Perfect Weekend (besides being sick)

The concert was incredible. More than I could have ever asked for. I was still sick of course (thanks for the advice though, Mikey and Karel) so my voice was almost gone. I could barely sing and scream! Well, I did sing and scream but it sounded horrid. You know the high "who who who whooooaah who who who" in "Miss You"? I couldn't get that high and it sounded dreadful, which made me a little depressed...I still don't have much of a voice. But anyway, enough of the negative comments! On with the show:

They started the night off with "Start Me Up". They played a lot of their 70's stuff. The only early songs they really played were "Get Off My Cloud" and "Satisfaction". "Satisfaction" was one of their encore songs (Keith's two jams in that song, were two of the biggest highlights of the night for me. I really hope the picture turns out that we took of him doing them.).

Alright, Michael Philip Jagger is still the exact same man he was forty years ago, I swear. Wow. He had on tight, black leather pants the whole time (he looked extremely fit in them...) and he changed shirts a couple times. His vocals were amazing on each song they performed, of course. I can't really explain Mick though, he's more then words can describe. Seeing him in person freaked me out. The first five minutes of the concert I couldn't look at the stage I was yelping and spazzing so much.

Keith was so amazing. He had on a t-shirt the whole time and changed jackets a couple times (green one, red one, and pink one I think). He did two songs solo without the others upfront...I had never heard either. One was "Slip Away" which I have heard about before, and it was very very good. I forget the other though. He sounded fabulous. And he wished us all a Happy Holiday in a way only Keith Richards could ("'Tis the season to be jolly....yeah right."). Oh my god, when he played his Tele I got weak in the knees, I've always thought he looked so perfect with it. Keef and his Telecaster = perfect match.

Woody was fabulous. I mean, he really was. He had on a red and pink striped CBGB shirt which was really special to me. I am a very big Ramones fan and if you're a Ramones fan then you know what I mean - CBGB is like, a shrine. I am proud to say I have been there with my lovely daddy (he introduced me to them after all). I have read some articles about the tearing down of the building and it's so upsetting...but I'm getting off topic. Ronnie performed very well, but he never talked which kind of got to me, I wanted to hear him.

Charlie, ah, Charlie Watts. I watched Charlie a great deal of the time. Just connecting his movements to the sound of the drum set, watching him hit the cymbals and snare with ease. He just had on a grey t-shirt, which I loved. He wasn't glamorous. He has always had me smiling, Charlie has. But he didn't talk either! Bummer.

The bass player, Daryl Jones, did a great job. Keith walked over to talk to him a lot, which I thought was cute, because he (Daryl) kinda played off to the side. They had back-up singers and saxophonists and a trombone player and a keyboardist. One back-up singer played some acoustic too, and tambourine. One back-up vocalist sang with Mick when they did a Ray Charles tribute, "Night Time Is the Right Time". She sang extremely well, but Mick hugged her for a while during the song which kind of got to me...ha ha. Bobby Keys played tenor sax (ya tenor!), and he has played with them since like 69, so that was very cool.

When they performed "Shattered" Mick ended the song and Keith kept playing for a second. It was adorable, because he was the only one still playing and then he stopped and looked at them and started giggling. Ahhh!

The encore songs were "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Satisfaction". "You Can't Always Get What You Want" is a very special song to me, I knew they were going to play it.

There were some drunk people in front of us (we were literally the top row in the highest part of the stadium, but we could still see fairly well) and after Keith sang one man said "I've heard karaoke worse than that but I'm not sure where" and they all flipped Mick off while they were performing "Honkey Tonk Woman" and "Get Off Of My Cloud". It was extremely annoying! And some other girls in front of us seemed to only know the chorus to "Satisfaction" and the rest of the time they were out getting beers and text messaging friends on their phones.

At the end of the concert my friend Ellen and I went down to the bottom where the floor seating was because during the last song there was a big explosion and streamers were let down from the ceiling and we wanted some for souvenirs (saying ceiling reminds me that there was a light fixture that was literally IN the ceiling, there was a hole cut so that it could go inside, and at one point during the concert the vibrations made the light fall out of the ceiling so it was hanging on a wire!). Anyway, we were down there and we got some streamers, and a man come over to us who was working by the stage and he said "Put your hands out" and I thought he was going to high-five us or something, and Ellen thought he was going to make us give our streamers back, but he handed both of us a pick! It says "Bigger Bang 2005" on one side and has the lick on the other side in red writing on white surface. And they do look used, I really think they have been touched by one of the Stones.

When we left the concert it took an hour to find our hotel. It was so scary, we were in the worst part of Memphis while we were driving around. It was the ghetto. And it was one in the morning. We finally made it to the Day's Inn, and it wasn't in as bad of an area as we thought it would be in, which was good.

Beale Street was great, we didn't get to walk around much but just looking all the way down the street at all the Blues light-up signs was cool. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe there (Entwistle bass, Keith's guitar, John Lennons Jacket, and Buddy Hollys glasses were the highlights).

I also went to the Civil Rights Museum yesterday, and I learned a lot. I saw the place where Dr. Martin Luther King was shot, that was eerie, and very upsetting. He was an amazing man. I feel ashamed of how people were treated during the Civil Rights Movement. And courage really is a trait that makes me admire people so much.

I went to Sun Studios, which was killer too. I have pictures from there. Seeing the studio was just mind-blowing. Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Otis Retting. Bloody amazing.

Okay, I went to Graceland today. I will never be the same. I didn't know what to expect at all, because I had never been there and I didn't know much about Elvis. But I really wasn't ready for what I saw. Elvis had such a big heart. He was so generous and nice. He was beautiful too. I mean, I have loved his music for a long time, his voice is what gets me. And his stage presence of course. The mansion was great. I loved the decorating. Classic mid-70's stuff. Wow, Priscilla was so pretty - ten years younger then him too! He went out with her a few times when he was in Germany and she was only 14! God, that would have been amazing. And for some reason, as I was walking through Elvis' house, I really felt at home. I felt a special connection. Anyway, I'm a complete Elvis fan now. I fall in love so easily.

I took a lot of pictures and I need to get them developed so I can scan them (they weren't digital).
Overall, this was a life-altering weekend. Tons of amazing experiences.
This is the longest post I've ever written, I understand if you just skimmed it, or maybe it scared you so you didn't even read it at all. You should get a good laugh out of comparing the length of this one to my other posts.
Alright guys, take care.
xoxo
- claire -