If September’s Rolling Stones concerts at Soldier Field boasted the glitter and electricity of a Hollywood premiere, Thursday night’s scene at the United Center resembled something akin to a Bulls game against the Vancouver Grizzlies.
Fans seemed excited, but not too raucous, and the environs were hardly conducive to festive tailgating–though a pot-smoking couple apparently set off a smoke alarm that brought two Chicago firetrucks to the scene.
In the south parking lot, a sole reveler in shades and a tie-dyed shirt, looking like a castoff from the movie “Slacker,” stood drinking beer next to a battered brown Buick Regal, Stones music blaring from his distorted car stereo speakers.
And on opposite ends of the United Center, street musicians played dueling versions of “Miss You”: Three trombonists and a drummer flailed away on the south side of the stadium, while on the north side, the horn player whom columnist Mike Royko once referred to as the “Dreaded Saxophone Man” hacked at the song’s signature riff like a stuck windup toy.
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Amid the bustle, Mike Venier, 38, a jeweler who drove in from Dixon, Ill., was looking to buy tickets outside the United Center for himself and a friend. The twosome were willing to cough up $300 each for their tickets.
“This would be the fifth time I’ve seen them,” Venier said. “Three hundred dollars would be a bargain. I’ve spent in excess of $700” for a ticket, when he drove to Nashville to catch the Stones’ gig at Vanderbilt University.
Indeed, the air reeked of disposable income, with a convoy of limousines parked outside and impeccably coiffed fans dressed for a night on the town, if not a power lunch. Fans queued up to buy T-shirts that started at $28 and leather bomber tour jackets that fetched a whopping $350.
Still, some, like StreetWise vendor Danny Givens, were finding it hard to make a buck.
“Most of the people say they are going to get (papers) on the way out,” Givens said. “But by then, they’re broke anyway.” One man who emerged from a gleaming limousine stopped briefly to hear Givens’ pitch for the dollar newspaper, then waved his hand “no thanks” and walked away.