2008. For a lot of people this might just be a year like any other year. Or maybe it seems like an arbitrary combination of numbers. Or maybe it’s the address of your friend’s apartment in that high-rise on the corner of 12th and Williams. Listen, I don’t know your life, but for me, 2008 was the single greatest year I ever lived.
It started like any other year, with January followed by February and then March. I was just a kid at the time, listening to rock and roll music on my transistor radio and dreaming of someday becoming a star. And then, out of nowhere, probably around mid-February, I got a call from Mick Jagger, a recording artist from the United Kingdom. He told me that he was forming a supergroup called “The Rolling Stones” and asked if I was interested in joining them on their year-long world tour. Apparently he had heard about my talent in the school band and thought I would be a perfect addition to their lineup.
At first I was a little sceptical about the call. Some of the tour dates he mentioned conflicted with my responsibilities as a member of my school’s recycling club and I wasn’t sure if Mr. Peretti would be too thrilled about me missing any more meetings. After mulling it over for a while, though, I decided it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up and sent a message to the personal e-mail address that Mick had given me ([email protected]) and said “I’m in.”
Now, a lot of people might not remember the Stones ’08 “An Even Bigger Bang” Tour or their 15-year old clarinet player, but that 178-date concert junket is an experience that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. I got to travel all over the world and every day was the craziest, wildest time of my life, but here are a few of the most memorable stops…
Barcelona, February 22nd, 2008
This was my first day on the tour and even though I was a bit jet lagged, I still managed to get up in time for the hotel’s complimentary breakfast service. Although the line for the omelette bar was a bit long, with over six different toppings to choose from, it was totally worth it!
Rio De Janeiro, March 12th, 2008
Rio Baby! Haha . . . This was a wild day. Not only did the hotel we stayed at have free Wi-Fi in every room but at lunch the waiter forgot to charge me for any of my additional drinks! And I had like seven Sprites!
New York City, April 8th, 2008
I had an INSANE night staying up late playing triominoes with Mick and Keith Richards (one of the guitar players). I think the hotel manager might have been a little upset with us when we ordered a pizza at 11 p.m. but Mick apologized and, luckily, they didn’t kick us out.
Tokyo, May 17th, 2008
I went out for dinner with the band at a neat local restaurant called “Hard Rock Café”. It was a really interesting and unique spot and they had all sorts of memorabilia that had been used by real life rock stars! I got to eat a hamburger while sitting only a few inches away from a jacket that had actually been worn by Cliff Burton, the original bass player for Metallica!
Toronto, June 21st, 2008
Mick and Keith went to go see The Love Guru at the theatre near our hotel and asked me if I wanted to join them, but since I was feeling a little under the weather I just stayed in. As bummed out as I was at first, there ended up being a Fresh Prince of Bel-Air marathon playing on TVtropolis and even if I wouldn’t call it my favourite show, it was still fun to watch it from the beginning.
Melbourne, July 1st, 2008
The hotel we stayed at here had its own Ping-Pong table in the rec room so some of the band decided to hit a few balls around. I wasn’t as good as some of the other guys but I still had fun playing and joking around, even if I didn’t get all the lines they were quoting from The Love Guru.
Helsinki, July 2nd, 2008
I think I might have seen Tobey McGuire in the lobby at the hotel we were staying at. I really wanted to go up and tell him what a big fan I was and how I had seen most of the Spiderman movies, but I was too nervous and ended up just going back to my room and hung out with Mick and his friend Elton.
Dublin, August 16th, 2008
This was the day that I finally watched The Love Guru! Mick was right, it was the best comedy of the year! “Omar Sharif, my balls!” hahaha . . .
Buenos Aires, October 31st, 2008
I tried the Filet-o-Fish at McDonald’s for the first time and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. I don’t think I’d ever choose it over something like the Big-N-Tasty but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.
London (in England!), December 14th, 2008
The Who ended up being in town during the final leg of our tour and I was able to score a few front-row tickets to their concert from a local radio station. Being that close to Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey was definitely the most surreal experience I’ve ever had. I was so close to the stage that I almost felt like I was in one of the greatest rock bands of all time!
Vancouver, December 18th, 2008
This was actually just my school’s winter formal dance and not part of the tour. I had a great time dancing the night away and the decorations that the parents had organized looked great! My tour had ended the night before in Calgary and Mick had dropped me off on his way to the Okanagan where he was hoping to go on a few winery tours. It was tough to say good-bye but I’ll always have the memories of my year with the Rolling Stones Band!
Disclaimer: Some of the details of this account may be slightly exaggerated. No, I didn’t actually play the clarinet for the school band and no, I wasn’t really a member of my high school’s recycling club. Even though I would frequently sit in on their meetings, I wasn’t an official member and there’s no way Mr. Peretti would have cared or even noticed if I stopped coming.
