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More than five decades into their career, The Rolling Stones were still turning arena concerts into oversized rock ‘n’ roll celebrations with the subtlety of a wrecking ball. Their 2013 Toronto performance proved their “classics” weren’t just classic tracks—they were practically built to outlive trends, critics, and maybe even retirement itself. With Mick Jagger sprinting across the stage, surprise guests adding extra firepower, and fans treating every chorus like a national anthem, the night became another reminder that the Stones never really mastered the art of slowing down. Thankfully for everyone, they never tried.
May 25, 2013: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada Get Off Of My Cloud/You Got Me Rocking/Paint It Black/Gimme Shelter/Angie/Street Fighting Man/Emotional Rescue/It’s Only Rock’n Roll/Doom And Gloom/One More Shot/Honky Tonk Woman/Band introduction/You Got The Silver/Happy/Midnight Rambler/Miss You/Start Me Up/Tumbling Dice/Brown Sugar/Sympathy For The Devil/You Can’t Always Get What You Want/Jumpin’ Jack Flash/Satisfaction *With special guests Carrie Underwood on It’s Only Rock’n Roll and the Cawthra Park Chamber Choir on You Can’t Always Get What You Want All photos from the IORR site
Rolling Stones Bring the Heat to Toronto
On May 25, 2013,The Rolling Stones stormed Toronto’s Air Canada Centre and reminded everyone that rock legends apparently don’t believe in slowing down. Part of the band’s 50 & Counting tour—because counting that high is easier than retiring—the concert delivered exactly what fans came for: massive hits, loud guitars, and pure Stones swagger. Mick Jagger moved across the stage with enough energy to make people half his age reconsider their fitness levels, while Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood traded riffs like they owned the place. Backed by the unshakable groove of Charlie Watts, the band ripped through their classics (as usual) proving yet again that the Stones had absolutely no intention of becoming a nostalgia act quietly fading away.
A Setlist Packed with Classics
The band didn’t exactly play it safe with the setlist either. From stone-cold classics to a surprise appearance by Carrie Underwood on It’s Only Rock ’n Roll, the night kept finding new ways to get louder. Fans got a perfect mix of massive hits, deeper cuts, and a choir-backed version of You Can’t Always Get What You Want that somehow turned an arena concert into something close to a spiritual experience—well, Stones-style spirituality anyway. The energy inside Air Canada Centre was unreal, with fans singing every lyric like they’d been rehearsing for weeks. Whether it was your first The Rolling Stones show or your fifteenth, this felt like one of those nights people keep talking about long after the amplifiers cool down. Toronto got a full-throttle performance from a band that clearly ignored the whole “aging gracefully” concept in favor of blowing the roof off the place instead.
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Stones Data on Substack
