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Stones showing time is on their side
by Bruce Davidson
Web Posted : 11/17/2002 12:00 AM
Comedians and critics have had a field day lampooning the Rolling Stones for being the World's Oldest Rock and Roll Band as the group crisscrosses America on its 40th anniversary tour.
I first saw the Stones perform live at the Cotton Bowl in 1975, and recently attended the band's three Los Angeles concerts. Their performances convinced me the Rolling Stones live up to their billing: They remain the World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band.
And I enjoyed the new Stones environment. Dancing at the side of the stage at Anaheim's Edison Field were Elizabeth Jagger, lead singer Mick Jagger's daughter, and two other young women tentatively identified by my wife, Ronda, an expert on celebrity gossip, as guitarist Keith Richards' daughters. The scene was a long way from the decadent touring party of previous decades and follows revelations that Richards enjoys being a suburban dad in Connecticut.
Two nights after the Anaheim show, the Stones turned in a blistering performance for a star-studded crowd at the intimate Wiltern Theater.
Jagger may have been traveling with his daughter, but his stage persona was raunchy as ever as he belted out a couple of soul classics along with Rolling Stones hits.
American rocker Tom Petty remained mostly stoic in his seat a few rows in front of ours, but most of us were enthralled and on our feet for the entire show.
These icons of the '60s are now nearing 60 (and drummer Charlie Watts has passed it), but a live performance by the Rolling Stones remains a transcendent experience.
San Antonians who attend the Rolling Stones concert at the SBC Center on Saturday night will witness a performance by master musicians who not only helped define a genre but have dominated it for decades.
Passing up an opportunity to see the Rolling Stones is the equivalent of blowing off a chance to see Mozart play a few of his favorite pieces.
The band and its loyal audience are survivors. Many in the rock culture fell by the wayside, casualties of their own indulgences. Rockers who fatally overdosed in their youth easily became legends, resting on a short list of accomplishments.
Survivors have to keep working to stay on top, and the Rolling Stones have spent decades making music that remains full of life.
The Stones marketed their bad-boy image to reach superstardom. But the band is, at its core, a group of serious musicians inspired by the blues. They were students of early American rockers such as Chuck Berry as well. They took an American art form, expanded it and molded it into their own unique sound.
While the group has a huge catalog of quality songs, none of their hits had more impact in the L.A. shows than when they revved up a sinewy blues swing for Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy" at Staples Center and Willie Dixon's "Little Red Rooster" in Anaheim.
Their original compositions remain breathtaking in concert as well. "Gimme Shelter," with its ominous, haunting lyrics, is as relevant today as it was in 1969. It sent chills down my spine in 2002 to hear Jagger howl, "War, children, it's just a shot away."
The Rolling Stones are the spiritual and musical heirs of the great American bluesmen. And like their blues influences, they are master craftsmen.
And as long as the Stones are on the road, I'll be out there enjoying their music with tens of thousands of others.
The experience carries a taste of mass nostalgia. But it's not about reliving the past. Along with my fellow aging rockers � many now empty-nesters with the time and money to follow the band � I'll be celebrating survival and the pure joy of rock music played by the finest artists in the field.
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