This is not disrespect or youthful cheekiness to brighten up a long-buried memory, but at that point, the boys from London were 21 studio albums deep into their career and had cycled into the novelty era of any long-running outfit that usually means a tour will be very heavy on former hits and very low on newer concoctions. If fans thought the Stones were one misstep away from becoming a parody of themselves by 1997, imagine the feeling now, almost 63 years after the echo of their first twang at the Marquee Club in London.
I distinctly recall passing up on purchasing a very affordable and incredibly pristine copy of the Israeli pressing of Their Satanic Majesties Request in 1997. What I don't recall is why. The colorful, albeit slightly cartoony, cover would've been a nice counterpart to my copy with the famous lenticular cover. I also recall that the ticket price of $76 plus $5 in fees (equivalent to $150 in 2025) for the December show was a little out of range. I was 20 years old; money felt different at that age.
That Orange Bowl ticket would certainly be a relic to fans and collectors at this point, provided the teal and grey piece of cardstock spat out at Ticketmaster outlets hasn't faded too much past identifiability. It would've also looked nice nestled inside that LP's polybag if I had executed both purchases.
But, alas, what is it that they say about retrospect?
By all accounts, that fateful Friday night was a dazzling mix of nostalgia, innovation, and raw rock energy that left an indelible mark on those who witnessed it. Temperatures soared in the low 70s during the day but lowered to the mid-60s for what would be the Rolling Stones' last appearance at the Orange Bowl.
The Orange Bowl Was a Rock 'n' Roll Landmark
For decades, the Orange Bowl was more than just a football stadium; it was a cultural hub that hosted some of the most significant concerts in rock history and a source of pride for native Miamians and the throngs of immigrants who found comfort in its shadows over Little Havana. From the Police and Eric Burdon and the Animals rocking it in 1983 to Bowie's Glass Spider Tour in 1987 to the Eagles and Melissa Etheridge in 1994, the Orange Bowl was host to the hottest touring acts of its era. The open-air horseshoe design helped amplify the delirium of thousands of concertgoers over the years.If Chris Cottie, the drummer for local punk rock legends the Eat who passed away in 2004, was known for a solo banshee wail from the upper decks during University of Miami football games that terrorized opposing players down in the sidelines, imagine the din of thousands.
The Rolling Stones had played there before, notably during the 1989 Steel Wheels Tour, but this night marked the final time they would grace its stage before the stadium's eventual demolition in 2008. As evidenced by the bootleg recording of the band's two-plus hours on stage, that crowd was the right kind of loud that night.
The Opening Salvos: Mixed Bag of Rising Stars
Unlike previous Stones tours, the Bridges to Babylon Tour featured an eclectic mix of opening acts — some obvious, others not so much. But to be fair, the tour's namesake album did feature some interesting departures from the band's standard methodology.Following the Voodoo Lounge Tour and Stripped live album, the Rolling Stones took a brief break before Mick Jagger and Keith Richards began writing new material in 1996, culminating in recording sessions at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles from March to July 1997. Unlike their past secluded recordings, working in a major city allowed collaborations with various musicians, though tensions ran high.
Jagger sought contemporary producers like the Dust Brothers, Danny Saber, and Babyface, while Richards resisted outside influences, even expelling Saber from the studio. Don Was returned as producer, carefully balancing the growing divide between Jagger and Richards, who were often recorded separately. Charlie Watts eased tensions by working with percussionist Jim Keltner, but by the end of the sessions, the band was barely speaking, with Jagger boycotting Richards-led sessions and Watts departing immediately after finishing his parts.
It makes sense that then-up-and-coming rock act Third Eye Blind, hot on the heels of its self-titled debut album; the Dave Matthews Band, also coming into its own arena of stardom beyond the confines of the jam rock scene thanks to 1996's Crash; and alternative-rock darlings Smashing Pumpkins, still high on the laurels of their acclaimed Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness album, were invited along for the ride.
For Reddit user pistolerodelnorte, opener Third Eye Blind tarnished their experience at an earlier date, "I saw them at the Kingdome in Seattle, the opening act was Third Eye Blind. Man, they sucked! The stage had runways along the entire length of the outfield wall. The singer, whatever his name is, ran back and forth until he was visibly winded, easy to see thanks to stadium diamond vision, and had to stop running. Mick, on the other hand, ran back and forth all night with no visible effect. The old pro."
However, in a review for the Stones' European fan club, It's Only Rock'n Roll, Bob Cianciosi wrote that he heard the San Francisco rockers from the parking lot and that they had "great reverberation" while the Dave Matthews Band proved to be popular among South Floridians and delivered a tight sounding set.
Third Eye Blind led with their radio staple "Semi-Charmed Life," cementing the popularity of the era's alternative-rock explosion. The Dave Matthews Band, already crossing over into mainstream flavorings, opened its set with its band-as-a-business controversial tune "#41," followed by fan favorite "Crash Into Me" and a stirring cover of "All Along the Watchtower," before closing out with "Ants Marching."
The Smashing Pumpkins brought a heavier, moodier presence, closing their set with the dramatic one-two punch of "Eye" and "X.Y.U." featuring surprise local guests Marilyn Manson and Twiggy Ramirez — a moment that stunned and delighted the crowd. Oh, what a time to be alive. Even irascible rascal Billy Corgan took a minute to thank the Stones between "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" and "1979." (Incidentally, this would also be drummer Matt Walker's last show with the band.)
The Rolling Stones Did Not Disappoint
When the Stones finally took the stage, against a backdrop of draped scaffolding blocking the opening of the stadium's eastern end, the Orange Bowl was bathed in lights and fire. As Keith Richards launched into "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," the crowd erupted. From there, the band delivered the goods across a setlist that featured over 20 songs that never let up the energy. (One could only hope Third Eye Blind singer Stephan Jenkins was on the sidelines taking notes.)The tour featured the addition of the B stage with a bridge that extended over the audience, a piece of set design trickery meant to create an intimate space within the cold largesse of the numerous arenas the tour would face. The band did good by its roots and opened this part of the setup with a raucous rendition of Chuck Berry's classic 1959 tune "Little Queenie" and followed it up with "The Last Time" and Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." (How meta.)
I'd like to think that this part was spiritually guided by Richards and Ronnie Wood's run-in with the deep blues denizens of Junior Kimbrough's juke joint, Junior's Place, in Chulahoma, Mississippi, earlier that decade. But that's a sad day and a lonely night for some other time.
Another noteworthy aspect of this tour, particularly this night, was an early web version of a popular vote. The fan-voted track that was included in the evening's set was "She's a Rainbow," the dreamy, psychedelically charming tune that was only performed twice during the tour and now serves as another lysergic jab for passing up that Israeli version in a bizarre show of local solidarity coalescing to torment my thoughts 28 years after the fact.
After throbbing and howling for hours, the band closed with a pair of encores, the always pleasing and remarkably unbeatable combo of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Brown Sugar." You can just imagine them ringing in the ears across the weekend and well into Monday morning's second cup of coffee.
One fan, also writing for the European fan club website, described the experience as life-changing: "Tears of joy glistened my eyes every minute. The presence of these middle-aged kids on stage was overwhelming." Another, in a classic Miami move, confessed — well after the statute of limitations has run out — that they bribed security to move to the front row, "When Keith stepped down near my side during 'Jumpin' Jack Flash,' I yelled 'Thank you, Keith!' and he replied 'Bless you, mate!' That moment sent me straight to heaven." Not the typical bribery we've gotten accustomed to that often results in busted noses and bouncers losing their jobs.
A Before and After for the Band's Modern Era
With the embracing of modern production techniques, the internet fan voting system, the diverse set list, and opening acts, as well as the expansion of the B stage usage, the Rolling Stones showed how living fossils could learn new things. The tour placed them in a good spot, building off the grand spectacle and classic rock focus of the previous Voodoo Lounge Tour before inexplicably stripping down and going corporate cold with 1999's No Security Tour, which saw the concertgoing experience gobbled up with arena focus. As the children and grandchildren of the 1997 attendees would say today, how mid.Beyond the historical weight of being the Stones' last performance at the Orange Bowl, this night remains a touchstone for fans who were there. It was a moment when old and new collided — when the Stones cemented their place in history while sharing a stage with the future of rock.
Writing for New Times then, Bill Wyman (not the Bill Wyman who left the band's bass duties in 1993) noted, "'Sympathy for the Devil' is now nostalgia. It's pleasurable only to the extent that audience members ignore its darker intentions; they just close their eyes and take it. In this way, your average Nineties Rolling Stones concert is a lot like watching TV, except that you're out in the cold in the midst of a mob of Sprint-using yuppies who've sprung $70 for a vacuous two-hour thrill."
Cynical? Yes. Full of the cheeky cuteness I eschewed earlier? Of course. The sacred cows must be slaughtered so new ones can grow and take their place. But here we will try to look through rose-tinted glasses if only to remember and thus preserve a South Florida that has rapidly disappeared within our lifetimes, even if I spend most of the remembrance wondering and ruing over some crap I didn't pick up or missed entirely.
For their final Orange Bowl engagement, the Rolling Stones included drummer and dearly departed Charlie Watts, guitarist Keith Richards, singer Mick Jagger, guitarist and keyboardist Ronnie Wood, and touring and recording collaborators Darryl Jones, Bernard Fowler, Bobby Keys, Blondie Chaplin, Lisa Fischer, Chuck Leavell, Michael Davis, Andy Snitzer, and Kent Smith.
Most people in online forums lament not having cellphone cameras at the time. I'd love to remind them all that disposable cameras existed and were cheap. Certainly, more affordable than the $35 T-shirts sold by the concession stands, but I just remembered the damn ticket did say, "no cameras or recorders."
