Rolling Stones: Still No Moss

Forget the music. The Rolling Stones concert at Foxboro Stadium wasn't so much a performance of music as it was a performance of performance. The Stones, ever the embodiment of good ol' pure, simple rock and roll, were the perpetrators of one of the most extravagant spectacles imaginable. They surfed through the concert on the crest of this dynamic--the simple versus the extravagant, the simple made extravagant, an interplay which in retrospect was the ideal way to showcase one of music's most long-beloved and constant phenomena.

What a spectacle, a feast for the senses! Foxboro Stadium, the home of the New England Patriots, was awash with people, filling not only the regular football seating but also cramming the playing field. The stage, an enormous construction dominated by speakers, lights and immense curtains, was set up where one endzone would be. When the Stones took the stage, the curtains parted part way and a gigantic oval-shaped screen literally exploded into existence, shooting flares out over the audience.

Lights radiated from every corner of the premises: colored lights mounted on the stage structure which swayed and changed color and intensity in time with the chord changes of the music, then swiveled expectantly out at the audience, soliciting applause, great fingers of spotlight beams which converged on the stage and performers from towers set up all around the stadium. Mist from fog generators hung over the stage, making the intricate network of crossing beams seem almost tangible, like a gigantic multi-colored jungle gym which danced and contorted itself with wild abandon. Above, an airplance flew in circles, tethered to the stadium by a bright rope of white light. Throughout the stadium, the twinkle of ushers' flashlights reminded one of the vastness of the venue, the vastness of the event, and the sense of all-encompassing spectacle was so great that even the stars visible overhead seemed to be some celestial hosts holding up their cigarette lighters in approval.

As would be expected, the sound system was no less impressive. Enormous towers of speakers fully as high as the facade of the stadium, strategically positioned, infused the entire space with incredible vibratory energy, so compelling and powerful it was easy to confuse the thumping of the bass drum with one's own heartbeat. The experience was so enveloping and oversized,. with the oval screen providing live close-up camera shots of the performers, that it might have been easy to overlook the relatively miniscule Rolling Stones themselves, to not fully realize that the ubiquitous sound and energy was actually being created right there before us by real men with guitars and drums. Yet somehow the Stones, Mick Jagger in particular, did not have to compete for attention with their surroundings as lesser showmen might have, but instead thrived on them, became one with them and seemed to control every aspect of them.

Everything about Mick Jagger was exaggerated, starting with his mouth, which, when wide open, seemed to occupy a much greater area of his face than it should. His movements were distinctive and ostentatious; he flailed his arms out at the audience, fingers extended and wrists bent back, kicked up his legs, bent at the knees. His whole dance seemed to be inspired by some kind of stilted stylish treading of water, and he did it freely and extemporaneously all around the stage. There were catwalks set up from the stage out towards the sides of the field, which Mick danced up and down to commune with the crowd and prompt them to sing along. He went through a variety of jackets over the course of the show, colorful blazers, some with sequins, while the other Stones, Keith Richard, Charlie Watts and others, sported long overcoats. Mick would often punctuate the relative silence between songs with accent-drenched outbursts of "Thank you very much, thank you very kindly." He also occasionally asked the audience if we were "keeping warm" on the chilly night.

Let's not forget the music. The songs of the Rolling Stones have never been hailed as ingenious, musically or lyrically, but have consistently had the ability to get the job done. Something about the Stones epitomizes the essence of uncomplicated and robust rock and roll, a quality which is especially reinforced in a concert setting. Their music has a visceral appeal; something that makes it greater than the sum of its parts. Rock is simply an idiom which they have mastered. One might say their mastery for the sheer feel of rock music is greater even than their musical proficiency in creating it.

This is why their extreme longevity and constancy as a group is appealing, indeed amazing. Though on Monday night their faces were drawn, wrinkled and gaunt, the similarity of the feel of the group and their music to the way it was 30 years ago is startling. As if to drive home this point, they opened the concert with "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," one of their earliest and best known singles. They proceeded to mix and match such established favorites as "It's Only Rock and Roll," "Start Me Up," "Let's Spend the Night Together," "Honky Tonk Women," "Star, Star" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want," with songs from their new album Bridges to Babylon, including "Flip the Switch," Anybody Seen My Baby" and "Out of Control." The set list had a remarkable flow to it, facilitated by the rock solid and almost unwavering style of the music. Only extremely minor differences existed between songs that spanned thirty years.

The closing segments of the concert really illuminated the dueling influences of simple and extravagant. As if to take a break from the nearly overwhelming light show that surrounded them on the main stage, the group at one point walked across a bridge which telescoped out to the middle of the field, where a small elevated stage awaited them. Here, they played such songs as "Crazy Woman," "The Last Time" and "Sympathy for the Devil" isolated in the very midst of the thousands of screaming fans, without any lights or effects to distract. If their point was to show that they didn't need the hype to be good, than they proved it well, as the crowd seemed to feel a special connection with the group during this segment. This absence of spectacle only made it seem more spectacular when they then walked back to the main stage to perform several last crowd-pleasers. The lights and magic around them really took off, and the ends of some of the last few numbers were punctuated with incredible pyrotechnic displays that completely lit up the sky. The encore brought both the simply classic and the fantastic to a maximum. While the group played "Brown Sugar," one of their most beloved singles, the air filled with gigantic geysers of confetti, which completely blanketed the stadium. Throughout all of this, the simple, pure rock and roll that is the Rolling Stones never seemed to be at odds with the lavishly flamboyant motif of the concert. It all worked. It all provided plenty of satisfaction

Let's not forget the music. The songs of the Rolling Stones have never been hailed as ingenious, musically or lyrically, but have consistently had the ability to get the job done. Something about the Stones epitomizes the essence of uncomplicated and robust rock and roll, a quality which is especially reinforced in a concert setting. Their music has a visceral appeal; something that makes it greater than the sum of its parts. Rock is simply an idiom which they have mastered. One might say their mastery for the sheer feel of rock music is greater even than their musical proficiency in creating it.

This is why their extreme longevity and constancy as a group is appealing, indeed amazing. Though on Monday night their faces were drawn, wrinkled and gaunt, the similarity of the feel of the group and their music to the way it was 30 years ago is startling. As if to drive home this point, they opened the concert with "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," one of their earliest and best known singles. They proceeded to mix and match such established favorites as "It's Only Rock and Roll," "Start Me Up," "Let's Spend the Night Together," "Honky Tonk Women," "Star, Star" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want," with songs from their new album Bridges to Babylon, including "Flip the Switch," Anybody Seen My Baby" and "Out of Control." The set list had a remarkable flow to it, facilitated by the rock solid and almost unwavering style of the music. Only extremely minor differences existed between songs that spanned thirty years.

The closing segments of the concert really illuminated the dueling influences of simple and extravagant. As if to take a break from the nearly overwhelming light show that surrounded them on the main stage, the group at one point walked across a bridge which telescoped out to the middle of the field, where a small elevated stage awaited them. Here, they played such songs as "Crazy Woman," "The Last Time" and "Sympathy for the Devil" isolated in the very midst of the thousands of screaming fans, without any lights or effects to distract. If their point was to show that they didn't need the hype to be good, than they proved it well, as the crowd seemed to feel a special connection with the group during this segment. This absence of spectacle only made it seem more spectacular when they then walked back to the main stage to perform several last crowd-pleasers. The lights and magic around them really took off, and the ends of some of the last few numbers were punctuated with incredible pyrotechnic displays that completely lit up the sky. The encore brought both the simply classic and the fantastic to a maximum. While the group played "Brown Sugar," one of their most beloved singles, the air filled with gigantic geysers of confetti, which completely blanketed the stadium. Throughout all of this, the simple, pure rock and roll that is the Rolling Stones never seemed to be at odds with the lavishly flamboyant motif of the concert. It all worked. It all provided plenty of satisfaction