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Some Girls Tour
THE STONES IN OAKLAND MICKS BIRTHDAY July 26,1978.
I had a milk truck at the time. Gurstenslager body for you milk van aficionados.
I had converted it to a nice camper, and a huge stereo system. We loaded it up with a ton of friends and headed off to the show at about midnight. We got to Fairfield and the fucking van broke down. Right there at the exit west of the Nut Tree where Murrillos restaurant is. I had no idea what was wrong I knew whatever it was, I couldn’t fix it and go to the show. So I decided to go the show and fix it on the return.
My wife decided to stay and get a ride home from her sister, who she called and was going to pick her up. So the rest of us went to the restaurants in the area and find some folks going to the show. We all found a ride in the back of a pickup truck. So off we went.
We got the show and we were among the first couple of hundred lined up along the fence lining the parking lots. So we were going to get a good spot. We had to run about 150 yards though to get to the doors. This used to be such a party.
The bill was, The Rolling Stones, Santana and Peter Tosh, Mick’s birthday. Some Girls Tour. Day ON the Green, general admission. HOLY SHIT.
Peter Tosh opened the show. At the time, he was the darling of the Rock Royalty, especially the Rolling Stones.
Window pane.
As Peter’s set ended, he started throwing out spliffs to the crowd. I was pretty close to the front so I was within range. I jumped up (Channeling my inner Wilt Chamberlain) and grabbed one. Everyone around me that grabbed one sparked the spliff up, but I stuck mine in my pocket for later.
I was getting kind of high and the crowd was crushing up front so decided to go up the very top and chill up there and watch Santana. And puff down that spliff.
By the time the set was over, I was fucking flying. The windowpane had settled into a great trip, the spliff putting everything just right. Now I needed to make my way back to my friends. Somehow, I got whiff of some hash oil and thought, my friends are smoking it! And I have got be there! (we had a ton of hash and hash oil then). So to the front I head, all the time sniffing that hash oil.
When I got to the field from the top deck, they had installed a wire between the scoreboards. I looked up and there was guy about to walk across it, he had one of the big poles and was just waiting. IT WAS A WINDY DAY TOO!. He started off, and I was freaking out. I didn’t want to watch but couldn’t take my eyes off of him either. I kept making my way towards the front and that still pungent aroma of hash oil.
As the guy (a Wallenda I believe) made his way across the wire (did I mention that IT WAS WINDY AS SHIT?) five big passenger helicopters landed in the backstage area parking lot. We all figured that was the Stones flying in. As the guy got farther along those helicopters arose from the backstage area and started circling the stadium. The guy on wire was just about to reach the other side and the copters were circling and then…
I was inching my way through the crowd. It was packed but the smell of the hash oil spurred me on. Packed as shit, tough slog. Just as I reached my friends, (and I was right, they WERE Smoking hash oil!)
The Wallenda guy had reached the other side! The crowd went completely insane, trapeze rigs and artists dropped out of the stage’s proscenium and all of the helicopter’s doors opened and down rained millions of multi-colored ping pong balls on the coliseum as a million multi-colored balloons rose from the crowd. THE SINGLE MOST INTENSE MOMENT EVER!
Fuck. The perfect trip, the perfect moment and Mick jagger close enough that his sweat dripped on me. The band was fire. “Just My Imagination” was incredible. “When the Whip Comes Down” and all the great songs from “Some Girls” were incredible. This was the last time the Stones sets were more about the new albums than the greatest hits (there were plenty of those however in the show). Our minds were blown totally.
We got a ride back to the van, which was still right where we left it. I got in and put the key in the ignition. I turned the key and it started right up. No problem. Drove it home too. Ran perfect. never broke down like that again too. Weird as hell. Most people attribute it to vapor-lock (Everyone blamed everything on vapor-lock though in those days).
Happy birthday Mick Jagger!
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