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| MannishBoy |
Excuse the double post but the Staples thread has drifted off course and I figured nobody would make it down to my post, plus nobody has talked much about the show.
Got back from LA last night. Here are my non political thoughts on my Staples Center experience:
We picked up tickets at 9am day of show and got sec 106 raised floor at the back of the arena, 2 rows behind the mixing desk.
A great view and fantastic for the B stage. All the folks in line with me got the same section yet people in the row in front of me picked up their tickets 2 days earlier. Still can't work out the random assignment but I was very happy having flown from NC to attend.
All day long we bumped into folks with wristbands and everone was very friendly, it felt like the city was buzzed for the show.
Got there a bit early and saw a few celebs and a few more we didn't recognize, all part of the free show though. Nobody checked wristbands at all on the way in, by this time they were no use as free tickets had been given out that afternoon. Folks in front of me were crammed against the back of the mixing booth and the sound engineers chatted and joked with them quite a bit - more on that later. Sorry to say that Susan Tedeschi was dull as hell. She is a fair guitar player and a great singer who would be good in a club but has no stage presence for an arena, and she didn't even play Rock Me Right.
The section to my right was filled with laminate wearing hangers on, most of whom seemed unable to stay in their seats and were up and down around the desk and B stage constantly.
Around 9pm Blondie appeared close by and chatted with some girls for a while, no one recognized him.
By 9.30 the show still had not started but I could see secret service all around my area with their fingers in their ears.
Bill was announced to a great reaction, said what he had to say and gave The Stones the classic intro - "Ladies and Gentlemen. The greatest Rock'n'Roll band in the world, The Rolling Stones!"
Seemed at first like Bill wasn't going to get out of the way but Keith managed to find his way past him and tore into SMU. Using this as an opener took me right back to my first show on the Urban Jungle tour. I had been led to believe that the sound at Staples would be awful but from my vantage point it could not be faulted. The arena sound on this tour continues to be the best I have heard. There was no sign of coasting on the part of the band. The crowd was SO into it and The Stones were feeding of the energy. During the final two choruses of Wild Horses, the house sound system suddenly died. The crowd picked up the singing beautifully and carried the song till the end, on stage the band appeared not to notice. The formerly amicable sound engineers of course were going nuts and got the sound back by the final chord. They then solicited Staples security to clear out the row immediately behind the desk, not sure where these folks ended up.
I was not expecting much from the setlist so I was thrilled to get All Down The Line. I've been waiting to hear this for 12 years! After the intros Keith mumbled something about Eskimos, drunk folks around me talked all the way through Slipping Away. After Happy Keith said, "We got one more show in Vegas then we're off to check out the orient. I'll send you a postcard." During Sympathy, an elderly black gentleman in an impeccable yellow suit and hat was led out to the mixing desk area. He left after that one song. He looked for all the world like a bluesman but no idea who, anybody else see him? The closest drunk to me went to the bathroom and missed Satisfaction. Ha!
By the time the B stage came around, security had completely lost control of the isles. Folks were jammed in and having a wild time. Ronnie was showered with cigarettes from the crowd and laughed his ass off at it. The highlight for me was an intense Midnight Rambler being played right in front of me. I'm a guitar player and I've been playing this song to myself constantly since watching the HBO version. Amazing, I could ask for no more.
Had to bail out before JJF, the show was running so late and we had to catch the metro.
All in all the show and the crowd were much more than I was expecting. There were a lot of folks there who would not have come otherwise and they really showed their appreciation. There was very little sitting down going on at any time, the band and the crowd rose to the occasion.
Alan. |
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| prism |
Alan, Thanks for that review. I appreciate the details. |
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| throbby |
Yes, thank you very much for your post. |
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| WahWahWoody |
Thanks for this review. Sounds totally different to all the other reviews I've read on other boards. They all said the crowd was totally lame and not at all into the Stones....
Wonder who is right... |
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| MannishBoy |
I guess it depends on where you were sitting as usual. It was definitely a strange crowd with many casual fans. At a typical stadium show, the casual fans expect to be entertained with the big hits, and at a typical LA show, the crowd may have a "seen it all before" attitude. This crowd was just happy to be out of the house! |
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