BOSTON – The Rolling Stones launched into “Start Me Up” to kick off their latest North American tour Sunday night at Boston’s historic Fenway Park, a fitting venue and fitting opening song for the aging but irrepressible rockers.
“It’s great to be back in Boston,” lead singer Mick Jagger told the crowd.
Jagger, 62, appeared as spry as ever, strutting across the giant stage stretching from left to right field.
After “Start Me Up,” the Stones followed with classics “You Got Me Rocking,” “Shattered” and “Tumbling Dice,” before playing “Rough Justice,” a song from their soon-to-be-released album, “A Bigger Bang.”
Jagger said people ask him why the Stones are starting the tour in Boston again – in 2002, the band began a tour in Boston, as well.
“Boston is a champion city. The Patriots won the Super Bowl. And the Red Sox are the world champions of baseball,” he said.
Before the band took the stage at about 8:25 p.m., lights flashed and screens showed cosmic images based on the tour’s name, “A Bigger Bang.”
The band played a 22-song set that lasted about two hours.
One fan was injured when she fell from the rafters of the right field grandstand, fire department officials said.
The woman, whose name was not immediately released, climbed to the rafters above Section 1 in the right field grandstand. She was seen hanging from the rafters at about 10:15 p.m., Boston Fire Department Lt. David Pfeil said.
Firefighters were unable to reach the woman before she fell, Pfeil said.
The old ballpark seemed a fitting venue for the aging but irrepressible Stones, who continue to defy Father Time and challenge those who dare to suggest their best days are behind them.
It’s been 43 years since the irrepressible rockers first took shape and three years since they launched their “Forty Licks” world tour – which many mistakenly believed would be their last.
Coincidentally, that tour also began in Boston, with stops at the FleetCenter, Orpheum Theater and Gillette Stadium.
The visit to Fenway was the first for Jagger, Keith Richards and the crew. But it was the third consecutive summer in which the park had opened its doors to rock concerts, with the Stones following Bruce Springsteen and Jimmy Buffet into the hallowed baseball shrine.
Hours before the Stones were set to take the stage, fans wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the band’s trademark lips and tongue logo were already roaming Yawkey Way outside the park. Some scooped up Stones memorabilia at souvenir stores that normally sell Red Sox gear.
Richard Tucker, of Chatham, brought his wife, his 19-year-old son and his 15-year-old daughter. Father and son both wore T-shirts with a Stones logo, but the tongue was shaped like a baseball – a design made specially for this concert.
Tucker said his children grew up listening to the Stones.
“I tease them about geezer rock and now they’re seeing it themselves,” he said.
For Shawn Murphy, 40, of New Bedford, it was the 17th time he’s seen the Stones in concert.
“They’re icons,” Murphy said. “The energy level at a Stones concert is unlike any other concert.”
It has been eight years since the band released its last studio album, “Bridges to Babylon.” But that will change Sept. 6, when “A Bigger Bang” hits U.S. stores. With 16 tracks, it’s the longest studio album since the 18-song “Exile on Main Street” in 1972, perhaps another message from the Stones that their creative juices haven’t dried up quite yet.
“A Bigger Bang” will get plenty of exposure on the planned 37-city, 42-show tour. The album has a stripped down, back to basics sound, returning the band to its hard-driving, bluesy roots.
One song on the new album, “Sweet Neo-Con,” is generating noise for its overt political tone. While controversy is hardly new for the Stones, the band has only sporadically dabbled in politics or current affairs during its long history.
The tour may well test the band’s stamina. After all, the three remaining original Stones, Jagger, Richards and drummer Charlie Watts, are 62, 61 and 64 respectively. Guitarist Ron Wood, now going on 30 years touring with the band, is the baby of the bunch at 58.
Sixty-something or not, the Stones will clearly have little trouble selling tickets despite prices ranging up to $400 in some venues. At Fenway, the band performed on a gargantuan stage, reportedly one of the biggest in rock and roll history. According to a publicist for the band, it took about 70 trucks to bring it piece by piece from Toronto, where the band rehearsed for the tour.
While the Stones rocking inside, outside, a handful of police officers armed with noise meters monitored noise levels, prepared to tell concert producers to turn down the volume if the music surpassed 70 decibels on the surrounding streets.
The move was in deference to Fenway’s residential neighbors, who have been largely supportive of the rock concerts but wary of the noise and parking impact in a neighborhood more used to hearing the crack of a bat than a riff on a guitar.
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