20 years ago on this night (2006): the Rolling Stones were live in concert in Wichita on a Sunday night; the iconic band featured 63-year-olds Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, along with Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood.
The venue was Cessna Stadium on the Wichita State University campus; the football stadium housed 30,000+ fans in attendance for the concert, 20 years after the Shockers dropped their football program. It was the largest concert in Wichita history.
It was the 100th show of the year for the Stones, part of the "Bigger Bang Tour"; they were playing more college campuses at the time, and Cessna Stadium was the perfect outdoor setting for the band's massive set on stage.
The Stones came in to Wichita two days after playing a Friday night concert in the rain in front of 45,000 fans at Churchill Downs in Louisville, home of the Kentucky Derby, with opening act Alice Cooper.
The Stones were in Kansas on the hottest October day in Wichita history, topping out at 97 degrees that afternoon; but by the time the Stones took the stage at 8:45 p.m., it had cooled a bit.
The 300-ton stage, nine-stories tall, was set up at the south end of the stadium, featuring 220 speakers, and five video monitors, including a mammoth screen in the center of the stage.
The rigging was set up by 85 roadies, unloading 70 tractor-trailers of equipment.
Prior to the concert, there was concern that there were only 10,000 parking spaces on campus; many fans used a shuttle-bus service, or car-pooled to the concert.
The Rolling Stones performed for more than an hour-and-a-half, featuring about 20 songs, including a verse of the Jimmy Webb classic "Wichita Lineman". The Stones encore numbers to finish the concert were two of their massive hits from the 1960s: "You Can't Always Get What You Want", and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". As the concert concluded at about 10:30 p.m., fireworks lit up the sky.
