Sunday 7 July 2013

The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park


The perfect summers day at London's Hyde Park. At 8:30pm as the sun began to set The Rolling Stones took to the stage for a 2 hour set that was pure class. The place was absolutely packed and I have never seen so many queues for food, drinks and merchandise, but everyone appeared to be there for a good time from what I saw. I must admit that I am not exactly a huge Stones fan, but when the concerts at Hyde Park were announced I thought it would be pretty cool to get to see this band, especially as there might not be another opportunity. A little bit of detective work got me a code for the pre-sale, so I safely had my ticket before the mad scramble for tickets started.


Fortunately the numerous HD screens and speaker gantries meant that the sound was pretty good all over the site, and this was also helped by there being no wind. By the time I arrived I had no chance of getting anywhere close to the front. The big question for me was could the band still do it, and with the rather steep ticket prices I had high expectations. Absolutely no worries on that score, from the opening chords to Start Me Up to the finale of Satisfaction they just rocked the house down!  This is a band whose influence and importance to the history of the British music scene cannot be underestimated.For me it was the older songs that really were the highlights, especially "Gimme Shelter" and the absolutely stunning version of "Can't Always Get".



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