The Night the Stones Rocked Memorial Stadium
by Berry Tramel
8/9/2024
B rad Tow walked past Oklahoma Memorial Stadium daily in autumn 1997. He was an 18-year-old freshman, living in Walker Tower, and the events on Owen Field drew his attention.
Not John Blake’s football team. The construction of a stage for the Rolling Stones concert.
And Tow was not a Stones fan.
“To me, they were a bunch of old guys my parents listened to,” said Tow, now 45 and living in Fayetteville, Ark.
But something about the excitement, the revelry, piqued Tow’s interest. The venerable stadium, built originally by Bennie Owen’s vision and fundraising and in some ways his very own hands, had been home to Bud Wilkinson’s split-T and Barry Switzer’s wishbone.
But Owen Field hadn’t seen anything like the Rolling Stones and its Bridges to Babylon Tour.
?????????????? ?????????????????? 7??7?? » Oct. 28, 1997 | It was only rock 'n' roll, but the Rolling Stones had everybody under their thumb the night they took shelter at Memorial Stadium on their Bridges to Babylon Tour. The Stones started 'em up with Satisfaction and topped off… pic.twitter.com/qFymhG68My
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) June 14, 2024
The Rolling Stones, formed in 1962 and part of the 1964 British Invasion of rock and roll music, still were going strong in 1997. Legendary rockers Mick Jagger and Keith Richards remained with the group; the Rolling Stones already were in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And the 72-year-old stadium on Jenkins Avenue was about to experience an electric night unrelated to touchdowns or tackles.
Owen Field had ventured outside football before, hosting commencements and convocations and ceremonies for the opening of the 1989 U.S. Olympic Festival. Since then, it has hosted other concerts.
But the stadium never rocked like it rocked the night of October 28, 1997, when the Stones’ music could be heard blaring all across Norman.
There was buildup all week for itBrad Tow
For good reason. The concert was the 16th stop on the Bridges to Babylon Tour, with the Rolling Stones already having played Ohio State’s Horseshoe, Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium, Nashville’s Vanderbilt Stadium and a variety of National Football League venues, including those of the Bears, Bills, Patriots, Redskins, Giants and Eagles. Owen Field was in quite the company.
Sheryl Crow opened for the Stones. Tickets were a robust $60. The crowd was announced as 53,327, which put it in the same general range as many of the stadium stops. That Bridges to Babylon Tour would go on to reap more than $274 million in gross revenues, at the time the second-highest tour total ever, trailing only the Stones’ Voodoo Lounge Tour from 1994-95.
OU and then-athletics director Steve Owens agreed to host the Rolling Stones as a fundraiser for the athletics department, and it certainly was that. The Sooners had turned down the Stones as a venue for the Voodoo Lounge Tour in 1994 but didn’t pass in 1997.
And the campus was juiced. The day of the concert, Tow sat in zoology class and was reminded who was in town.
“My zoology professor was Doug Gaffin,” Tow recalled. “He was a very popular, fun professor on campus then. I can remember our lecture being over ATP. Well, I don’t remember what the lecture was about, but I remember him saying, ‘I ain’t, got no … ATP.’”
As stated, Tow didn’t really care for the Stones then.
“But still, my roommate and I were going to check out the atmosphere,” Tow said. “It was crazy outside the stadium. People everywhere drinking in what would seem commonplace at the games today. But in the John Blake era, pregame atmosphere was lacking. It seemed crazy at the time and almost highway robbery that they were charging $60 a ticket.”
One of the best concerts I’ve ever seen unfolded before me
Tow and his roommate decided to join the party. They found a scalper offering tickets for $35. This was 27 years ago, and Tow was on an 18-year-old’s budget. But he pulled the trigger. Tow and his pal sat about 50 rows up, near midfield, for the show that began on a stage in the south end zone. Then he heard a litany of classic Stones hits. “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” “Gimme Shelter.” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”
“One of the best concerts I’ve ever seen unfolded before me,” Tow said. “Heck, that concert just about ruined me. They played for hours. I didn’t even know all their songs at the time except for the big ones. But looking back, they must’ve played nearly all of them.
“I was sure it was over, and then some bridge came out of the main stage and they moved to a pop-up stage in midfield. Then they went back to the main stage. Then they took an online request, which was kind of different at the time considering I was just figuring out email. And then an encore. It went on and on and on. To this day, I still won’t leave a concert till the lights come on.”
Tow said the Rolling Stones had “every bit the atmosphere of any big OU game I’ve ever been to.” He included 2000 Nebraska, 2002 Alabama and 2008 Texas Tech on that list.
“I left that stadium a huge Stones fan,” Tow said. “I’ve seen them two more times since and they never came close to that night in Norman.”
Longtime Norman Transcript editor Andy Reiger called the Stones concert “a party few will ever forget.” Gives you a new appreciation for the stadium’s ability to host events different from Saturdays on the gridiron.
The 2013 Oklahoma Twister Relief Concert outdrew even the Rolling Stones. Oklahoman Toby Keith organized the concert as a fundraiser for victims of the May 20 tornado that ripped through primarily Moore, just north of Norman. The July 6 concert included Keith, Willie Nelson, Sammy Hagar, Ronnie Dunn, Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. The crowd of 60,000-plus was the largest ever for a concert in Oklahoma.
U2 played the stadium on October 19, 2009 — football coaches must wonder why October is the desired month for Owen Field concerts — and drew 50,951. The band performed on a 360-degree stage stationed at midfield. The Black Eyed Peas were the opener that night. The Rolling Stones and U2. Two legendary worldwide bands played concerts in Norman, Oklahoma.
The best non-football crowd in the stadium’s history came on July 23, 1989, opening ceremonies for the U.S. Olympic Festival. A crowd of 76,014 — 1,010 higher than capacity for football — turned out and heard Ronald Reagan speak, six months after leaving the White House, and were entertained by the likes of Bob Hope, the Oak Ridge Boys and Reba McEntire. Olympic icon Florence Griffith Joyner carried the Olympic torch into the stadium, and Oklahoma wrestling champion John Smith lit the cauldron.
The highlight of the night was the Owen Field return of Barry Switzer, who resigned as OU football coach just six weeks earlier. Switzer and his lone Heisman Trophy winner, Billy Sims, were introduced and circled the field to thunderous ovations.
?????????????? ?????????????????? 4??0?? » July 21, 1989 | Former president Ronald Reagan kicked off the ninth U.S. Olympic Festival before a crowd of nearly 80,000 at Memorial Stadium. Almost 4,200 athletes in 37 sports competed in the festival.#GFOMS100 pic.twitter.com/ZZ5ahBqMEe
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) July 21, 2024
So, the grand old stadium, closing in on 100 years old, has been a variety of things other than a football cathedral. From athletics offices to a campus shortcut to celebrations of all sorts, be they graduations or concert venues or Olympic Festivals. From Bennie Owen to the Rolling Stones.
