Atlanta crowd upset at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (with photos)

The guitars screamed, teeth bared, chunky, distorted and screaming. All while retaining the famous melodic churn that Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood have been playing for almost 50 years, since Wood joined the group in 1975. Not too tight; just sloppy enough.

And that’s not to say that the decor didn’t hold any surprises.

The fan-voted song was “Sweet Virginia,” the beautiful 16-bar country blues tune from “Exile On Main Street.” Mick Jagger, donning an acoustic guitar for the first time all night and introducing it as the fans’ choice, didn’t miss the opportunity to riff on recent Georgia history before launching into the act.

“We wanted to play Wild Horses,” Jagger said. “All we needed was 11,000 more votes. There is a bigger vote coming in November. Don’t forget to vote for this one.

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

From there, the next few songs took on the quality of a great mixed tape – played loud.

The group launched right into another country favorite: “Dead Flowers,” from “Sticky Fingers.” Then seamlessly into the driving groove of “Tumbling Dice” and an amped-up “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” during which Wood’s Les Paul once again bared its teeth on an excellent extended solo.

“Maybe put your phones down for a number,” Jagger teased to the crowd.

Friday’s show marked the Stones’ fifth time in Atlanta this century, including an appearance at Mercedes-Benz in November 2021 that paid tribute to the late drummer Charlie Watts.

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Steve Jordan, who played for Richards in the X-Pensive Winos, continued to serve as a perfect replacement for the late, great drummer. On “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll,” the second song of the night, Jordan even showed off Watts’ signature move of holding his joystick straight up and out of the high hat while hitting the snare drum on the downbeat .

The group presentations were particularly memorable on Friday. The crowd roared as Twiggs County resident and former Allman Brothers member Chuck Leavell was introduced. Leavell has been a member of the Stones’ touring band for many years and is also their musical director. He particularly shone on the bar piano solo in “Honky Tonk Women.”

The last member of the group featured was Richards, his cue for attention from behind a microphone. For the first time on this tour, Richards sang three songs instead of the two standards. The mini-set began with “Tell Me Straight”, taken from the new Hackney Diamonds album. He then launched into “Little T&A,” a song from a different era that, if released today, might cause a lot more trouble than it did in 1981.

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

Credit: Ryan Fleisher

“Due to intense pressure from the group, I’m forced to sing ‘Happy,’” Richards then said, referencing his hit from the album Exile On Main Street. “Blame it guys.”

This was the first time the band played this song on this tour. Wood once again did the heavy lifting here, playing all the slide parts with a pedal steel guitar.

The back half of the set was also familiar, but in an unfamiliar way. And it contained a handful of the Stones’ darkest songs.

“Sympathy for the Devil” (“I rode on a tank, I had the rank of general/when the Blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank”); “Midnight Rambler” (“He’ll stick his knife down your throat”); “Gimme Shelter” (“Oh, a storm threatens/my life even today”); “Paint It Black” (“I look inside/and I see my heart is black”).

The rope was only broken by a rousing “Honky Tonk Women,” mentioned earlier. That, and Wood’s sitar playing on “Paint It Black” also provided some light during the stretch.

The night ended with a single encore, the cry “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” with barely anyone sitting in a nearly sold-out stadium.

One consequence of the band including “Happy” in the set is that the excellent new ballad “Sweet Sounds Of Heaven” was left out. This song, which could fit perfectly on “Exile” or “Sticky Fingers”, was the first encore played at almost every concert on this tour. Until Friday.

Too bad. Maybe next time.