Jenny O Loves the Stones

Jenny O Loves the Stones: L.A. singer and songwriter Jenny O told us about her Rolling Stones experience.

Jenny O: It remains difficult to wrap my head around the use of the word “gig” to describe a concert I did not perform myself, as gig to me has always implied employment. But I will describe to you the time I saw the Rolling Stones in concert, Los Angeles, 2021.

First of all, we are alive at the same time as THEE Rolling Stones. Well, except Charlie Watts now. They are still touring, and they are still absolutely incredible. The Rolling Stones performed a rock concert for me and my friends (and like 50 thousand other people) on October 17, 2021. After everything we went through in 2020, after all they went through, and survived, we got in that room together and danced and sang our hearts out for two hours, on the floor of the So-fi stadium, right over the field where the LA Rams play football. One smash hit after another. I absolutely lost my mind during “Miss You.” I was perplexed at the many people standing around me NOT dancing, but this phenomenon is not new to me, not-dancing is an epidemic, a real societal issue. A lot of people wait for a wedding to get down, if they bother, and that is a travesty. (If you’re reading this and haven’t danced in years— make the time, put on the music that moves you, and dance. Do this all the time for the rest of your life.)

I watched 78-year-old Mick Jagger sprint down a catwalk, boogie, jump, and sing his beautiful little mouth off for US. (I went for a run the next day as a direct reaction to this concert and immediately reinstated my high school shin splints.) I cried when Mick told us these were their first shows without Charlie Watts— the way he said “without Charlie” like a shy little British schoolboy and I could really feel him mourning his buddy, his brother. They played a video montage of Charlie and we all cried our eyes out together. Then we stomped around some more.

Steve Jordan played drums, a legend in his own right and a perfect and righteous replacement, chosen by Charlie Watts himself.

I remember jokes starting in the ’90s, continuing through the aughts about how the Rolling Stones were soooo old ha ha ha they are still touring ha ha ha and Keith Richards this and let me tell you 25 years after THAT I have seen young rock bands and I have seen legends past their twilight and these STONES are absolutely giving us 110%. I don’t know how many more concerts they can give us but if you get the chance again, go. I am grateful I got to see them in 2021, in my lifetime, grateful to be alive at this exact moment.

Jenny O Loves the Stones: Jenny O’s album Spectra is out now.

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