|
|
| Nasty Habits |
Note to Sir Stones: no problem, dude -- I would have loved to have met you, but at least we’ll always have Rocks Off. I think I saw those tits, so I must have seen you. Cosmic!
Note to Nanky -- sorry we couldn’t hook up -- I was running around rural PA hanging with a very old buddy of mine yesterday and couldn’t get in the computair until you were no doubt on root to the show today. Hope you got your nob gobbled, or the musical equivalent thereof.
Note to TsyX -- good call, my younger brother. You nit the hell on the bead. It is a strange world we live in when the Let It Bleed album cover comes up on the big arena rock screen and the first thought in my crazed rock and roll mind is, “Holy shit, the Savage Young xyzzyzzyzyzyzyzzuzazzzipadapwopwopwowie was right!” Ah, to be young and thinking too much about rock and roll (as opposed to being approaching middle age and thinking too much about rock and roll!)
Note to jb -- when I mentioned 40,000 people in my earlier post I pulled that number out of my ass arbitrarily, lowballing because I didn’t want to engage in hyperbole. Unlike you I am unafraid to mention that when it comes to numbers I have no idea what I am talking about. I heard on the radio today it was closer to 60,000. Tonight it was extremely difficult to pick up tickets at the venue -- there were guys walking around in Stones shirts with a desperate look in their eyes, going ‘need one need one need one’. I was one of those guys except I was wearing my Boy Howdy shirt and I was cool about it. I got in, was blessed with some fine seating accomodation for “below face”, as they say, (one third of mid-price face, for those keeping score at home, and they weren’t coming any cheaper) but it was touch and go for a while there. My guess is that there wasn’t an empty seat in the house. Philly rocks.
Note to Maxy -- see previous entry’s description of my attire for the evening. Done in your honor. You’re welcome.
Another note to Maxy -- guess what the “ok, show’s over, get the fuck out and go home” post-show song was! Toots and the Maytals’ “Monkey Man”! A conceptual continuity coup with the Let It Bleed night par excellance! Hope you get to hear it in NYC! Toots is good food!
Note to Sir Moonie -- thanks for the gassssssssssssy
Note to Joey -- Your Brown Sugar moratorium needs to come to an end. See #14.
Note to Stonedinaustralia -- Howcum you don’t call and write me no more?
Note to Keep Rigid -- Right on. Know what you’re talking about. See thought #9.
And now, some thoughts.
1. The Let It Bleed set was incredible. You all know that I have a stong connection to “Live with Me”, what with its opening lyric and all, but to my eager and anxious ears this was an especially meaty and fast version with spectacular Bobbykeyes and mondo Charlie Wopps. Right on, all lyrics in place Jagger vocal and fab twin guitar. It made me go nuts.
2. On me going nuts: If anyone reading this was sitting in my section, and if I bugged you by being the only skinny guy around you in a Boy Howdy shirt going crazy for every song of the night whether you were sitting up or standing down, you know what? I’M NOT SORRY!
3. Back to Let It Bleed: The Set (LIB: TS). Love In Vain (which I did sit down on, and put my hand on my cheek and my grin on my face - I think it’s safe to say I mooned (in the 16 year old girl sense, not the showing my ass sense) was a real thrill. And Ronnie’s FIRST solo was simply breathtaking. He didn’t go for fireworks on the second solo, slightly to my chagrin, because in my obviously humble opinion the show could have used about (say) two or three dabs more guitar flash. But that first solo was something else and the entire song was emotionally dead on and breathtaking.
4. I don’t think I would be able to sing if Lisa Fischer was rubbing herself up against my back and putting her hand on my chest. So, much like Charlie in the b-stage echo chamber, watching Mick do that takes the notion of professionalism to a whole nother level.
4. If You Can’t Rock Me works better with all the lyrics in it than Mick drooling on the microphone and not even getting one word right ala ‘75/6 but it really makes you want to hear Get Off My Cloud.
5. The big screw up of the night not b-stage related came during Tumbling Dice, when the whole band actually kind of stopped at one point and this huge (but very brief) hole of silence formed in the groove. Ronnie played a very funny solo and did these weird Pete Townshend windmill parody gestures. Why is it that when Mick walks out on the cat walk clapping his hands over his head that people near him extend their hands in the air and reach for him rather than clapping?
6. Mick Jagger is the greatest entertainer in the history of the world. Say what you will about the band’s heart, and the band’s soul, and the band’s engine room, or whoever else you love in the band more than you love Mick Jagger, but Mick Jagger is a fucking genius spazz dancing rock and roll eight ball singing song writing harp playing riot enciting lunatic. I had a great conversation on the way back to the watering hole from the FUCK and we were talking about World War II memorabelia (I think that’s spelled wrong but it’s 3:14 and I don’t give a shit) and record stores and all the important matters in life, and as we were getting ready to exit the bus he said, assuming we were, like, totally on the same wavelength, “So, I guess you’re a Keithian.” I just had to shake my head. No, baby, I am a Micker born and bred and I am goddamn proud of it. God bless every note Keith Richards has ever played and every song he has ever written, every cigarette he’s ever smoked, load he’s ever banged, and joint he’s ever smoked, god bless his refusal to do anything other than what he wants and his Dylanesque insistence on adhering to a style of playing not always suited to maximum arenal excitement , but Mick Jagger was the primary reason why tonight’s show was so great. I wave my Mick flag high!
7. It is very nice for Mick to be able to tap Ronnie on the shoulder or point at Ronnie and have something come warm and wonderful come out of his guitar. He did this twice on the b-stage , and during Don’t Stop, to extend a vamp, and Ronnie was quick on the draw and ready with something up his sleeve. I have seen a video from No Security where he does the same on Whip Comes Down and Ronnie just sort of looks at him and probably farts. Ronnie’s guitar solos, you’ll all be happy to know, sound much better (I am assuming here) his farts. I could be wrong. Maybe Ronnie’s farts sound like the ‘76 “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” solos.
8. Ronnie would was introduced as being on “cigarette” tonight, which was pretty funny. He feigned shock at the intro. Is that an old line or a new one? Regardless, he strutted across the stage with his hands in the air and a gleam right in his eye. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Seeing a sober Ronnie is great. A sober Ronnie seems to be a happy Ronnie.
9. I took a piss during Slipping Away like a fuckin’ tourist and I don’t feel one moment’s regret about it. In fact, I was proud while I did it -- it was the first time I’d ever left a Rolling Stones show en media res. I think I learned that it was OK to do so watching Keith singing Slipping Away last night, so that’s another one I owe him. I know for a fact that Keith would have done the same were I singing a song. I’m sure he’s good with it.
9. I Can’t Turn You Loose is a very good idea for a Stones cover, esp. for Mick’s return after Keith’s set. However, their version, I am disappointed to say, does not quite work. Too much Harlem Shuffel, not enough Everybody Needs Somebody to Love. Too many horns, not enough honest hard work on the part of a certain revered rhythm guitar player.
10. The Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’ jam is all it’s cracked up to be. Believe the hype: the second half of that song is hypnotizing. Relentless Keith voodoo rhythm, Charlie dropping jazz bombs, smoky and wild Bobby Keyes, absolutely dazzling Jagger harp (I may be a stupid white boy but that guy is my favorite blues harmonica player), and yes, Ronnie does indeed take the Mick Taylor guitar solo™ and run off with it. A year ago I’da said it couldn’t be done, but I was wrong. People who’ve been to all the shows say it is getting longer, too. Everything good about the band as musicians in one place.
11. The sound on the b-stage started out all to fuck. Beast of Burden was an absolute train wreck. I couldn’t tell whether they were playing off kilter or if the sound was just a total mess, but for the first verse it was just godawful. Things got ironed out by the middle of the song, and were a lot better for Miss You, and at Brown Sugar things were pretty much working, but once again I wonder how anyone can actually play under the conditions necessary. That said, the placement of the b-stage set at the end of the arena show is brilliant and really brings the energy of the crowd over the top. See # 14.
12. Miss You had very good weave. Sympathy also had very good weave. Don’t Stop could have used MORE weave from stage left. Stage left sometimes kind of needs to get its act together.
13. Mick’s bell bottom britches were badass.
14. As previously mentioned in an earlier thread, Start Me Up is the best stadium rock and roll song ever written. But it is not the best arena rock song ever written. The best arena rock song ever written is BROWN SUGAR! And the best version of Brown Sugar EVER was performed before my very eyes TONIGHT! Really, I’m sure you had to be there, but it was the kind of moment that makes you proud beyond words to be a Stones fan. Brown Sugar on the b-stage is the best idea ever! The song is completely reborn without the flashing lights and horns and backup singers and glitz. The crowd dug it so much they started the “yeah yeah yeah woo” part during what was supposed to be the instrumental prelude thereto, w/o any of the least little prompt. So when Jagger actually started doing them too, the place went completely freaking bonkers. It was going so good Mick turned back to the band and had them to go into it again, which they did, to no discernable drop in energy in the beautiful Philly crowd. This left them kind of wondering exactly how to end - it seemed no one wanted it to - the energy coursing through the arena at that point was so massive and glorious that if it was directed at me I would never want it to stop. But, as it must for all orgasms, it eventually subsided, and off the band went, exiting through the crowd. Formal perfection incarnate. It was the finest “arena rock” performance imaginable. My fondest wish for my dear friends at Rocks Off is that they get a version of Brown Sugar this good at the MSG. Hey, who wrote that song, anyway?
15. To tell you the truth, Brown Sugar sucked up so much energy that Sympathy and JJF were kind of like after dinner mints.
16. People who bitch about the Hot Rocks songs are out of their mind, and have heard too many bootlegs and have seen too many shows. I’ve heard too many bootlegs (and I’ve seen, well, after the Tower, I’ll have seen “enough” shows) but I think that one of the lessons I’ve learned watching these shows this week is that you better get your hot rocks off or you’re gonna shit your kicks. Or as Bob Dylan once said, “Pay for your ticket and don’t complain.”
15. The “girl meets tongue/tongue meets girl/girl pierces tongue/girl rides tongue to orgasm (twice)/tongue eats girl and spits girl out” art film works better in a stadium. So do the rose petals, which all fell wasted on the b-stage in the stagnant air of the FUC.
16. Charlie was the very last person to leave the stage.
Having seen the finest, most efficient stadium show I’ve ever seen on Monday, followed by the finest, most efficient arena show I’ve ever seen last night, the tension begins to mount. Will the theater show be the greatest “small scale” rock and roll show I’ve ever had the privelege to attend? Is this what my entire life has been building toward for the past 32 years I’ve been climbing this tree of promises? Or am I in for an inevitable anti-climax?
I know what I believe, but I don’t know what I know.
I think it all depends on Keith. Everybody else is most definitely doing his/her job.
Developing hard as a motherfucker!
You know, it’s hard to remember when I’ve had so much fun.
[Edited by Nasty Habits] |
|
|
| beer |
Great summary, funny as hell too!
"Ronnie would was introduced as being on “cigarette” tonight, which was pretty funny. He feigned shock at the intro. Is that an old line or a new one?"
That's hilarious!!
I remember hearing old boots where Jagger introduces Taylor as, "on guitar, 120 pounds of Mick Taylor". |
|
|
| nankerphelge |
Nasty -- sorry we missed each other. Your review is pretty much my take as well.
TomL and I were in the last fucking row on top. We could touch the roof. Yet even up in our lil' corner, the energy of last night was just incredible -- Mick can work it out of every last nook and cranny of the place!
Love in Vain was just incredible -- Ronnie Wood's solos (even the second) were so well done -- hauntingly beautiful. I didn't want it to end! Ronnie also filled in those wild slide parts on Monkey Man that were so perfect -- like he wrote 'em hisself!
Brown Sugar on the B-stage is what it's all about -- the whole place was just crankin'! Just like the Fleet -- the crowd was not into waiting for the WOOOHS! and just started without Mick's prompting -- Keith I think refused to stop playing at the end -- Mick kept looking back at him like "what? another? Okay - I said yeah, yeah, yeah WOOOH -- what? another? Okay -- I said yeah, yeah, yeah WOOOH -- what/ another?..." Funny as hell and it did leave Sympathy and JJF as afterthoughts -- people were still singing Brown Sugar in the parking lot as we left!
Can't You Hear Me Knockin' is so well oiled at this point -- it was hypnotic -- Ronnie's solo was just incredible -- the guy was unstoppable. He also played such a beautiful slide on All Down the Line -- crushed it! It was Ronnie's show last nite -- he just cranked!
Had a blast -- good warm up for next week!
|
|
|
| stonedickie |
Dead on, brother! Especially the part about Mick. I will admit that I was not the biggest Rolling Stones fan in the world until I saw them live (which happened to be Steel Wheels, opening night of the tour in Philly). For years I held a Who show that I saw in '75 (in which, at the end, every piece of equipment--save Entwhistle's bass--was completely smashed--there was enough adolescent teenage adrenalin produced to power a nuclear sub) as the All Time Great Rock Show Never To Be Surpassed. I came to the Steel Wheels show expecting a supreme rip-off--a bunch of old men hawking overpriced tickets, overpriced programs and overpriced tee-shirts and then giving us a luke-warm hour or so--and three exhilirating mind-blowing hours later knew how wrong a man could be. That show immediately vaulted over my cherished Who show and has held its place at the top ever since--UNTIL LAST NIGHT! What really surprised/amazed/astounded me back then--and agin last night--was Mick. He is truly the greatet live interpretive vocalist there is, and he was totally in command last night, at his nastiest, prowlingest, most dangerous best. He owned that entire arena from beginning to end. Miss You is a song that I wasn't wild about when it first came out, but when it's done live it is an incredible showpiece for Mick's vocal skills. I loved it when, after working everyone to a frenzy in the middle of the song, he was able to--by simply crouching and bringing his arm down--quiet the whole place down (as if we were part of the band) for the last verse. I think the smaller the venue the better he will be. Last night he seemed to just BE completely inside of every song. Can't wait until the Tower. |
|
|
| full moon |
Great review, but Slipping Away is a beautiful moment live... |
|
|
| nankerphelge |
Happy was a beautiful moment live -- Ronnie ate it up (again). I am still just blown away by Ronnie last nite -- what a showcase set for him!
There was a real intensity last night -- full moon or sumthin' -- Mick was certainly feeling it and creating it. Ronnie was just a man possessed - at one point early in the show -- after IORR or If You Can't Rock Me, he just starts hopping around in a circle on one leg! And when they ended Can't You Hear Me Knockin' the crowd was almost stunned that all that wild music just transpired.
Charlie is the most humble man in the world. (But I bet, late at night, out in the privacy of the watercloset of his country home, Charlie can be found dancing around on one foot in a circle and giggling hysterically knowing that he got the fucking gig!). He got such a warm response from the crowd -- I think it surprised the shit outta him it was so loud and long! At the end of the show he went and got a couple drumsticks and after everyone else left the stage - he snuck out and gave them to a couple of fans in the front. Class act that Chaz!
Speaking of loud and long -- whoever was piping the music into FUC between the Pretenders and Stones had it together -- they played all the old blues and R&R songs the Stones had covered -- Hip Shake, Lil Red Rooster, Let It Rock and others.
|
|
|
| Nasty Habits |
quote:
full moon wrote:
Great review, but Slipping Away is a beautiful moment live...
I completely agree, Full Moon. I was totally blown away by it at the Vet. The vocals, the attitude, the way he stood and gestured -- it was fantastic. My point was that watching him do it at the Vet made me realize something about personal integrity and not expressing fealty to anyone, not even Keith Richards. So I was really pissing during his song in his honor.
|
|
|
| Nasty Habits |
quote:
nankerphelge wrote:
after IORR or If You Can't Rock Me, he just starts hopping around in a circle on one leg!
Speaking of loud and long -- whoever was piping the music into FUC between the Pretenders and Stones had it together -- they played all the old blues and R&R songs the Stones had covered -- Hip Shake, Lil Red Rooster, Let It Rock and others.
Right on, Nank -- the music was very similar at the Vet -- I hope that's the Stones' personal mix of tunes expressing proper mood and roots. When Diddley's Cops and Robbers accompanied my entrance to the floor it was a beautiful moment.
Ronnie Wood is the coolest guitar player on the planet right now and he knows it, I think. I loved it when he did his one legged dance! It's another version of the Ronnie hop!
The second solo on Love In Vain was all about taste and lowdown groove -- it was perfectly suited to the reading of the song and was far more "black" and soulful than, say, a Mick Taylor second solo from 1972. BUT I really wanted Ronnie to play one more extended blowout (just one!) and that would have been an ideal opportunity. But those sick low notes he was hitting during the second solo, which was more a "musical band interlude" than a specific member spotlight, were brilliant.
[Edited by Nasty Habits] |
|
|
| stonedickie |
In agreement about Brown Sugar. Incredible in the arena. Last night the entire venue was complete bedlam--except for the band, who were completely in control. Probably the most amazing thing about the song last night was that the roof of the FUC didn't actually blow right the fuck off at the end of one of the communal yeah yeah yeah WOOOOOOOOOOOs(although were it at the old Spectrum, it probably would have, but that's another story entirely). |
|
|
| stonedickie |
Ron was on fire--his energy is fantastic. I loved on the small stage him acting as cheerleader--fists in the air, completely pumped. And the man CAN PLAY.
Keith laughing to himself at his private jokes always kills me. Would love to be a fly on the wall of his brain.
Took our kids--my son, the seventeen year old drummer, said he couldn't believe that Charlie didn't even break a sweat. Our fifteen year old daughter said she could see why my wife is in love with Keith. Our twelve year old sax player son thought Keys was amazing (as I did--he was, along with the rest of the band, at his best), and said he could understand why we think (as he now does) that the Stones are the Greatest Rock & Roll Band In The World. |
|
|
| ~AzQb |
.
Keith laughing to himself at his private jokes always kills me. Would love to be a fly on the wall of his brain.
Hey Stonesdickie
Glad the family dug it ; )
....and i admit, i've often thought the same {:see above  |
|
|
| Dr. Filth |
You do kind of wonder how many flys are crawling around his eyes and how much blood is on his saddle.
|
|
CHAT ROOM aka THE FUN HOUSE] [
RESTROOMS]