Concert Reviews, Photos, Videos and Rock and Roll Stories from fans who love live music

Ticket Stub from the first show.

Keith Richards – CNIB 1979

Just a little background before I share the experience.

In March 1977 the Rolling Stones (billed as the Cockroaches) played and recorded 2 performances in a small club called the El Mocombo in Toronto. These shows would be culled down and added as an entire side to the soon to be released double live album Love You Live. The band arrived in late Feb. to prepare for the gigs. When Keith arrived he passed through customs ahead of his luggage and went on to the Harbour Castle Hotel. Customs found residue on certain items in is luggage. The find leads to a raid of his hotel suite and the confiscation of a significant amount of heroin. Keith was charged with importing. When you listen to the El Mocombo side of Love You Live, Jagger intros the band and when he intros Keith’s he says, “of course Keith is completely straight”. Another note Jagger changes the lyric in Its Only Rock & Roll to ” I bet you think you’re the only woman in Toronto”.

Anyway 2 years later Keith had to prove to the Ontario court he was / is clean and among other terms was ordered to play 2 benefit shows for the CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind). Why the CNIB is of rock lore. Keith’s Blind angel is another story. The court ordered the shows and once finalized they happened fast. This is where I come in.

In April 1979 I was 17. I heard on a Friday afternoon tickets would go on sale Monday and the shows would take place just days after. I bolted off to the closest BASS (best available seating service) ticket outlet I could find. That was Burlington, Ontario in a Dominion grocery store set inside a shopping mall. I got to the location about 7PM Friday and thankfully no one was there yet. I was going to wait the 2.5 days to get tickets. The mall was still open when I got there so I kind just wandered around a little and kept a close eye on the ticket outlet. As the mall closed down I moved to a place in between the entrance doors and kind of settled in. It didn’t long before I noticed cars slowly driving by checking out the BASS outlet. Around 10PM the security guards (more…)