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My brother called me up yesterday offering me a ticket to see the Rolling Stones at the Oakland Coliseum. I sat in the 9th row of regular seats, directly facing, but still quite far away from, the stage. I had never seen the Stones and probably wouldn’t have bought a ticket because I thought the geezers were overpriced, but I was proved wrong.

Van Morrison opened up and unfortunately did not play Moondance, despite there being an almost full moon. (Correction: Apparently they did play it but I missed it; I missed the first couple of songs.)

The Rolling Stones and gang rocked the crowd with nothing but classics. I carefully recorded the set list for posterity:

• Jumpin’ Jack Flash
• It’s Only Rock’n'Roll
• Let’s Spend the Night Together
• She Was Hot
• Dead Flowers
• Street of Love
• Bitch
• Midnight Rambler
• Tumblin’ Dice
• Got the Silver
• Connection
• Under My Thumb
• Just My Imagination (Running Away from Me)
• Start Me Up
• Honky Tonk Woman
• Sympathy for the Devil
• Paint It Black
• Brown Sugar
• (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction

I was amazed at how much energy McJagger has on stage and how he’s 65 and still a sex symbol; women were throwing their braziers at him and he lifted up his shirt to show them washboard stomach.

The stage decorations were the most I’ve seen at any concert before. I guess if you can’t really see the band, you’d better get to see some fireworks or something. For a couple of songs, a small part of the stage rolled down the catwalk, through the floor seats, to right in front of where I was sitting. They were close enough to where I didn’t have to watch them on the monitor.

The Rolling Stones are legends and still know how to entertain even a crowd as big as the Oakland Coliseum.