Jesse Joe
09-25-2006, 06:18 AM
Stones rock in the rain
Rock superstars play for 50,000 fans in Halifax Common
http://www.canadaeast.com/storyImages/CEExport91561_42755.jpg
(THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones performs Saturday in Halifax.
http://www.canadaeast.com/storyImages/CEExport91783_42837.jpg
Halifax's Rolling Stones show, above, attracted between 40,000 and 50,000 people, slightly more than half of the 80,000 who attended the Moncton show last year.
HALIFAX (CP) - Gimme shelter, any shelter.
More than 50,000 fans endured frigid temperatures and driving rain Saturday as the Rolling Stones headlined the largest concert ever held in Halifax.
The Commons, a large park in the heart of the city, was turned into a boggy mess by the end of a six-hour show that also included performances by Kanye West, Alice Cooper and Sloan.
"How are you doing out there?" Jagger asked the rain-lashed spectators decked out in rain gear and garbage bags. "You're fantastic to be out there in this."
So were the Stones, who, with the exception of drummer Charlie Watts, were exposed to the elements for the duration of the two-hour, 19-song set.
Jagger ducked offstage several times to change into something dry while a grinning Ron Wood donned a yellow sou'wester tossed from the crowd.
"You can't choose the weather, I guess," cackled guitarist Keith Richards, who was somehow able to keep a cigarette lit even during the worst of it. "It's your town, not mine."
The Stones took the stage to a burst of fireworks from the top of a massive 8½-storey stage that resembled the front grill of a massive car.
It ended with an even bigger eruption that blanketed the crowd in smoke and sent them home happy.
The rain sprinkled down lightly as thousands of fans snaked through security and into the park.
But the skies really opened up for Cooper's early-evening performance, soaking the band and a live python that joined the aging shock-rocker for one of his songs.
Rick and Darlene Fredette of nearby Dartmouth, paid $500 each to watch the concert from a perch inside one of the stage's massive wings.
It was the couple's third Stones show. They saw the band in Moncton last year and in Boston in 1994, and didn't seem to mind the wet weather.
"It would be nice to show Halifax a little better than pouring rain, but there's still a lot of smiles out here," said Rick Fredette. "How can you not want to soak it up, literally?"
Promoters have hinted more big shows could follow, but with the turnout well below the 80,000 that took in the Stones concert in Moncton last September, it remains to be seen if that will happen.
[ September 26, 2006, 07:59: Message edited by: Jesse -Joe ]
Rock superstars play for 50,000 fans in Halifax Common
http://www.canadaeast.com/storyImages/CEExport91561_42755.jpg
(THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones performs Saturday in Halifax.
http://www.canadaeast.com/storyImages/CEExport91783_42837.jpg
Halifax's Rolling Stones show, above, attracted between 40,000 and 50,000 people, slightly more than half of the 80,000 who attended the Moncton show last year.
HALIFAX (CP) - Gimme shelter, any shelter.
More than 50,000 fans endured frigid temperatures and driving rain Saturday as the Rolling Stones headlined the largest concert ever held in Halifax.
The Commons, a large park in the heart of the city, was turned into a boggy mess by the end of a six-hour show that also included performances by Kanye West, Alice Cooper and Sloan.
"How are you doing out there?" Jagger asked the rain-lashed spectators decked out in rain gear and garbage bags. "You're fantastic to be out there in this."
So were the Stones, who, with the exception of drummer Charlie Watts, were exposed to the elements for the duration of the two-hour, 19-song set.
Jagger ducked offstage several times to change into something dry while a grinning Ron Wood donned a yellow sou'wester tossed from the crowd.
"You can't choose the weather, I guess," cackled guitarist Keith Richards, who was somehow able to keep a cigarette lit even during the worst of it. "It's your town, not mine."
The Stones took the stage to a burst of fireworks from the top of a massive 8½-storey stage that resembled the front grill of a massive car.
It ended with an even bigger eruption that blanketed the crowd in smoke and sent them home happy.
The rain sprinkled down lightly as thousands of fans snaked through security and into the park.
But the skies really opened up for Cooper's early-evening performance, soaking the band and a live python that joined the aging shock-rocker for one of his songs.
Rick and Darlene Fredette of nearby Dartmouth, paid $500 each to watch the concert from a perch inside one of the stage's massive wings.
It was the couple's third Stones show. They saw the band in Moncton last year and in Boston in 1994, and didn't seem to mind the wet weather.
"It would be nice to show Halifax a little better than pouring rain, but there's still a lot of smiles out here," said Rick Fredette. "How can you not want to soak it up, literally?"
Promoters have hinted more big shows could follow, but with the turnout well below the 80,000 that took in the Stones concert in Moncton last September, it remains to be seen if that will happen.
[ September 26, 2006, 07:59: Message edited by: Jesse -Joe ]