Gathering No Moss

GIMME SHELTER: Wednesday night we rode the rails to the stadium district. Our mission: To finally see one of rock and roll's most iconic bands, The Rolling Stones.

I'd never been to a concert at Century Link Stadium (home of the Seahawks) before, so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. Following the directions of staff standing on the street on the south side of the stadium, we ended up entering the stadium through the parking garage. Eventually we wound our way to three security lanes and breezed through there no problem. We were then pointed in the direction of a stadium entrance, but it was for suite guests only - definitely not a spot our nosebleed seat tickets would grant us entry.

Eventually we found some doors leading us to an elevator. Here's a photo of our view from there. 

That particular little patio was packed, but we waited a few minutes and eventually hitched a ride up to the stadium's top level. There, we had no trouble walking around and checking things out. (Mercifully concession lines were short and fast moving, and bathrooms weren't too bad a wait.)

It was about 7 p.m., and the crowd was still making its way to their seats.

On the concourse, we had to stop for this photo opp. It is the Seahawks' stadium, after all.

Soon enough, we made our way up to our seats. That was the first real "Uh oh" of the night for me. Turns out our seats were smack dab in the middle of a 30-seat long row. Ick. They were also right in the middle of a huge section from a top-to-bottom standpoint. Double ick. For a number of reasons, I *really* deplore being fenced in in the middle of a huge pack of people. (I much prefer to have my escape options more open). So, pretty much as soon as we sat down, I was looking for a Plan B - no easy feat when it's a sold out show and I don't know the stadium well at all.

We sat through the opening act, Lukas Nelson, who likely almost *always* has his name followed by the descriptor "son of Willie Nelson." That would get old, I'll bet.

Lukas plays a mean guitar, has shampoo-commercial hair and performs with a ton of energy. His accompanying band is Promise of the Real, BTW. They play what you might call American country rock. Fun trivia: Lukas Nelson was hired as an "authenticity consultant" to Bradley Cooper for "A Star is Born." He co-produced the music for the film, writing songs with Lady Gaga. His band appears in the film as lead actor Bradley Cooper's band. Nelson won a BAFTA Award for Original Music for his work for the film.

After the opener, there was the standard set-the-stage time, and then at 9 p.m. sharp, the Stones took the stage.

Wow - within the first measure of the first song, there was Mick doing his thing. At age 76, with a brand new heart valve, the guy most certainly still has the "moves like Jagger"! That guy can dance!

After four songs, the Stones moved to the foreward-most part of their stage and did an acoustic set of bluesy songs. That's when Annabelle and I struck out into the night to stake out a better place to watch the show.

We wound up wedging ourselves into some standing-room-only space at the south end of the stadium. It was a better view, and it was nice to have a solid concrete wall behind us to lean on (and to keep people from leaning on us!). Soon, Christian and CJ joined us down there.

CJ can tell you a bit more about the show. ...

In 2019, the Rolling Stones, arguably one of the single most influential and important bands in rock 'n roll history, embarked on the North American leg of their No Filter tour. The North American leg of the No Filter tour primarily stops at National Football League (NFL) stadiums, such as CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Washington. Due to the band members' age, it is likely that the No Filter tour will be their last major tour.

On August 14, 2019, the Rolling Stones made a tour stop at CenturyLink Field, in Seattle, Washington's SoDo neighborhood. The opener for the concert, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real (a band led by one of Willie Nelson's sons), played a (relatively) short set driven primarily by folk rock. I wasn't terribly impressed, but clearly a lot of concertgoers begged to differ. After about 30 minutes, the Stones began their set with Street Fighting Man, a cut from their 1968 LP Beggars (sic) Banquet. For the fourth song on the setlist, the Rolling Stones let the crowd vote (using the band's website) which song to play. The song that won was Beast of Burden, a major radio hit that came from the band's 1978 release Some Girls.

The Rolling Stones played acoustic renditions of Sweet Virginia and Dead Flowers on a b-stage in the center of the stadium, before returning to the main stage. Once the band returned to the main stage, they played Sympathy for the Devil (another cut from Beggars Banquet), one of the Rolling Stones' biggest radio hits. Afterwards, the band progressed through more of their radio hits, such as Honky Tonk Women, Paint it Black, Start Me Up (which I missed part of because I had to use the bathroom really bad), Jumpin' Jack Flash, and Brown Sugar. After the crowd demanded an encore for long enough, the band returned to the stage with their two biggest hits, Gimme Shelter and (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. 

Even though we left as the last chord of the last song was fading away, we managed to see the band being whisked away from the stadium as we were leaving. I can't believe how quickly they got out of there. We practically ran for the exits, but the Stones' egress was faster, because we had to wait on the sidewalk for their police escort to pass.

All in all, it was a fun night, and I'm glad we made the effort to see some rock legends while we still had the chance.