A Peakerhead Stones Experience…or how I went to see the Stones and ended up in the men’s room.

Heather here. Thought I'd take over Peakerman's blog for a second with some of my deep thoughts and horrible camera phone photos!



I took my boyfriend as my hot date last night to see the Stones because he’d never seen them before. (This is probably something I should have asked about before it got serious, right?)

So began our love-to-hate affair with Cardinals Stadium, or whatever it is supposed to be called. I can’t keep up. I know Glendale wanted some love in a big way, but this is ridiculous. Did anyone stop to think about how hard it would be to make it to a 7:00 concert on the West side of town in traffic? Apparently not, but what’s done is done.

Note to faithful concert-going Peakerheads: take off an hour or so early from work when going to see a concert at the new Cardinals Stadium.

We left at 5:00 pm to get on the 101 at Cave Creek and ended up taking surface streets the whole way there and managed to have a quick bite at Sweet Tomatoes before the show. Because nothing says rock n’ roll like a salad.

Before I bash the new stadium too much, I will say its stock goes back up in my mind every time I think of the free parking. Even if the guys ushering us to the parking made us park way out at 77 East when there were plenty of available spots much closer. Ticket-taking, frisking and purse-searching took forever and that’s when I realized the Stadium had employed all of Sun City.

Note to Cardinals Stadium’s HR department: Snowbirds come here to spend their retirement money. We are not supposed to give them jobs.

We were then having a hard time trying to make it to our seats in 222 when my boyfriend -- to his credit -- asked for directions. The Stadium guy we asked told us to take the elevator at “the next tunnel.” So we walked down the next tunnel, which ended in me getting a peek at some urinals and a high-five from a guy who was making fun of me for being in the men’s room.

Fast forward to finally making it to our seats and the first notes of No More Mr. Nice Guy and me feeling like a school girl as I finally got to see Alice Cooper do a true arena-rock show. I’ve seen Alice only in small venues around town, so this was the ultimate treat.

Sound was awesome, the roof was open, and Alice was fantastic doing Lost in America, Dirty Diamonds, Poison, School’s Out, Billion Dollar Babies and more. He even had some demonic dancing girls, which I think should be at any concert, anywhere. He played for about an hour and I was just struck by his energy and theatrical persona on stage. I hope to see him play Cardinals Stadium again soon!

I wonder if he went out golfing today and how his game was?



Then there were the Stones! Ah, how I love going to see the Stones and I hadn’t gone in probably about eight years. You know when you’re going to see the Stones that the show will be a perfect entertainment spectacle. My boyfriend and I were just in awe of the setup alone before the show even began. I knew all it would take for me to get some satisfaction was to hear Start Me Up and we did.

They were right on musically, as my bassist boyfriend pointed out like the overgrown band nerd he is. And the sound. Oh, that sound. I thought the place sounded great and again, I was sitting in 222, so if your experience differed, let me know. There was really no better way to break in the Valley’s newest concert hall than with the Stones. There is a God, and he or she rocks.



My longtime love and admiration for Keith Richards was renewed last night as well. I think Larry Rodgers of the Arizona Republic says it best when he says Richards could be Johnny Depp’s father in Pirates of the Caribbean.

He was the same old Keith -- I still couldn’t understand much of what he was saying into the microphone. But his charisma was clearly apparent, cigarette hanging from his lips as he played his guitar as though the simple act of playing his song were fixing every ill in the free world and beyond.

Mick Jagger, King of the Baby-Daddies, was in stellar form as he bounced around the stage like the contents of Anna Nicole Smith's bra trying to settle. It was clear to me the Stones are still not settling down into grandfather-hood without a fight. Ticket sales were rough for this show, so I don’t see them doing another tour next year. But if they did, they’d still have enough juice to put on a good show like they did last night.

Loved the stage, have no idea how you got to sit within the stage structure itself to see the show. I’m not sure I would have wanted to sit there because I think those people missed the pyrotechnics and only got to see the Stones’ backs. Plus, they were definitely getting robbed when the Stones carted the stage down the catwalk to the other end of the stadium mid-show. The video screen they had in the center of the stage -- now that was the Bigger Bang! Think during the off-season Mick fires it up at home to watch home videos of all his kids and their supermodel moms?

Share your thoughts, add your own review; this is a blog afterall!

That’s it for me, Heather. Thankyoufalettinme be myself. Again.

Heather AT 987thepeak.com