The Los Angeles set starts big, but in the tradition of show business pacing, it slows to allow Keith a steel guitar spot (“No Expectations”). Mick sits next to him on a stool. Then the set kicks up again with “Midnight Rambler.” It is another song from the dark side, a song of encompassing menace, describing a character somewhere between a cat burglar and an assassin.
If you ever catch the Midnight Rambler
I’ll steal your mistress from under your nose.
Well, go easy with your cold fandango
I’ll stick my knife right down your throat . . .
It is a good song to get the crowd going as Mick plays his evil persona. He takes off his studded belt and, whipping it over his shoulder, falls to his knees, slamming the stage. The band plays a single, percussive thump. The stage lights burn deep-red. Mick looks out at the audience. “Honey, it’s no rock ‘n’ roll show.” Thump! “I’m talking about the Midnight Rambler / The one you’ve never seen before.”
The song starts to pick up. The band is like an old steam engine coming to life. Soon Mick is up and roaming the stage again, and the song ends in crescendo.
“Let me see you out there, L.A. You’re beautiful,” says Mick.
This is the cue for Chip Monck – stage and lighting designer – to turn up the house lights in the stadium. Encouraged by the house lights, the kids from the back of the stadium rush to fill the aisles. The Stones launch into “Honky Tonk Woman.” Then one rocker follows another. Now the crowd is roaring, surging through the security guards, who wisely let them pass, crushing against the stage, pinning me against it so that I have to raise my cameras above my head and slowly squeeze out. On the stage above, Jagger and the Stones are safe, riding the energy of the crowd and the pulsing of “Street Fighting Man.” The show is a gas, the crowd is absolutely gone, and The Rolling Stones are back in America and blowing it away. FROM AN AMERICAN STORY
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