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Post by webm@ster on Oct 24, 2002 13:56:31 GMT -5
NY ROCK (length edited by live4ever)
It's been 40 years since Mick Jagger first strutted out on a small London stage, backed by Keith Richard's Chuck Berry-inspired guitar licks and Charlie Watts' tastefully incessant drumming. They were one of the British Invasion bands, but the Rolling Stones weren't as cuddly or as crafty at songwriting as the mop-topped Beatles and they lacked the monster musicianship of the Yardbirds, whose line-up included Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. But there was something about the combination of Jagger's midnight swagger and Richard's rusty razor riffs that has kept the Stones rolling into towns and onto significantly larger stages around the world 20 years after the Beatles broke up and the Yardbirds flew the coop. Judging by the Stones' energy and the crowd's roar in the intimate confines of Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium, there's no need to doubt that Mick and the boys will be packing arenas for at least another decade. By then, however, "Shattered" from the Some Girls album may be referring to one of Jagger's hips, should the no-longer spring chicken keel over in mid-strut.
"Oh my God," I thought in shock. "I paid a fortune; I'm sitting half a mile away and they suck!" Someone, either Keith or Ron Wood, who's been with the band about 25 years and is still thought of as the new guy, was either out of tune or on the wrong fret. And at stadium volume that ain't a pretty sounding place to be. Reportedly, the Rolling ones have rehearsed 130 songs ("Brown Sugar" apparently not being one of them) to get ready for this tour, which includes shows at ballpark, arena and theater-sized venues in selected cities to promote their new Forty Licks greatest-hits double-CD set. Licks also includes the band's instantly forgettable new single "Don't Stop" and three other attempts at fresh material.
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In the 20 years since Jagger/Richards et al had their last big hit with "Start Me Up," they've gone from being "the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world" to being the "greatest Rolling Stones cover band in the world." Good thing too, because judging by the cheers that followed each boulder of classic rock, new material was not what 45,000 of my closest friends and I had overpaid to see.
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Small surprises included Keith handling microphone duties for two songs. Transforming the cavernous arena into his own private cocktail lounge with the slow burning groove of "Slipping Away," then picking up the tempo slightly with Richards' ode to his own bad-boy self "Before They Make Me Run." Ironic, since at his age and status, Keef -- often referred to as "the world's most elegantly wasted human being" -- is too mature and rich to have anyone make him run anywhere.
The one selection that threatened to derail the night came halfway through the show in the misguided guise of a cover of "Love Train," the O'Jays disco soul hit. If nothing else, it gave the crowd a chance to hit the restrooms one more time and plunk down a final $6.25 before the beer concessions closed. Pricey, but fair, considering the suds came in 16-ounce bottles.
Not wanting to completely ignore the audience to the rear of the arena, the Stones sauntered down a long runway to a boxing-ring-sized stage where they trotted out a few lower-key numbers including "Wild Horses" and a cover of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," which Mick sings better than Mr. Tambourine Man himself. Proving, that like Dylan's pitch-poor counterpart Bruce Springsteen, certain songwriters, genius or not, should leave the singing to the guy with the biggest lips.
Closing out the night with vigorous encores of "Jumping Jack Flash" and "I Can't Get No (Satisfaction)," the Rolling Stones demonstrated without doubt that while they might be road dogs too old to learn any new tricks, they sure know the old ones real well. And since war is "just a shot away" today as it was when they wrote "Gimmie Shelter" during the Vietnam era, the Rolling Stones aren't nearly as out of time or date as their birth certificates would have you think.
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