As the fellas invade Brooklyn tomorrow night – and Newark for a pair of shows next week, I dug up a few reviews from shows I saw over the past decade including a memorable trifecta in the Boston area and one in Shanghai. Enjoy –
The Rolling Stones – 04/08/2006 Concert Report – Shanghai, China
“Ni Hao Shanghai”
Mick speaks Chinese! Jagger’s pronunciation, like this concert, wasn’t absolutely perfect but it was a very special night as it marked the first time the World’s Greatest Rock n Roll band performed in the Peoples Republic of China. It was a long time coming. The idea was proposed in the 70s but the government gave the thumbs down. In 2003, a show was booked but then cancelled because of SARS. During a mysterious hour delay on Saturday night, it seemed the moment might never come…but finally, at a few minutes after 9, Keith unleashed the opening riff of Start Me Up. China – for the first time – felt the warm saliva of the Stones tongue, up to then only seen on so many pirated t-shirts.
The show, clocking in at a little under two hours, was a little shorter and featured four fewer songs than the Bigger Bang tour debut at Fenway Park in Boston last summer. Four also happened to be the number of songs the Chinese Ministry of Culture required the Stones to not play before granting permission for the aborted concert three years ago. The songs in question: Brown Sugar, Lets Spend the Night Together, Honky Tonk Women, and Beast of Burden, indeed were not heard nor was an addition to the taboo list, Rough Justice. The fact that the concert was broadcast on China Central Television may have further inhibited the show. Mick toed the line by taking it easy on the dead man cum bit during Start Me Up and the visuals lacked the little raunchy touches that have become a familiar part of the Stones experience. At one point, two giant inflatables of women dressed in athletic gear appeared on either side of the stage but they may have malfunctioned as they were never brought into full view or properly lighted. Still, Mick snuck in one F bomb (During Miss You, “You’ve been fucking with my time…”) and one fan had the balls to get a puff off a joint during Midnight Rambler!
The appearance of the “Godfather of Chinese Rock” gave this concert more political resonance than any recreational drug use or profanities could. The 44-year-old singer Cui Jian whose music was embraced by the pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989, joined the Stones for Wild Horses. As a man whose public appearances have been closely monitored by the authorities even since, he could no doubt appreciate Keith Richards pithy remarks for the Chinese audience, “Its good to be here. Its good to be anywhere.”
Setlist
Start Me Up
You’ve Got Me Rockin
Oh No Not You Again
Bitch
Wild Horses w/ Cui Jian
Rain Fall Down
Midnight Rambler
Gimme Shelter
Tumblin Dice
This Place is Empty Without You (Keith)
Happy (Keith)
Sympathy for the Devil
Miss You
Its Only Rock and Roll
Paint it Black
Jumpin Jack Flash
Cant Always Get What You Want
Satisfaction
Rolling Stones – Concert Recap of 3 shows in Massachusetts, September of 2003
The Stones recently roared into the hub and opened the Licks World Tour in celebration of their fortieth anniversary and the release of a new two CD compilation album (40 Licks) with four new songs on it. The tour is remarkable for its ambitious booking of arenas, stadiums, and theaters. Hitting three wildly different sized venues not just on the same tour but in the same city is unprecedented in rock history and the results were delicious. Here are the vital statistics and high points.
Top Ten Moments:
1. Sympathy for the Devil; Gillette Stadium
The stage bathed in red light. Mick prancing about feeding off the energy of fifty-three thousand like a tick behind a German Shepherd’s ear. Siren Lisa Fischer doing the “Oo-ohs.” Impossibly huge fireballs jumping out of the scoreboard apparatus. Keith, more dangerous than all of gangsta’ rap, dressed in snakeskin jacket and scarf smoking a butt. The genius of singing a song from The Devil’s perspective. The genius of the Rolling Stones obvious to anyone lucky enough to be in attendance.
2. Can’t You Hear Me Knockin; Orpheum
Maybe the riffiest tune in their entire catalog. They played it live for the first time ever Tuesday at the Fleet Center and it cooked but on this night it was tougher and tighter. Woody completely redeemed himself for being mostly coked out for the last couple of tours by tearing up the solo originally played by Mick Taylor. Keith put on a clinic with his chunky rhythm playing. Jagger added a harp solo as well as maracas and the incomparable Bobby Keys blew a scorching sax.
3. Rip This Joint; Fleet Center
Chuck Leavell is the unchallenged king of touring keyboard players. He led the charge on this gritty nugget with a rollicking, pounding performance to highlight a set of Exile on Main Street material. Charlie’s banging of the skins and the four man horn section pushed the tempo further and it was over all too soon. With media from around the world looking on, Mick pandered to residents of the commonwealth but it rang true to fifteen thousand when he said, “There’s nothing as exciting as starting an American tour in Boston.”
4. Rock Me Baby; Orpheum
After praising his “brilliant” opening set, Jagger pulled his harmonica out and invited Buddy Guy back on stage for this blues-wailing romp. Keith was shirtless under a leather vest while the sauna like Orpheum got hotter with a three guitar attack and the close quarters on stage got a little closer. The smell of incense masked any other odors while the giddy 2,800 on hand grinned at obtaining the toughest ticket in Boston rock history. Mick confirmed, “This is our third night in Boston and it’s definitely the hottest one.”
5. Angie: Gillette Stadium
The energy was so high for these shows that before Heart of Stone at the Orpheum, Mick wondered in a British accent somehow thicker than it was at the arena, “How are we ever going to do a ballad?” They didn’t do many but, with Woody and Keith on acoustics, this one shone brightly at shiny new Gillette Stadium. Mick infused the lyrics with every nuance of regret and longing that he hinted at when he commented, “We’re doing this for a year, it beats having a social life that’s for sure.”
5. Everybody needs Somebody to Love; Orpheum
Mick introduced this as “The song we used to open up with when€¦
Well, I won’t even tell you but I wasn’t even born yet and Keith wasn’t born yet either.” Some fans knew he was referring to nights at London’s Marquee Club in the early sixties. Others recognized the song only from the Blues Brothers movie but it was a riotous crowd pleaser to all. It connected the Stones to their roots and their audience with festive finger pointing during the mutually acknowledging call and response of “I Need You€¦You You!”
6. Honky Tonk Women; Fleet Center
The raunchiest props always get pulled out for this one. (Remember the blow-up woman from the Bridges to Babylon tour?) A video projection was the vehicle this time: a super sexy Asian topless dominatrix riding the stones tongue that had a peculiar bulb-shaped tip. Mick ran down the runway towards the B-stage to slap hands with fans while Woody and Keith spread out on opposite sides of the main stage. Mick grabbed the sexy Lisa Fischer by the bottom and admitted, “They call me a skirt chaser.”
7. Love Train; Fleet Center
After Keith took the spotlight for two vocal numbers, Mick re-emerged on stage in a fedora and long white coat with glitter to lead the congregation in a bit of hip shaking. After acknowledging it was the first time the Stones had ever played it on stage, Mick said what everyone was thinking: “That was fun.” The boys’ taste in covers has always been impeccable, and when you practice 130 songs for a tour, you get to play a few.
8. Midnight Rambler; Gillette Stadium
The world’s greatest rock and roll band singing about the Boston Strangler in Boston – uh, Foxboro. Close enough. Mick was stuffing the microphone into the front of his pants and former Miles Davis sideman Darryl Jones was showing off his chops of doom on bass. They brought it down and dirty and then revved it up to a sensational climax that rivaled the night’s ending fireworks.
9. Going to a Go-Go; Orpheum
On a night that featured outrageous back catalog selections like Parachute Woman and Hand of Fate, it was this party song that (as Keith said) peeled the paint off the walls. The boys have neglected to pull this one out much over the past decade and its been missed. Mick’s been working out so he looks fantastic and, over the three nights, he modeled everything from leather Nike Air Essential III’s with their soles ground down (for sliding) to a three-quarter length coat pieced together from leather, silk, and a dozen pairs of shredded jeans. The latter incorporated logos from previous tours to tickle the memories of veteran fans.
10. Peter Wolf & Joe Perry together: Orpheum
In the intermission after Buddy Guy and before the Stones, two Boston rock gods caught up behind the soundboard. Perry, accompanied by his wife, was spotted by the Woofa-Goofa whose new album Sleepless features cameos by the glimmer twins. The Geils band legendary front man shared a few laughs with the immortal Aerosmith guitarist while the mortals who witnessed tried not to stare. John Kerry and Bill Murray were also in the house.
9/3/2003 Tuesday @ Fleet Center
1. Street Fightin’ Man
2. If You Can’t Rock Me*
3. It’s Only Rock & Roll
4. Don’t Stop
5. Stray Cat Blues*
6. Wild Horses*
7. Lovin’ Cup*
8. Rocks Off*
9. Rip this Joint*
10. Tumblin’ Dice
11. Slippin’ Away
12. Happy*
13. Love Train
14. Undercover of the Night*
15. Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’
16. Honky Tonk Women
17. Satisfaction
18. Mannish Boy (mini stage)*
19. Neighbors (mini stage)*
20. Brown Sugar (mini stage)
21. Sympathy (encore)
22. Jumpin’ Jack Flash (encore)
Originals By Album:
Undercover: 1
Beggars Banquet: 3
It’s Only Rock &Roll: 2 Sticky Fingers: 3
Exile on Main St.: 5 Steel Wheels: 1
40 Licks:1
Tattoo You: 1
Singles: 3
Covers: 2 Originals By Era:
Sixties: 6
Seventies: 10
Eighties: 3
Nineties: 0
21st c: 1
9/5/2003 Thursday @ Gillette
1. Brown Sugar
2. Start Me Up
3. It’s only Rock & Roll
4. Don’t Stop
5. Honky Tonk Women
6. Rock & a Hard Place*
7. Angie*
8. You Can’t Always Get What You Want*
9. Monkey Man*
10. Can’t Turn You Loose*
11. Gimme Shelter*
12. Slippin’ Away
13. Before They Make Me Run
14. Sympathy for the Devil
15. Shattered (mini-stage)*
16. Beast of Burden (mini-stage)*
17. Miss You (mini-stage)*
18. Midnight Rambler*
19. You Got Me Rockin’
20. Tumblin’ Dice
21. Street Fightin’ Man
22. Jumpin’ Jack Flash
23. Satisfaction (encore)
Originals By Album:
Sticky Fingers: 1
Tattoo You: 1
It’s Only Rock & Roll: 1
Steel Wheels: 2
Goat’s Head Soup: 1
Let It Bleed: 4
Beggars Banquet: 2
40 Licks: 1
Some Girls: 4
Voodoo Lounge: 1
Exile on Main St.:1
Singles: 3
Covers: 1
Originals By Era:
Sixties: 9
Seventies: 8
Eighties: 3
Nineties: 1
21 st .c: 1
9/8/2003 Sunday @ Orpheum
1. Jumpin’ Jack Flash
2. You Got Me Rockin’
3. All Down the Line*
4. Brand New Car*
5. Parachute Woman*
6. Dance Pt. 1
7. Everybody Needs Someone to Love*
8. Heart of Stone*
9. Going to a Go-Go*
10. Love Train
11. Slippin’ Away
12. Before They make me run
13. It’s only Rock & Roll
14. Rock me Baby (w/Buddy Guy)*
15. Hand of Fate*
16. Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’
17. Honky Tonk Women
18. Start Me Up
19. Brown Sugar
20. Tumblin’ Dice (encore)
Originals By Album:
Voodoo Lounge: 2
Exile on Main St.: 2
Beggars Banquet: 1
Emotional Rescue: 1
Out of Our Heads: 1
Black & Blue: 1
Sticky Fingers: 2
Steel Wheels: 1
Some Girls: 1
It’s only Rock &Roll: 1
Tattoo You: 1
Singles: 2
Covers: 4
Originals By Era:
Sixties: 4
Seventies: 7
Eighties: 3
Nineties: 2
21 st c.: 0
Total songs = 65:
Fleet: 22
Gillette: 23
Orpheum: 20
Songs Played at only one show: 29 (*)
Total Number of Different Songs: 44
Total originals by album:
1965 Out of Our Heads: 1
1968 Beggars Banquet: 6
1969 Let It Bleed: 4
1971 Sticky Fingers: 6
1972 Exile on Main St.: 8
1973 Goat’s Head Soup: 1
1974 It’s Only Rock & Roll: 4
1976 Black and Blue: 1
1978 Some Girls: 5
1980 Emotional Rescue: 1
1981 Tattoo You: 3
1983 Undercover: 1
1989 Steel Wheels: 4
1994 Voodoo Lounge: 3
2002 40 Licks: 2
Total Covers: 7
Total Singles: 8 (all from Sixties)
Total originals by Era:
Sixties: 19
Seventies: 25
Eighties: 9
Nineties: 3
21st C:2
Songs Played at two shows:
1. Don’t Stop
2. Sympathy for the Devil
3. Satisfaction
4. You got me Rockin’
5. Can’t You Hear me Knockin’
6. Love Train
7. Before They Make Me Run
8. Street Fightin’ Man
9. Start Me Up Songs Played at all three shows:
1. Jumpin’ Jack Flash
2. Slippin’ Away
3. It’s Only R & R
4. Honky Tonk Women
5. Brown Sugar
6. Tumblin’ Dice
