| January 24th, 2006 12:55 PM |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
Do you know how many opening acts I've caught on this tour Blondee?
0.
Hardcore fans like the ones who post at this board do not give a shit about the opening acts....even the opening acts that they like!!! It's nothing personal. But we go to those shows for one single reason only...The Rolling Stones.
The Stones are the main event. Prime time. The big show. Catching an opening act just takes too much time away from pre-show partying. And there are none of us who would waste film or memory stick on an opening act. That would mean fewer pictures of The Stones.
Look, I'm sure Antigone Rising are great ladies and fine musicians. But they were only an opening act for the Stones. That's probably one of the worst jobs a band can have. It's totally thankless. Sorry, that's just the way it is. I'm sure there are some lesser known bands(like Antigone Rising) that think an opener slot for The Stones is a big break, or a primo gig. It's not. It's meaningless. |
| January 24th, 2006 01:23 PM |
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| GimmeExile |
Unless you're AC/DC and steal the show before the Stones even take the stage. |
| January 24th, 2006 01:30 PM |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
AC/DC was not an opening act.
They were a co-headliner.
[Edited by Sir Stonesalot] |
| January 24th, 2006 02:56 PM |
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| GimmeExile |
quote:
Sir Stonesalot wrote:
AC/DC was not an opening act.
They were a co-headliner.
Was that after the fact? I don't recall the initial on-sale including AC/DC as a co-headliner. |
| January 24th, 2006 04:23 PM |
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| lotsajizz |
I might actually go into see the Meters in Lauderdale.....
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| January 24th, 2006 04:31 PM |
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| erikjjf |
All photos by Bill Hogan, Chicago Tribune |
| January 25th, 2006 04:28 AM |
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| Jumacfly |
Nice pics erik!
Whaouu, the guitarists seems so focused! |
| January 25th, 2006 10:30 AM |
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| parmeda |
SKIP THE STONES
Chicago SunTimes
January 25, 2006
BY JIM DEROGATIS Pop Music Critic
(a.k.a. Fucking-Cocksucker-that-would-lambaste-the-"Happy-Birthday"-song!!!)
Out of curiosity, I consulted an online travel service Tuesday. You and a loved one could take advantage of numerous package deals this Friday through Sunday, luxuriating at one of several four-star hotels in Las Vegas. Total cost for airfare and two nights at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino: $1,276.38; the MGM Grand: $1,229.25; the Hilton Las Vegas: $1,060.97.
Alternately, you could go to see the Rolling Stones tonight at the United Center during the second evening of their second lap through town on the Bigger Bang Tour; there are still plenty of seats available in the first tier off the floor. Total cost for two tickets, with Ticketmaster service charges and parking: $961.50.
That's 48 hours of fun in the now-Disneyfied Sin City for a little more cash than an hour and a half with the Stones. Granted, it will cost you some extra coin to see top-dollar Vegas entertainers like Elton John and Celine Dion. But there are plenty of free shows at clubs on the Strip, including a nostalgia revue called "Sixties Mania."
And a nostalgia revue was all that the Stones delivered at the United Center on Monday.
To be clear, the Stones weren't bad this time through. I would have welcomed bad, and absolutely embraced awful. A set that was sloppy or ragged might have been evidence that the musicians were improvising or trying some less familiar tunes, sweating and interacting with one another while reacting to their audience in the here and now.
The Stones were something worse. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Charlie Watts and the hired help were proficient. Slick, well-oiled, streamlined and smoothly gliding on autopilot, they may as well have been pre-programmed animatronic dummies or holograms. Plug 'em in, hit play and watch 'em deliver "Jumping Jack Flash" for the 49th time this tour and the umpteenth time in their 44-year career. Whee!
The only indication that the band was aware of the current year came during the final tune of its 20-song performance, the obligatory set-closing "Satisfaction," which included a snippet of "Mustang Sally" in homage to the recently deceased Wilson Pickett. Otherwise, this was once again the lowest-common-denominator, ultra-predictable greatest-hits show, plus a few lackluster versions of the mediocre tunes from the last album, "A Bigger Bang."
There was still no "Sweet Neo Con," though, and don't expect to hear that one when the band plays the Super Bowl, either. The group's recent Bush-bashing anti-war ditty could offend somebody, somewhere, sometime, and rock's onetime baddest of the bad boys would never want to do that now. No, they are all about giving the people what they allegedly want.
That's the group's rationale for sticking to the same tired arena anthems: People expect to hear "It's Only Rock and Roll," "Start Me Up" and "Honky Tonk Women." Which people? Why, the most casual of Stones fans, the folks who own "Hot Rocks" but nothing else, and who just want to see these rock icons once before one of them dies.
In 2005 the band grossed more than any other touring group -- almost $168 million -- playing to these people in the stadiums on the first leg of the Bigger Bang Tour.
But the Stones have one of the richest catalogs in rock history, and even if we accept that they must pander in the stadiums, this was their second visit to this market, and they were playing a more intimate venue -- if you can call a place with 25,000 seats intimate. Nevertheless, they coasted through 11 of the same songs they gave us at the 61,500-seat Soldier Field last September, with only one surprise -- a tender reading of "As Tears Go By" powered by Richards' acoustic 12-string -- among the nine "new" songs.
Is it really too much to ask that, for these prices, the Stones play a show for their most devoted fans, those of us who've burned through three or four copies of "Exile on Main Street" and "Let It Bleed" and seen them do this or a very similar set a dozen times before? To challenge themselves and their listeners just a bit with the sort of surprises they unleashed and the risks they took at the 4,800-seat Aragon in September 2002?
Some folks think that's an unreasonable request, and I argued with one of them Tuesday morning during a call-in radio show. A diehard Stones fan, Camille from Schaumburg, said she's seen the band 90 times and listed "Exile" as her favorite album ever. Though she would welcome a richer set list, she still loves this band, and she begged me not to use the word "pathetic" to describe it in this review.
OK, Camille: The Stones weren't pathetic. We fans were, for allowing this once-great group to go through the motions with a glitzy Vegas road show instead of making it clear that we expect more for ticket prices nearing the amount of a mortgage payment. But maybe, just maybe, some of us are starting to get frustrated with such mediocrity.
CONCERT REVIEW
ROLLING STONES
WITH ANTIGONE RISING
NOT RECOMMENDED
When: 7:30 tonight
Where: United Center, 1901 W. Madison
Tickets: $99-450
Call: (312) 559-1212
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This guy couldn't review the apes in the Brookfield Zoo African Safari House in the midst of their springtime festivities...
What an ass.
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| January 25th, 2006 10:48 AM |
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| Ihavelotsajam |
I don't know, maybe they had an off night? THe other Chicago review wasn't good either:
Chicago Tribune
Stones keep rolling with the tours
By Joshua Klein
Special to the Tribune
The Rolling Stones made $162 million touring the U.S. last year, easily out-grossing the likes of U2, Paul McCartney and apparently any other single act in history, but they can't possibly be hitting the road for the cash alone. At this point, the group has enough money to pay for several lifetimes' worth of indulgences, indiscretions and transgressions. Likewise the Stones seemed to be having fun Monday night at the United Center, or at least a well-honed simulacrum of fun.
No, at this stage in their career, touring seems to be the last vestige of the Stones' lock-up-your-daughters swagger and rebellion. Sometimes it seems like all it takes is for someone to tell the band to stop to get them to start back up again, and why shouldn't they? Jazz and bluesmen are encouraged to tour until they keel over, so why not the Stones, who have contributed as much to pop culture and music as anyone else?
Forget the group's OK recent record, "A Bigger Bang." And with the exception of a couple of tracks performed Monday, it seems like the band already has. No, the Stones' set, the first of two nights of their return engagement, was as hits-heavy as any from their ongoing trek. Yet it's easy to overlook the fact that with as many hits as the Stones have had, the group could probably offer a different yet still satisfying best-of set every night. That's why the band could get away with mothballing "Gimmie Shelter" when they played Soldier Field in September.
That song was back Monday, plus other Stones nuggets such as "Let's Spend the Night Together," though not always to good effect. It's always been cooler to credit Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood with keeping the Stones afloat, and indeed the ragged back-and-forth rhythm guitar work of Richards and Wood is a force of nature, as is Watts' swing-inflected backbeat. But it's Mick Jagger who makes a show great, and this night he wasn't quite up to the task.
He wiggled and writhed in all the right places. But his voice let "As Tears Go By" down, and too often he relied on the sing-along crowd or hid between Richards' and Wood's riffs. Yet even they weren't always in top form.
It took some audacity to conclude the barely two-hour evening by singing "you can't always get what you want" and "I can't no satisfaction." But the Stones long ago belied both folly-of-youth declarations.
They've had everything, and at this rate they'll get the last laugh too.
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| January 25th, 2006 10:54 AM |
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| Jumacfly |
Is it me or every journalist who gives a bad review of the show is an ass?? |
| January 25th, 2006 11:07 AM |
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| speedfreakjive |
theres no need for the journalist to be negative, but there is an element of truth in the fact they have forgotten about ABB - theres no money in it, cos its not selling. I'd personally prefer just RJ and TPIE to be played. Although i'd like to see DTF debuted. |
| January 25th, 2006 11:41 AM |
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| Jumacfly |
quote:
Jumacfly wrote:
Is it me or every journalist who gives a bad review of the show is an ass??
just a question buddies! |
| January 25th, 2006 11:19 PM |
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| blondeeVIP |
Sir Stonesalot:
I know exactly what you are saying about a opening act. And I realize this is a hardcore RS message board.
But it just so happened Antigone Rising - a band I love - but has a long way to go to make the big time opened for RS.
AR has played at many clubs in Chicago over the years.
I was simply seeing if anyone had any opinions on this band.
Thanks! |
| January 26th, 2006 11:00 AM |
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| parmeda |
I love when this guy pisses people off in this town, lmao
And you have to love the editor of the Sun Times to allow this shit!
*************************************
JIM DeROGATIS INSTANT MESSAGES
Chicago SunTimes
January 26, 2006
Reviewing the Rolling Stones' Monday concert at the United Center, pop music critic Jim DeRogatis suggested that instead of seeing a perfunctory greatest-hits set, fans would be better off spending their money on a weekend vacation to Las Vegas:
Did we see the same show? I am 42 years old and have seen the Stones at least 15 times, and I attended the show with my 52-year-old brother and a few of his friends. We all walked out very impressed. Did you not see the version of "All Down the Line" or "Paint It Black"? Ronnie Wood nailed those two. Even Keith [Richards] nailed "Happy." I must admit I have seen better versions of "Jumping Jack Flash," but then they came back with a nice version of "Let's Spend the Night Together." And their set on the B stage was one for the ages.
Tom
You're both right and wrong about the Stones. I didn't go to these shows because it's way too much money, and I don't want to hear a greatest-hits show. I love hearing the classics mixed in with the lesser-known brilliant songs. However, not all of the people who went were wealthy stockbrokers; some were working people who paid all this money to hear the greatest hits, and if it gives them some nourishment while disappointing you and me, so what?
John
Thank you for today's review. As a casual fan, I might never have known how crappy it was! I am 50 years old with a 15-year-old son that I am excited to say enjoys classic rock. It was an exciting feeling to share a bit of history with him. Those leaving disappointed were a small minority. I understand and appreciate your take on the concert, but the music was only a part of the story.
David
I am a devout, longtime, 40-year-old Stones fan, and I want to thank you. Finally, somebody has the nerve to call the Stones on the carpet. The last several tours (and albums) have been strictly funding vehicles for the Rolling Stones Pension Fund. ... Great material I welcome anytime; just don't ask me to pay through the nose to listen to the same old regurgitated stuff. Halftime at the Super Bowl? I'll be in the chow line.
Colin
I'm an architect, and I know how frustrating it is to see the masses flock to an uncreative, mass-marketed, uninspired product. But I also realize that when people buy a Frank Lloyd Wright home, they want ... all the hallmarks of Wright's style. ... What you have to keep in mind is that the vast majority of us do not eat, drink, live and breathe music. We love it, ... but we can only indulge in it live occasionally. Panning the Rolling Stones for putting on a fantastic show simply because you personally have seen it before is ridiculous.
Alex
Perhaps you should have gone to Vegas instead and enjoyed one of those timeless treasures that you referred to, namely Celine Dion and Elton John. After 35 years of playing bass guitar professionally with the likes of Bo Diddley, Lefty Dizz, Buddy Guy and some of the other blues and rock treasures that this city and the world have embraced, I have a slight knowledge of the creative process that goes into playing a show. Each individual note or riff that makes up the soul of the Rolling Stones to create the "gumbo" that you refer to as "a nostalgia act" came from their love and dedication to the unsung heroes of the Delta blues, the Chicago electric blues and the founding fathers of rock 'n' roll. Gee, what a shame that B.B. King still plays "The Thrill Is Gone." Imagine that! I bet if Muddy Waters were still breathing, he'd play "Mannish Boy." What a drag!
Mike
I can relate to where you're coming from. I attended only one Stones show in my life, and it was at the Aragon back in 2002. It was THE best concert I've ever been to. Mick Jagger and Bono (albeit briefly) onstage at the same time? Rock 'n' roll heaven! I was so pumped when I left that show I wanted to see them again right away, but I stopped myself for two reasons: One, I couldn't afford a second mortgage, and two, the Aragon show was so good I didn't want to take a chance and have them put on a show like you say they did last night. It would be like seeing the Bears in New Orleans in Super Bowl XX and then going to a preseason game the following year expecting the same magic.
Ed
The Rolling Stones were fantastic Monday night. You are a person of no class, and you have no idea what a great concert is. Everyone in the United Center was in concert heaven! Your opinion means nothing. You are either jealous of the band or you're just plain insane.
Mike
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| January 26th, 2006 02:16 PM |
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| flexy633 |
Wow! I was thinking of posting something too, but declined. I wonder what our illustrious reviewer thought of last night's performance? After all, they did throw in some "gems" that the casual fan wouldn't have known.
[Edited by flexy633] |
| January 26th, 2006 02:41 PM |
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| polksalad69 |
quote:
parmeda wrote:
I love when this guy pisses people off in this town, lmao
*************************************
JIM DeROGATIS INSTANT MESSAGES
he published one of my short notes to him in the pre-internet days. the band in question has since improved and I would have to agree with him that they are now good. on the Stones, I didn't pay to go this time either and I certainly didn't go to vegas. |
| January 26th, 2006 06:12 PM |
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| telecaster |
As Parmy knows I had my own run in with this walking
ton of lard about 3 yrs ago
This morbidly fat pig was walking down a side street
in Chicago and I saw him, swung the car around and asked him and his 4 chins what their problem was with The Stones
as he has been blasting them for years
It seems fat, ugly music critics get real skiddish when
asked about what they write
Cowering comes to mind
The rolls of his man-breasts were quivering as I spoke with him
Vegas?
This fat-ass should know as I am sure he hit every buffet
in the town |
| January 26th, 2006 07:07 PM |
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| Gazza |
Stand back and form an orderly queue, ladies..! |
| January 26th, 2006 08:30 PM |
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| parmeda |
GAZZA!
THAT'S HIM!
(That's a thin him!...you should see him now!...WOW!!!)
THAT'S THE COCKSUCKER!
(...tele will lose his mind, rotflmao)
Just imagine the countless times I've crossed paths with this jackass. He's so smug, too. He needs a bitch-slappin' like nobody's business!!!
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| January 26th, 2006 08:51 PM |
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| throbby |
looks like he's in need of some restraint...in the kitchen |
| January 26th, 2006 08:58 PM |
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| sammy davis jr. |
Musings from last night:
Third row center, sound was very good, but Ronnie's mix was muddy from where we were. Keith sounded great. Highlights: JJF was awesome as an opener, Keith riffing very confidently. Memory Motel- done very well, with nice restrained guitar work. Keith really seemed to into his refrain bit. Rambler was very rockin'- they should never leave this out of a set, it is their signature song. Lowlights: Respectable from the B-stage was god-awful....tempo was way too slow, then the trainwreck on the last verse/chorus/? It was pretty funny how bad they fucked it up. Get Off Off My Cloud was average at best. (probably should be dropped) The whole b-stage thing to me is just kinda stupid anymore. Keith seemed to be genuinely in a great mood....Ronnie- not so much. Mick and Charlie were both great. Mick seemed to be giving Ronnie needed encouragement throughout. Our suite at the Ritz was smack dab in the middle of the major four: was VERY COOL. Saw lots of cool shit, met some very cool people, met some very scary people. Going back to the room after the show, it was very cool to hear blues blasting from Keith's room... |
| January 26th, 2006 10:15 PM |
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| Gazza |
quote:
parmeda wrote:
GAZZA!
THAT'S HIM!
(That's a thin him!...you should see him now!...WOW!!!)
THAT'S THE COCKSUCKER!
(...tele will lose his mind, rotflmao)
Just imagine the countless times I've crossed paths with this jackass. He's so smug, too. He needs a bitch-slappin' like nobody's business!!!
yes, Pam - when I read "300 pounds", I figured this pic was being kind. Best I could find, unfortunately
I shudder to think what he looks like now, in that case. He has more fuckin' Chins than the Shanghai phone directory |
| January 26th, 2006 10:24 PM |
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| nanatod |
"Just imagine the countless times I've crossed paths with this jackass."
Parmeda, there is probably no one in Chicago who has argued more with Jim DeRogatis than me. Time and time again, since prior to 1993, I've engaged him in debate about music. Most of the time it is me ripping him for liking certain bands (Flaming Lips, Stereolab) more than those bands output has warranted.
However, I realize that the sheer amount of live concerts DeRogatis attends each year sours him to anything that isn't completely unusual. Solidly played classic rock which the general public and the posters on this board enjoy must by definition drive him up a wall. In fact, in reading DeRo, he apparently hates certain oldies act(Beach Boys, Chicago) far more than his minor irritation with the price of the Stones tickets and the song selection.
When I saw the Stones in the Alpine Valley mud during Steel Wheels, I thought the $25? $30? tickets were expensive, but it was the Stones. Even with inflation, and the fact that I grew up on the Stones music, and I would not be the person I am today without the Stones and rock and roll, that $450 face value is a big number.
I realize this is a long post, but I want to add my two cents about opening acts. In 1989 I thought Living Colour was an inspired choice to open for the Stones, and there are people older than me who saw Stevie Wonder open for the Stones. If you get the right opening act (Phish for Santana, Fairport for Tull, the Melvins for Kiss), you can certainly enjoy the opening act. Although I must admit, Antigone Rising is not my first thought for a Stones opener. A band like Audioslave would be a better fit (and a bigger bang). |
| January 26th, 2006 10:26 PM |
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| parmeda |
nanatod....I need to shake your hand.
Seriously! |
| January 26th, 2006 10:39 PM |
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| nanatod |
"nanatod....I need to shake your hand."
Parmeda, I'm under the weather this week, but you have my express permission to obtain from the board adminstrators my e-mail address.
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| January 27th, 2006 08:33 AM |
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| Ihavelotsajam |
quote:
nanatod wrote:
"(Flaming Lips, Stereolab) more than those bands output has warranted.
Flaming Lips- most self-consciously "indie" piece of crap ever. The worse thing is that they have a legion of imitators now.
Sorry, OT. |
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