Kansas City Here We Come!!!

42 YEARS AND COUNTING!

JUNE 26....Our Anniversary!

So today would be a travel day for us...to get to Kansas City...and it would also be our 42nd Anniversary. Seems we’ve had quite a few Anniversaries on tour with the Stones...and this would add one to the list. After settling up our bill and meeting everyone to board the bus to the plane, we took off for KC. Many of the folks in our entourage gave us good wishes during the trip. We landed late afternoon and were bussed to The Westin Hotel at what is known as Crowne Center, a shopping/convention area that includes the hotel. I was getting pretty desperate to do laundry, and had found out about a place not too far away that had a good “fluff and fold” service. I called them up to make sure I could get my clothes back the next day, and they said they could...so I took a taxi there to drop it off. Back at the hotel I did some research to find a good restaurant, and after checking online and speaking with the concierge, settled on Pierpoint, which had a good reputation and was just a short walk over to Union Station, the renovated Train Station. It proved to be a good move...great food, again, well prepared and not so “fancyfied”....and excellent service. Nice bar as well. We enjoyed our Anniversary dinner and our time together...as we always do, but especially on this special occasion. Forty-two years...I think other than Charlie and Shirley Watts, we hold the record of longest marriage in the Stones’ entourage. Cool.

JUNE 27/28

The Nelson-Adkins Museum

Showtime....again. This will be the 12th Stones show of the tour, the 10th stadium/outdoor show, in Arrowhead Stadium. I had done the morning routine...coffee, gym, fetched my clothes from the laundry and had written up the set list. Rose Lane went on the early van at 2:30 and I held back for the “Band” van at 3:30.

Ed Sheeran with Chuck

Ed Sheeran would be our opening act tonight and would be a guest on our set. He is quite a phenom as an artist...only 24 years old, but has risen to huge fame. This summer he will play three sold out shows at Wembly Stadium in London....by himself...no band....which is how he usually works, apparently. That is just amazing. While his popularity is largely based in Europe, he is really catching on fast in the US and all over the world. Mick and I settled on “Beast of Burden” for him to guest with us on. So before sound check, Ed came in to Mick’s room and the three of us went over it. He came well prepared and was a joy to work with...a fine young fellow...beautiful voice. He played acoustic guitar with us, saying he felt “naked” without it, which he did quite well. We worked out the arrangement and headed up to the stage to do our thing. We went over a few Stones tunes first, then brought Ed on for “Beast...”. Again, he nailed it...and did so with a smile on his face, impressing us all.

Yet another smokin’ Stones show...and Ed did himself and all of us proud. It amazes me how all these stadiums have been totally packed...a testament to the enduring popularity of the band...and hopefully to the level that we have come to as a unit. Mick continues to prove he is the best Front Man there is; Keith continues to prove he is the true Heart and Soul of Rock ‘n Roll...Ronnie is playing better than I’ve ever heard him and Charlie continues to drive us like a freight train. Bernard, Lisa, Darryl, Tim, Karl and I do all we can as the support team. Matt Clifford has come back on stage for a few tunes, mainly serving as a surrogate trumpet player on synth with the horns, but also providing a few other services like  the voice of our intro...“Ladies and Gentlemen...The Rolling Stones”, and prepping the choir for “Can’t Always Get” as well as playing french horn on the intro of same. I’m proud to be a part of it all...and hope it continues after this run. We’ll see.

JUNE 29

Travel day to Raleigh, NC. After sending the bags off and completing our morning routine, we met everyone in the lobby to head off to Raleigh. The last of our southern city shows. We would be staying at a golf resort there...the Washington Duke Inn. It is actually in the sister city of Durham, just off the campus of Duke University. As it was more or less sequestered away from any metro city area, Rose Lane and I decided to stay in for the duration of our stay there. So this evening we checked out the digs and decided to have dinner in the bar area. We had a drink, toasting being in the south again and had a more than decent meal at a nice table in the bar. The hotel is surrounded by its golf course, and on the periphery of that is a beautiful forest of mixed tree species. Lots of Loblolly Pine, but interspersed with various hardwoods. We enjoyed the scenery as the sun went down and eventually called it a day, going to our room to relax and turn in.