Rolling Stones defy the ravages of age> Legends rock all-ages crowd in Foxboro

FOXBORO, Mass. — If 30,000 people clap with winter gloves on, does anyone hear the sound? It was tough to tell Tuesday night at frigid Foxboro Stadium during the second evening of concerts staged here by the legendary Rolling Stones. Temperatures dipped below the 40s, making a four-hour relationship with metal seats a chilling experience.

During the long walk up Route 1 to the stadium, the Maine contingent was laughed at for their winter boots, ear warmers, ski jackets and ski gloves. “You warm enough?” asked the tailgaters, who appeared to have started very early in the day.

“We’re from Maine. We know about cold,” we said, marching to the stadium.

Our seats were the worst in the house. We could not have been farther from the stage. One row back was the parking lot. Sheryl Crow opened the concert at 8:15 with a decent set that generally was ignored by the milling crowd. Warming up for the Stones has to be the worst musical job in the world.

It was a decidedly older crowd waiting for the band that had played the background for their lives at scores of parties, dances and late-night adventures. We had grown up with the bad boys of rock ‘n’ roll. Now we had grown old with them. The drummer, Charlie Watts, is flirting with 60.

Times have changed. We could remember when the words to “Let’s Spend the Night Together” were so racy that they were changed to “spend some time together” to get by the nation’s censor, Ed Sullivan.

Now musical acts like Salt N’ Pepa sing about the most intimate of human sexual activity on prime-time MTV, with toddlers humming along. Even the Promise Keepers don’t complain.

The legendary band is taking big hits from Leno and Letterman for spandex touring in their 50s. But at the press conference that kicked off this tour, lead singer Mick Jagger defended the band’s right to tour in a business now dominated by unemployed high school dropouts with automatic weapons. No one ever gave B.B. King or Muddy Waters any grief about playing into their 60s, Jagger said.

All of that became academic when the band came running on the stage to open with “Satisfaction,” then “It’s Only Rock n’ Roll.” Doesn’t matter if they’re 80. The Stones can still play.

The concert featured a multi-million dollar stage complete with a high-tech light show and the ultimate large-screen television, a closed-circuit, laser-like projection that made our “nosebleed” seats perfectly acceptable.

“The stage was worth the price of admission,” said Peter Clifford, who led a band of fans from Hallowell, Maine.

The frozen crowd went wild as Watts had the perfectly good sense to appear embarrassed at the proceedings. Keith Richards, who created the guitar licks that became anthems for several generations, actually has gray hair. He looked so bad 25 years ago that he actually looks better in his mid-50s. But he still looked more road-worn than my 88-year-old mother.

How times have changed. The band advertised their own web site, for heaven’s sake.

“Flip the Switch” and some other songs from the new album slowed the proceedings, along with a few dismal songs by Richards, which served to remind all just how good Jagger is at what he does. It was actually subterfuge for the surprise of the night, a fire-engine-type of telescoping ladder-bridge that led the band from the large stage to a more intimate bar-type setting conveniently located right in front of us. They did “Little Queenie,” the new “Pray to Momma” and “Got Me Rockin’ ” before returning to the main stage for the signature “Sympathy for the Devil.”

I noticed that the playlist did not include “Mother’s Little Helper,” which includes the prophetic line “What a drag it is getting old.”

It got colder and colder on the aluminum seats. We could see our breath. At about 11 p.m., freezing patrons surrounding us were casting covetous glances at the ski gloves and ear warmers. Sorry, suckers. “You warm enough?” I asked one shivering teen.

After the nuclear explosion that preceded the “Brown Sugar” encore, we unwrapped cold and stiff legs for the long walk down Route 1 to the car and the very long ride home. We wondered if we — the band and the audience — would be back when we are all in our 60s.

Good grief.