Concert History | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum — The Earthquake Changed Setup Time and the Stage Message

<!-- concert-queue-id: 1068; dedup-key: the rolling stones|1989-11-04|oakland-alameda county coliseum|oakland -->
On Saturday, 4 November 1989, the Rolling Stones played the first of two dates at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. A contemporary Los Angeles Times report fixes the booking at 4–5 November and reveals an unusual condition behind the first night: the concert contract called for the stadium to be empty for five days before setup. The earthquake-interrupted World Series could have required games there on 31 October and 1 November, so the band accepted a shorter conversion window rather than demand that either event move. The paper described the remaining preparation as an extraordinary effort. [Los Angeles Times, 27 October 1989](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-27-sp-683-story.html)

The regional emergency also entered the performance itself. Two hours before Saturday's concert, Mick Jagger and promoter Bill Graham flew by helicopter to Watsonville, toured the earthquake-damaged town, and returned for the Oakland date. Both the Los Angeles Times and Deseret News reported that Jagger addressed the 17 October quake during the performance. Their reports also recorded a $500,000 pledge divided between Northern California earthquake relief and Hurricane Hugo relief; Billboard later reported the money as a Red Cross donation. [Los Angeles Times, 6 November 1989](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-11-06-ca-815-story.html) [Deseret News, 6 November 1989](https://www.deseret.com/1989/11/6/18831073/rolling-stone-gathers-aid-and-offers-encouragement-to-earthquake-victims-in-hard-hit-town-of-watsonv/) [Billboard, 16 December 1989](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/80s/1989/BB-1989-12-16.pdf)

This was not advertised as a benefit concert, and the sources do not identify the night's ticket receipts as relief money. Its mechanism was narrower and more revealing: a pre-sold stadium show absorbed a civic emergency twice. The venue conversion plan yielded to a disrupted baseball calendar, while the promoter's helicopter linked Watsonville to the Oakland stage and turned part of the show into a public relief appeal.

**Coordinate method and precision.** The pin, 37.751667, -122.200556, marks the center of the stadium bowl, not Watsonville or the helicopter route. Wikidata places Oakland Coliseum at that point. The U.S. Census Geocoder places the official 7000 Coliseum Way address at 37.752394, -122.199095, about 151 metres away near the same stadium footprint. A 180-metre precision radius honestly covers the bowl and address-point difference. [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1147732) [U.S. Census Geocoder](https://geocoding.geo.census.gov/geocoder/locations/onelineaddress?address=7000%20Coliseum%20Way%2C%20Oakland%2C%20CA%2094621&benchmark=Public_AR_Current&format=json)

**Venue status, checked 7 September 2026.** The official complex page still identifies the operating stadium as Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum at 7000 Coliseum Way. [Official venue page](https://www.theoaklandarena.com/oakland-alameda-county-coliseum)

**Cover and caption.** Weegee010 photographed this overall view from Coliseum BART station on 4 January 2015 and released it under CC BY-SA 4.0. It is a later exterior with later sponsor signage and alterations—not the Rolling Stones, the 1989 concert, or the stadium's exact 1989 configuration. [Image source and licence](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:O.co_Coliseum,_as_seen_from_the_Coliseum_BART_station..JPG)