Rolling Stones do Lynn...from the Globe

Rolling with the Stones: 30 years of concert notes
By Steve Morse, Boston Globe Staff, 10/20/97




"My first Rolling Stones show was in 1966 in Manning Bowl in Lynn. I was a
high school student whose dream come true was scoring a Stones ticket.
Forget the Beatles at the time. Gimme shelter with the Stones. I've since
followed them everywhere, from Hartford to London, from Syracuse to
Washington, from Chicago to Foxborough during 30 years of often primordial
devotion...

I'm going both nights, though perhaps nothing will match the adrenalin rush
of that '66 show in Lynn, where the Stones rocked for 20 peak-filled
minutes before fans pushed toward the flimsy stage and the police got
nervous and fired tear gas. The Stones jumped into limos and were gone. The
crowd was left to fight off the tear gas and throw wooden chairs around the
field."

''It was a bit of an outdoor crazy,'' Mick Jagger said of that Lynn show.
''It wasn't well secured. A few people got a bit drunk. There were a few
cops and that was the end of it.'' Added Keith Richards recently: ''Things
got a little blurry in the '60s. Tear gas, yeah, that was the other
continuous smell of the '60s. I can't say I miss it.''

I heard about this first, while painting my helmet liner at Camp LeJeune, NC. I had just returned with "D" Co. 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, 2nd MarDiv, FMF Atlantic from cruising through the caribbean. I looked down onto the paper I was using as a blotter and, Voila, Rolling Stone Riot in Lynn,MA. I miss all the good stuff.

Later, I would hear that the cops had used gas without having masks for themselves so it really turned into a chinese fire drill. My thug friends had used the chaos to thieve everything in sight. There were copious handbags and other personal affects to salvage. It was the talk of the town.

I saw the Stones in the Garden in '72. Mayor White of Boston begged us not to wreak the town as the Puerto Ricans were rioting cross town and the Stones were late. My date and her girl friend were trying to fellate their way backstage to see Mick and the Boys. I was in the first balcony with three seats to stretch out on. The Stones were excellent. I became acquainted with a fine blond stranger who I had been dancing behind all night when she began bumping and grinding against me behind her boy friends back. The night ended with "Midnight Rambler" and her hand rubbing my now taunt jeans. When the lights in the Garden crashed on, she gave me a smile and disappeared.

"I know it's only Rock and Roll, but I like it."