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In chronological order, here are the events from Saturday:

9:00am - Got on the bus in Riverview which took us over to Moncton for a shuttle conection to the concert. Upon arriving at Highfield Square for our transer, we headed into Shoppers and picked up a disposable camera to sneak into the concert.

11:00am - Arrived at the gates to the concert which left us with an hour-long wait before the gates opened. This involved sitting on the grass with the other 3000 people who were also waiting.

12:00pm - The gates opened and we made it through security with no problems at all. They didn’t even notice the camera which we had taped inside a sweatshirt.

12:20pm - We headed towards the stage to get as close as possible. We found a great spot about 100 feet away which was situated on a knoll that allowed us to see above everyone in front of us. It was closer than I ever thought we’d get seeing as the entire concert site was 100 acres in size! It was now time to wait for another 3 hours until the concert began…

1:30pm - We had hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch. Two hot dogs and one hamburger cost $9. At this point the crowds were still small which meant no line ups for food. Later on in the day, I heard stories about a guy waiting an hour and a half to buy a pizza.

3:00pm - The opening band, Les Trois Accords from Quebec, opened up the concert with a 30 minute set. They seemed a mix between punk and alternative. I never heard of them before and they exceeded my expectations even though all their songs were in french and I could only understand some of the lyrics.

3:50pm - Our Lady Peace took the stage for almost an hour and performed some new and old songs. I haven’t heard much of their new material but it was good to hear Naveed and Superman’s Dead. For the most part, OLP didn’t seem very energized and it became somewhat boring watching them perform after their first few songs.

5:00pm - Maroon 5 started their set out really strong but completely died down after the first two songs. The lead singer’s voice got very annoying after a short period of time and it was a joy when they finally finished.

6:30pm - The Tragically Hip came onstage to the most cheering of any opening band for the day. Gord was pumped up as usual and striking some poses. They played some great material but it got annoying to watch Gord continue to goof off during their entire set.

8:15pm - The sun begins to set beyond the horizon as the stage is being prepared for the Rolling Stones. Finally, darkness is upon us…

8:35pm - The Stones explode into their set with Start Me Up as the 7-storey stage lights up and spews fireballs into the night sky. It seemed unbelievable to see Mick, Keith, Ron, and Charlie only 100 feet in front of us. During their 2 hour long set they played some oldies, covers, and songs from their new album. While they were singing Miss You, part of the main stage started to detach and move along rails towards the B-stage. It was totally unexpected as the Stones were transported a mere 50 feet away from us. After several songs on the B-stage, they moved back to the main stage to finish up their set. In my opinion their best song of the night was Paint It Black which got the crowd into it as the 7-storey high screen behind the main stage flashed black and white video of the Stones. The encore presentation was Satisfaction which got the crowd into it again. When the song finished, the stage lit up again with fireworks and fireballs.

10:45pm - We started to make the trek out of the concert site and back to home. There were already several thousand people waiting for buses which couldn’t go anywhere since the crowds were walking the entire width of the street. Instead of waiting for a bus, we opted to walk to our church which was 1km away and got picked up.

1:00am - Arrived back home after a long day of walking and standing in one spot for many hours.

Overall, this was an awesome concert and was well worth the cost, waiting in lines, and standing for hours on end.

Here is the set list for the Stones:

1. Start Me Up
2. It’s Only Rock’n Roll
3. Live With Me
4. Tumbling Dice
5. Rough Justice
6. Ruby Tuesday
7. You Can’t Always Get What You Want
8. All Down The Line
9. Night Time Is The Right Time
10. The Worst (Keith)
11. Infamy (Keith)
12. Miss You (to B-stage)
13. Oh No, Not You Again (B-stage)
14. Midnight Rambler (B-stage)
15. Honky Tonk Women (from B-stage)
16. Sympathy For The Devil
17. Paint It Black
18. Jumping Jack Flash
19. Brown Sugar
20. Satisfaction (encore)

Here is an aerial view of the 99 acre concert site: