The Rolling Stones Live in Concert

Sep 29 09:42 UTC 2002

(this is a copy of a post I just put in Agora about the Rolling Stones 
concert I attended this past evening.  The Stones still rock!):

IVHB I got to see The Rolling Stones live in concert tonight at Giants
Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.  Had great seats too, lower level on the
side-- a bit too close to the stage for my ears, and my hearing has yet 
to recover-- but a great concert experience.  There are not many acts 
that can totally rock a packed 80,000 seat stadium, such that everyone 
in the place was standing from start to finish, but The Stones are 
obviously quite experienced at stadium shows.  It is amazing those guys 
can still do such high energy shows.  The Stones were on stage for 
close to 2 1/2 hours, and from start to finish, Mick Jagger and Keith 
Richards were sprinting from one end of the stage to the other while 
jamming.  There were long rampways to the left and right sides of the 
stage, as well as a rampway down the middle of the floor leading to a 
smaller stage at mid-field where they did a mini-set at one point.  At 
one point, as they are doing "Satisfaction", and Richards is on stage 
doing a solo jam, Jagger runs all the way down the stairs, onto the 
field and back towards the small stage, dancing and high fiving fans on 
the floor (and more than a few women taking off their bras and throwing 
them to him...Jagger must have one HECK of a bra collection from all 
the shows he's done!)  He gets all the way to the small stage, and then 
runs all the way back (and we're talking forty yards each way), leaps 
up the stairs and makes it back to his mic to pick up the vocals just 
as Richards ends his solo.  And on another song, I think it was Jumping 
Jack Flash, Keith Richards went from one side of the LONG stage to the 
other, jamming at each end, to up on the bandstand to jam with drummer 
charlie watts, to down to left center to jam with ronnie wood and the 
bass player, and finally to center stage to jam with Jagger.  These are 
59 year old men we're talking about!  Most musicians half or a third 
their age couldn't keep up with them.

The stage was huge, had an enormous jumbotron above it, and flames 
coming out from the top (you wouldn't believe the pop from the crowd 
when Richards hit the first chords of "Start Me Up", and flames came 
bursting up from the top of the stage and Jagger strutted out and 
started to sing) There was a married couple in the row in front of us, 
and they were with their two college age daughters and their friends.  
And the father was telling me before the show started, that he and his 
wife had seen the Stones in concert a time or two in the sixties when 
they were in college, and they were treating their daughters to the 
show because it was a rare chance to have that common experience.   
I'll bet.   To be able to see a hot band in college and then more than 
thirty years later, see that same band headlining another stadium show 
with your own college age kids?!  The guy sitting next to me on one 
side had his four year old daughter with him, and the little girl was 
in her chair fast asleep as they were doing a rockin' LOUD version of 
Honky Tonk Women.  Fortunately, the father woke her up and put her on 
his shoulders for the last few songs.  That little girl may not end up 
remembering that show, but one day long after those guys are gone for 
good, she'll be able to say to her friends that she saw the Stones with 
her dad.  Pretty cool.

Anyway, the Stones played most of their bigger songs, and also some 
oldies (like Hand of Fate and All Down the Line, and Everybody Need 
Somebody) Truly memorable show.  And after the last encore, after the 
Stones took their final bows, a rather elaborate fireworks display went 
off behind the stage.  Nice touch!

Oh yeah and the opening act was Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders, who
also rocked.  There's nothing like a good old fashioned outdoor rock and
roll show on a cool autumn saturday night.  Now if only my hearing would
come back!  :)

response 2 of 19:

Sep 29 22:25 UTC 2002

  I don't know, there's just something odd about the idea of seeing a
  Stones concert with your parents..

response 4 of 19:

Oct 2 04:55 UTC 2002

Right.  And liking them even that old isn't really all that strange, 
either.  I think the Beatles, if all of them remained alive to do a 
reunion tour, would have drawn similar parallels.

response 6 of 19:

Oct 9 00:11 UTC 2002

On the other hand, because the Beatles had not toured for so long, they quite
possibly would have sucked in concert.  Say whatever else you want about the
stones, but they are pretty well, uh, road tested.  

Still, dbratman has a point.  I don't think I've ever felt any desire to see
the Rolling Stones live (after all, my lifespan and their old age have pretty
much overlapped), but I might be tempted by a Beatles reunion if their dead
half were still alive.  Scarcity increases demand.  

response 8 of 19:

Oct 9 04:47 UTC 2002

here's the thing.  seeing the Stones live in concert, you get the obvious
impression not just that they like doing it, but that they LOVE doing it. 
The Beatles didn't like touring, they didn't like large arena or stadium
shows.  Their music was intimate.  The Rolling Stones are the quintessential
rock and roll band, the "world's greatest rock and roll band", because they
have made great music and truly ENJOY playing it.   When I saw them in concert
the first thing you realized was that they loved it, Mick Jagger and Keith
Richards in particular, LOVE playing together and being the Rolling Stones.
There is this pure joy those two have playing together, and with Charlie Watts
and Ron Wood, that is priceless.  It is why they haven't gotten old.  It is
why they can do stadium shows as hard and loud as they did thirty years ago.
They enjoy it.  Not all rock acts can say that.  Too often its business.  
get on stage.  get off.  count the money.  it isnt that often that you get
to watch great masters who absolutely LOVE what they do and can't imagine
living without doing it.  

response 10 of 19:

Oct 9 05:33 UTC 2002

my dad took my aunt, his little sister, to see the beatles in 1964 in
Baltimore.  Claims he heard nothing.  Just the louds of shrieks of girls. 
There wasn't the quality of sound systems in stadiums then that there is now

response 12 of 19:

Oct 9 19:49 UTC 2002

Have most of you not heard the live recording "The Beatles Live At 
The Hollywood Bowl?"  It's never been reissued on CD.  My vague 
recollection is that it's drawn from two shows in 1964 and 1965.
It's filled with screaming from beginning to end.

response 14 of 19:

Oct 9 21:48 UTC 2002

Presumably there was a time when the Beatles were not extremely popular.

response 16 of 19:

Oct 19 15:19 UTC 2002

The Beatles were an extremely popular local club band for some time 
before they achieved a national fame, which in turn measurably preceded 
their international fame.

They quit touring in part for the reasons suggested above: it was a 
dismal grind, the music was drowned out by screaming, and it's quite 
evident from recordings (when you can hear the music under the 
screaming) that, by the last couple of years of it, as a stage band 
they were pretty bad.  (Orinoco pointed out that a Beatles reunion 
might have been a lousy performance: clearly, that wouldn't have 
stopped people from coming.  For that matter, I've heard people 
complain about Stones concerts, not that the band was bad, but that 
they couldn't hear or see anything, something that would have been 
entirely predictable from the venue.  Yet, they went anyway.)

After a few years of studio-only work, the Beatles began missing the 
live stage a little, and tried to figure out ways to get around the 
problems.  Booking themselves into some local club under a pseudonym 
was one idea considered, but never acted upon.  But that urge is why 
they performed the Apple Records rooftop concert in '69, and why most 
of "Let It Be" was recorded live to tape (before it was Spectorized), 
in contrast to the pure studio creations of the Sgt. Pepper era.

response 18 of 19:

Oct 23 00:01 UTC 2002

There's a story that Paul was visiting John & Yoko at the time, and 
they were watching SNL on tv, and thought about it ... but I don't know 
if it's true.