna Hold You, not that anyone probably noticed that but me...and All About You was devine. Keith began to play the opening licks to Brown Sugar by mistake when it was time for Start Me Up, he & Ron had a laugh over that, we did too! Center stage was a treat, it was so cool to watch Keith do those Chuck Berry licks for Little Queenie & were all singing along to Let It Bleed, then You Got Me Rocking-hey hey! I guarantee that no one left that stadium disappointed, cold, but happy. After the show we met up with Skippy & Fred a second time, who were once again describing the marvels of being in the press pit-lucky dogs! I saw Fred's pix from Philly-god what great Keith shots he had :-) Carol & I arrived home about 2am (thanks to George for being our chauffer for the night). We proceeded to stay up & watch Stones videos till 4:30 am when the night finally got the best of us. Thanks guys for another great performance!! Vegas here I come...

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