The Festival d’été de Québec has still not had a visit from U2. Not even Coldplay’s. Neither Adele, Beyoncé nor Eminem. But on July 15, 2015, more than 100,000 people cheered for the Rolling Stones.
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It was a chilly Wednesday, but Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and the late Charlie Watts quickly heated things up by attacking the Plains of Abraham with the first in a long line of classics from their repertoire, the melodious Start Me Up .
From then on we experienced a journey through the time of rock ‘n’ roll. It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It), Tumbling Dice, Wild Horses, Midnight Rambler, Gimme Shelter, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Sympathy For The Devil and many more wowed the audience.
Mick Jagger was on fire. The then 71-year-old spent the evening pacing up and down the stage from end to end. Anyone who knows the gigantism of the Plains scene will understand that she walked her 10,000 steps a day.
In addition, he addressed the crowd in French. He called the audience “very classy” and “fantastic” and called Ronnie Wood “the king of Putin”.
Two strong men were waiting for us on the memory. A chorus of young singers from Laval joined the group on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” then the Stones said goodbye with the unmissable, iconic (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.