It’s Oldies’ Rock ‘n’ Roll, but Kids Like It

The crowd spanned the generations at the Rolling Stones concert Tuesday night, symbolizing a major evolution in the public’s attitude since the legendary rock group first appeared in Orange County more than 20 years ago.

Somehow, over that time, what once inspired the ire of American parents seemed to have become a wholesome family event.

“I wanted him to have the experience,” Kevin Armour, 35, said glancing at his 14-year-old son, Ryan, who was attending his first Stones concert. “Seeing the Rolling Stones is like seeing the godfathers of rock ‘n’ roll.”

There were, of course, the usual rock concert-associated goings-on in the parking lot and environs of Anaheim’s Arrowhead Pond. Teenagers sat in their vans drinking beer with their CD players blowing Stones music. Scalpers hawked tickets on the sidewalks while merchants pushed T-shirts.

Amid the chaos, however, were the traces of a phenomenon relatively new in the annals of American rock music culture. Longtime Stones fans with their children in tow. Gray-haired rockers next to twentysomething fans.

“Twenty years ago, a Stones concert wasn’t something you’d want to take your family to,” said Cliff Sane, 42, a businessman from Ramona.

He and his wife, Shirley, met at a Stones concert in 1981. In the intervening years, he said, they had collected more than 20 Rolling Stones T-shirts, 40 albums and attended more than a dozen of their concerts. And now they wanted their 11-year old son, Jason, to experience first-hand what they had been telling him about for years.

“He kind of popped out of the cradle listening to the Stones,” Sane said. “ . . . It’s what we had, and we wouldn’t want to deny him that.”

John Cuda, 46, came to the concert with his 22-year-old niece, Carrie Gravette. “I’ve been a Stones fan since 1962,” he said, “and I first took her on her 21st birthday. It’s the type of music that all generations can relate to. They don’t send a bad message--it’s good old rock ‘n’ roll.”

Gravette said she particularly loves the onstage energy exhibited by Mick Jagger, who is now 55. “I fell in love with him when I was 15,” she said. “I was totally enthralled.”

And longtime Stones fan Brent Tufeld, 38, came wearing matching Rolling Stones T-shirts with his son Max, 6. “I didn’t think this would ever be a family event,” he said, “but music brings us closer. It’s a tribute to the Stones that they’re still standing. Everyone else from that era has blown themselves up. Their songs are classics and they still know how to put on a show.”

Not without some complications, however.

As the Pond parking lot became overwhelmed with cars, arena officials had to begin turning people away. After 8 p.m. when the first act began, traffic was stopped dead on the Orange Freeway waiting to get in. Among those making it to the show in their car were Cheryl Levine, 36, attending the concert with her husband and two children, Rebecca, 3, and Jeremy, 8.

“They always ask us in the car if they can listen to the Rolling Stones, so we decided to bring them along,” Levine said. “This is our favorite thing to do and we wanted to share it with our kids.”

Times staff writer Robert Ourlian contributed to this story.