Aug. 9, 1975 review: The Rolling Stones in Rich Stadium

 

A major event in Buffalo rock concert history and a major civic event, as well. Unlike the other shows in Rich Stadium to that point, this was Page One stuff. 

Aug. 9, 1975 

‘It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll,’

But 70,000 Loved It 

          The Rolling Stones celebrated the end of their 2½-month American tour before 70,000 fans in Rich Stadium Friday night with a carnival of daredevil stunts and a blaze of fireworks.

          The British rock stars took to the stage beneath a yellow-and-white Camelot-style canopy 70 minutes past their scheduled 8:15 starting time for a farewell performance that was light on precision and heavy on exuberance.

          Despite advance fears, the largest crowd ever to attend a rock concert in Western New York was surprisingly orderly. The atmosphere inside the stadium was for the most part inebriated and serene.

          “The word for today,” observed WGRQ deejay Jim Santella, “is smooth.”

* * *

FOR SOME, however, the occasion was not so joyous. Throughout the day, sheriff’s deputies arrested 65 on drug charges. Thirty-five others were taken to Mercy and Our Lady of Victory hospitals with injuries.

          Two were admitted to Mercy Hospital – one with a pair of broken ankles suffered when he jumped over a fence, the other with an overdose of alcohol. One youth was treated for head injuries after he was hit by a coconut.

          First aid stations at the stadium treated about 400 for complaints ranging from cuts to woozy combinations of liquor and barbiturates.

          “It’s about what we expected,” one first aid worker remarked. “We figured we’d see the guy in here that was climbing the rope.”

* * *

THE ROPE-CLIMBER, who hung by his knees from the cross-stadium cable for several minutes during the opening set by the Outlaws, descended safely and got more applause than the eager-to-please country-boogie group from Florida did.

          The fans, baked by the hit afternoon sun, gave polite approval to the Outlaws and a minor ovation to second-billed Black singer-songwriter Bobby Womack, author of the Stones’ hit, “It’s All Over Now.”

          But it was the Stones they were after.

          The group had been in town since about 3 a.m. Thursday, flying in from their Wednesday show in Hampton Road, Va., and touching down at Niagara Falls International Airport after finding the Buffalo airport closed.

* * *

THEY SEQUESTERED themselves in a sealed-off floor of the Sheraton Inn—East. Thursday night they came out for a party at Jim-Bob’s Inn in Hamburg, thrown by their personal security men, several of whom are from the Buffalo area.

          Now they were late.

          It had been an hour since the stadium had oohed and aahed to stunt flyer Ed Mahler and marveled at helmeted Bennie Koske, “the human bomb,” who stepped into a box which seconds later was blown apart by an explosion.

          “Damn nerves,” the quavering Mr. Koske said to the crowd afterwards, shaking his head. “I can’t even hold onto the microphone.”

          The nervous daredevil earlier had forgotten his dynamite and aides had scurried about to find a substitute charge.

* * *

NOW TWILIGHT had fallen. Chants of “Stones, Stones, Stones” arose. Hoots and jeers greeted each new tape-recorded song on the PA system.

          A hot air balloon bobbed behind the stadium administration building. Were they going to descend in front of the stage, hop off and burst into “Honky Tonk Women?”

          Or were they simply sitting about in the wicker chairs in their dressing room, waiting for it to get dark enough so their lighting would be effective?

* * *

FRENZIED CHEERS greeted them at 9:25. Singer Mick Jagger widened his made-up eyes, swirled a purple cape and pranced from end to end of the big outdoor stage and out the V-shaped runway to the crowd barrier.

          It was essentially the same show they gave in Memorial Auditorium June 15 – including a couple of songs from pianist Billy Preston. “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” for the finale, no encore.

          It was less intense, however. After 45 concerts in 27 cities, the Stones seemed to be in this one for the fun of it. Vocals were enthusiastic, but sloppy. Jagger, in poor voice, slurred and curlicued lyrics into unintelligibility.

          The tour grossed about $13 million, spokesmen for the group reported. The permanent members – Jagger, guitarist Keith Richard, bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts – will get about $750,000 apiece.

          The group planned to rest in Buffalo today, then depart on individual pursuits. They are to get together again in two weeks to finish a nearly-completed album.

* * * * *

IN THE PHOTO: I can’t find a photo online from this concert, although I’m sure somebody must have some. The Aug. 9 issue of The News didn’t have any either, just a panoramic shot of the crowd and that guy hanging from the rope. The pic of Mick, Keith and Ronnie Wood is from one of their Madison Square Garden shows in June. 

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE: The Stones originally planned to take this Tour of the Americas to Central and South America, but when those arrangements fell through, four more U.S. dates were added at the last minute.

          This was their first tour with guitarist Ronnie Wood, who replaced Mick Taylor earlier that year. The lineup also included Billy Preston, who worked with them a whole lot in the mid 1970s, along with their longtime keyboardist Ian Stewart and percussionist Ollie Brown, a sessionman from Detroit who performed with the Stones on this tour and the next one in 1976.

          Here’s what the Stones played that night, courtesy of setlist.fm: 

Honky Tonk Women

All Down the Line

If You Can’t Rock Me/Get Off of My Cloud

Star Star

Gimme Shelter

Ain’t Too Proud to Bed

You Gotta Move

You Can’t Always Get What You Want

Happy

Tumbling Dice

It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (but I Like It)

Fingerprint File

Wild Horses

That’s Life (Billy Preston singing)

Outa-Space (Billy Preston again)

Brown Sugar

Midnight Rambler

Rip This Joint

Street Fighting Man

Jumpin’ Jack Flash 

I covered this date in tandem with another reporter, Barbara Snyder, who also was my girlfriend at the time. My orders were to report from inside the stadium. She was assigned to whatever was happening outside.

          Barbara’s coverage included an interview with Mrs. Robert R. Whiterel, “whose house is next to a stadium parking lot and diagonally across from the stadium itself.”

Although she told Barbara this concert was “very well-organized” compared with the first two that summer, “(she) reported she still had to contend with concert-goers relieving themselves on her lawn, offering marijuana to her 10-year-old son and using her property for sexual activity in at least one case. But all this happened more at previous concerts, she said.”