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The mighty Rolling Stones are performing Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, the home of the San Francisco 49ers, in Santa Clara.
And you know what that means, right?
There’s a good chance that the Stones will break the venue’s Sunday/weeknight curfew of 10 p.m., once again putting the city of Santa Clara and the San Francisco 49ers at odds over staging nighttime concerts and entertainment events at the venue.
City officials don’t want neighbors to be bothered by noise and traffic when they have to get up early the next day for school or work. The 49ers, which manage the stadium, say a 10 p.m. curfew — significantly earlier than many other venues — is unrealistic and makes it hard for to book concerts and events.
The 49ers have said they will not book acts at the stadium during weeknights and Sundays because of the curfew. But this particular case, however, is due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control.
The concert was originally scheduled for May 18 — a Saturday, which means the curfew would have been 11 p.m., not 10 p.m. But then Stones front man Mick Jagger had to undergo heart surgery, leading the band to postpone its North American tour.
But the band’s makeup date at Levi’s is a Sunday, which means 10 p.m. curfew issue is back.
So, will the Stones break the curfew on Sunday?
Our guess: Absolutely.
Let’s break it down.
The show is set to start at 7:30 p.m., 2½ hours before curfew.
First up is an opening band — Vista Kicks. There’s a cool story there. Vista Kicks is a Northern California band and it’s getting to open for the legendary Stones in its own backyard.
But say the band gets a 25-minute set, at minimum. That means we’re talking about 2 hours to curfew. And of course there is always a time gap between acts so the stage can be re-set and patrons can buy more T-shirts and beer. So, really, it’s hard to imagine the Stones taking the stage before 8:30 p.m. — at the earliest. And that would leave about 1½ hours to curfew.
Scanning through the set lists on this tour so far, it looks like the Stones are playing 19 songs at most stops on this tour. It wouldn’t be impossible for them to get through all 19 songs in 90 minutes. But it would be highly unlikely.
Seemingly more likely is that the band will be onstage 2 hours — which is what Jacksonville.com reported the Stones played during their show in Jacksonville.
And that would put the band over curfew.
Again, that’s an educated guess. We don’t have any access to official set times from the show.
If the Stones do indeed break curfew, they will join such past violators at Levi’s as U2 (2017), Coldplay (2017) and Beyonce (2016 and, again, in 2018 with Jay-Z).
We spoke with Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor earlier in August and she was aware of the issue. But she has yet to say definitively what the city will do if the Stones do break curfew.
In the past, city officials have said the 49ers management would be fined between $750 and $1,000 for a curfew violation.
Also, we reached out to the 49ers for comment and will update this file with any response.
For more information about the Rolling Stones concert at Levi’s, click here.
