The Rolling Stones took their No Filter Tour to Nashville’s Nissan Stadium on Saturday night, shortly after Mick Jagger took a spin around the city that included a stop at the PSC Metals junkyard. The set list included the obvious big hits like “Miss You,” “Paint It Black,” and “Gimme Shelter,” along with the Chi-Lites classic “Trouble’s a-Comin’ ” and the Stones’ 1971 ballad “Dead Flowers,” which was selected by fans via an online vote.
The biggest surprise came midway through the night, when Keith Richards took over on lead vocals. “Great to be back,” he told the crowd. “It’s great to be anywhere. Here, blessings on us all. Gold rings on all of us. I’m going to start off on something I haven’t done in years. This should be fun.”
He then kicked the band into “Connection,” a deep cut from 1967’s Between the Buttons. The band hadn’t touched it since a November 2006 gig at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver. Check out fan-shot video of the moment above.
“Connection” was written when the Stones were being aggressively pursued by British authorities over their drug use. “My bags, they get a very close inspection,” Richards sings. “I wonder why it is that they suspect them/They’re dying to add me to their collection/And I don’t know if they’ll let me go.”
Weeks after the song came out, 18 police officers burst into a gathering at Richards’ home and arrested the guitarist along with Mick Jagger. Richards was charged with “allowing his house to be used for the purpose of smoking cannabis.” Jagger was charged with having four tablets of amphetamines. They were ultimately acquitted after a wild trial that became a tabloid sensation all over England.
The Stones continue their tour with a pair of shows at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on October 14th and 17th. It wraps up November 20th in Austin, at the Circuit of the Americas F1 race track.
From Rolling Stone US
