The Night the Rolling Stones Squeezed a Stadium-Sized Ego Into Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom
On September 16, 2002, the Rolling Stones performed at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom, proving once again that rock stars will spend decades becoming famous enough to fill stadiums and then celebrate their success by making everyone fight for admission to a building one-tenth the size. I was not inside the Aragon that night, so I will not insult anyone by pretending I personally saw Mick Jagger strut across the stage, Keith Richards defy several principles of biology, or Bono appear without advance notice to remind everybody that even a Rolling Stones concert can briefly become about Bono. What I can do is look back at the night with the proper mixture of admiration, envy, historical curiosity, and bitterness felt by anyone who discovers that an extraordinary concert happened years ago without having the decency to consult them first. The show was the final performance in a remarkable three-concert Chicago run. The Stones had already played the United Center on September 10 and Comiskey Par...
