Concert FAQs: Questions and conundra
Where did the Stones stay? Richmond's Hotel Jefferson for the duration of the D.C.-Charlottesville-Durham leg of the tour. But Mick spent concert night and one more at Keswick Hall.
What's with Mick's welcome to concert-goers from Midlothian? Jagger likes to know where people are coming from, and perhaps the Richmond suburb best known for its "motor mile" of auto dealerships posted a high number of ticket sales. Perhaps he saw it on a map, and it struck his fancy. Perhaps he was thinking of Midlothian, the scenic Scottish town just outside of Edinburgh. Or, perhaps he's just a little zany.
What was his reference to "Lane"? Some non-sports fans didn't realize that when Mick expressed that it's "cooler" in Scott Stadium instead of "Lane," he was discreetly dissing UVA's longstanding rival, Virginia Tech, which plays football at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg.
Where did "the wave" begin? In the 1980s. Sorry. It started near the end of the bomb-scare break by four or five young men in lower level section 116. It took several tries to get it going, but once it did, it went all the way around the stadium nearly a dozen times– even engaging people in the floor seats.
What was the final attendance? A day before the show, promoter Tres Thomas put the figure at 55,000.
How does Scott Stadium stack up on the tour? This is one of the four biggest crowds on the Bigger Bang tour. According to published capacities, only New Jersey's Giants Stadium, Chicago's Soldier Field, and Canada's Magnetic Hill (the last just a Foxfield-style field) have a larger capacity.
Is it true that always-necktied UVA President John Casteen was actually entertaining his guests in the President's box in an open-collared shirt? Yes.
How 'bout those t-shirts? The Scott Stadium commemorative has the tongue symbol over the UVA crossed sabres. On the back: "Sweet Virginia is for Stones Lovers." $35 at the show; $33 online. (Blinking tongues were just $10 at the stadium and online.)
And who sells all the Stones merch on the web? Crozet-based MusicToday
Where'd the band go during the bomb scare? They were seen jumping into two white vans near the colonnade and driving back to their dressing rooms in Bryant Hall.
What did the bomb scare cost us? Besides an hour of everyone's time, we missed two Stones songs, "The Worst" and "Infamy," which Keith Richards has been singing during nearly every previous concert on this tour.
What was the street price of tickets? Tickets were officially priced at $60, $95, $160, and $350. Re-sellers around the Stadium were getting face value– and worse as the show wore on. See below.
Any alcohol problems? Atlanta resident Caroline Echols relates the tale of two Williamsburg-area friends who were ousted for in-stadium drinking. The two left their wives (one of them pregnant) behind and sought replacement tickets. They found another pair of tickets for $20 each. "They were only out during the bomb scare," says Echols, "so they didn't miss a song."
How did the band get to Scott Stadium? Charlie Watts, Keith Richards, and Ron Wood came via limos on I-64. Mick Jagger arrived in a police car after his town car was involved in a minor accident with a fire truck near the Charlottesville Airport.
Did the late concert break any noise laws? Charlottesville's noise ordinance limits after-10pm volumes to 75 decibels in the downtown commercial district and to 55 decibels in neighborhoods. But UVA turf is exempt from such local codes, says city spokesman Maurice Jones.
So where was the Dave? On a family vacation to South Africa.
Who got to be up inside the fire-breathing dragon? In all, there were 230 people up there inside the wings of the stage acting as human graphic equalizers as bright lights swirled behind them. Some folks were winners of the text-messaging lottery that provided upgrades from their regular seats. And there were VIPs– including 20 friends of the Music Resource Center, each of whom paid $2,500 with 50 percent of the proceeds going to the Center, according to Center chair Fritz Berry. "It was really neat," says Berry. "You were looking over the shoulders of these guys and seeing them interact."
Speaking of the fire-breathing dragon, why could we all feel that heat so fast? "It was infrared photons– radiation– that were reaching you instantly," says UVA physicist Donal Day. "Radiation travels at the speed of light." By contrast, the sounds from the erupting flame jets were ambling along at a mere 750 miles per hour or 1,100 feet per second. That means a fan on the far end of Scott Stadium might have to wait half a second to hear the pyrotechnics. By then, the warm wash of heat would have already hit its 55,000 targets.
How can Mick move so well? He is not the typical 62-year old, and he wasn't always buff. According to Blown Away: The Rolling Stones and the Death of the Sixties by A.E. Hotchner, "My dad was a physical training teacher; his job didn't really rub off on me. I didn't believe in running if there was a chance of walking." In Sympathy for the Devil: the Rolling Stones Story, Phillip Norman reveals that Jagger took up jogging and other exercises in time for the 1981 "Tattoo You" tour.
How else is Mick different? He's the father of seven children by four different women.
Is he really Sir Mick? Yes. In December 2003, the Queen of England awarded Jagger knighthood– but not without controversy. For starters, he lives much of the year in France. And Keith Richards, who took a dim view of accepting such an establishment honor, wasn't holding out hopes for his own knighthood, according to the BBC. "They knew," Richards said at the time, "I'd tell them where they could put it."
How did our football turf hold up? So well that none had to be replaced– unlike Boston's Fenway Park which had to replace 40,000 square feet of outfield after the first two shows of the tour. And UVA's underground drainage system was similarly undamaged, according to UVA spokesperson Carol Wood.
I sit and watch as girls go by.
Three songs on this sled made Scott Stadium suddenly smaller.
Stage view
They're the first to come and the last to leave: roadies at 1am.
Fifth row denizen Barbara Hopper of Lynchburg laughs as "The Wave" goes by.
These seats helped raise $25,000 for the Music Resource Center.
Not enough tongues got a hold of this tongue
The last frontman to pack Scott Stadium was away on vacation
Even after six to seven inches of rain, David A. Harrison III field gets a drink on the afternoon of Sunday, October 9