March 30th, 2019, Mick Jagger’s Instagram page stated the following, “I’m so sorry to all our fans in America & Canada with tickets. I really hate letting you down like this. I’m devastated for having to postpone the tour but I will be working very hard to be back on stage as soon as I can.” News had broke soon after that the legendary Rolling Stones front-man would need emergency heart valve replacement surgery.

The Rolling Stones were on course to start their tour of America and Canada, with the No Filter Tour. The tour would have the Stones visiting some of the biggest sports arenas in the country and would coincide with their upcoming compilation album, “Honk.” The album released on April 19, 2019. The tour was to begin the next day and conclude June 21st. Just a few days before, the tour was postponed until further notice of Mick’s recovery.

In July, Mick Jagger was fully recovered and ready to hit the road with 17 dates from July 21st, to August 31st. Arizonans were lucky to be a part of this small number of shows, with their own date in Glendale’s State Farm Stadium. This stadium can hold from 63,000 to 75,000 people, and is home to the Arizona Cardinals. The new date for this show was August 26th, and I was able to get a ticket as a birthday present from my girlfriend Sam.

The show began at 7:30, and the opener for the Stones was a small band from Iceland called Kaleo. Their debut album, “A/B” came out in 2016 and the single from that album, “No Good” had received a Grammy nomination for best rock performance. They had an excellent performance just short of an hour, and definitely warmed up the crowd for the headline show. It was around 9 that night when fog started to crowd the stage and the arena went black as The Rolling Stones came out to perform for the gigantic crowd.

The legendary band opened their show with the song “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” This song may not sound familiar to most listeners, and that’s because throughout this entire show I noticed that the Stones were playing some deeper cuts from their albums that not everybody may know. The show wasn’t just hits, to me it felt like the band knows this may be one of their last tours, so they decided to play what they want rather than what the fans want. I believe that also ties into the tour’s name, “No Filter,” meaning they don’t need to be defined by any few songs or beats, and can play what they want.

Some other highlights from the show were “Sympathy For The Devil,” where Mick Jagger came out to perform the song in a bedazzled blazer to the iconic song. Keith Richards, the original guitarist for the band played and sung two of the band’s songs while Mick Jagger got changed to come and play the classic yet dark song, “Paint It, Black.” For the encore, when the band came back out, they played another two of the Stone’s most famous songs, “Gimme Shelter,” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” They then took a bow and exited off stage.

As the lights turned back on, tons of people flooded out of the arena as the stage crew began to pack up the massive set from the phenomenal show. It was such an amazing opportunity to see this band before they’re not able to perform anymore, and it’s fantastic that a living legend is able to still put on a killer show months after emergency heart surgery. As said by Ed Masley of azcentral.com, “The Rolling Stones are raw, scrappy, and unpolished in concert. And that’s how it should be.” I could not have summarized this experience in a better way.