Paranoid Android wrote on Jul 28
th, 2009 at 9:12pm:
These guys do need a break and like GAZZA said...play for themselves...let the people come to them...!!!
While I did say 'play for themselves' (ie play the music they want to play instead of feeling they have to pander to corporate blow-ins by playing hardly anything else but songs that EVERYONE has had ample chance to hear by now), I dont recall saying 'let the people come to them' and I do think that playing residencies in Las Vegas would be the final nail in their coffin in terms of credibility. If they're going to concentrate primarily on 'residencies' then do it in places like New York or London.
I feel something the same as what SV says above. They dont have to do mega tours to justify their continued existence. They did one which finished two years ago, and look at whats happened since - two years of absolutely nothing. If they're serious about still being a BAND instead of some corporate behemoth, then they could scale it back and go out on the road for a month at a time maybe three times a year and play 40-50 shows a year. Hardly a demanding pace. It doesnt have to be tied to the 'promotion' of a new release when you do that (a more honest way of doing it, as they dont promote new releases anyway - everyone knows that another stadium runaround will basically be "Licks Part Three Sponsored by
insert name of corporate giant we've whored ourselves to this time" more than 'The
(insert name of new album) Tour.
Whether they should go on the road again is another issue. Retirement isnt really seen as an option and never has been, but from what I can see I doubt Keith & Ronnie still have it in them physically to cope with another long tour, and I would be surprised if Charlie wants to. The lack of activity or rumour in the last couple of years suggests to me they're not even that certain themselves where to go next. If anywhere.
I'd personally like to see them tour again although from a purely musical perspective I'm not sure that they should (obviously its their right to play as long as they bloody well want and even if I have reservations about it, I know I'll go to a few shows. I'm a lifer. It's in the blood.). I enjoyed every one of the 13 shows I saw on the last tour - even though it was quite obvious that it wasnt as interesting a tour as before and that the performance levels of the two guitarists are becoming increasingly erratic. Making the shows more interesting is their choice alone - but age and physical deterioration aren't going to eradicate the latter issue - whilst part of me wants to see the band perform until they (or I) drop, another part of me doesnt want them to embark on one tour too many and descend into a travesty. We're not there yet, but for that reason I don't share the enthusiasm that some have in looking forward to a 50th anniversary tour in 2012. These days, wanting another tour from a band you've followed all your life is as much an admission that it's an excuse for an extension to your youth plus an excuse to renew acquaintances as anything else. I'm as guilty as anyone on that count. Musically, I'm more interested in seeing them open their vaults and do it well than I am in another tour of football stadiums where I have to spend a week's wages to look at a video screen and where I get misled, conned and treated with utter disdain by rs.con and Cohl.
So surely shorter stretches of touring is more suitable for everyone. Everyone who's had a chance to see the Stones has done so in the last decade and with soaring ticket prices and the world economy having gone tits up, their sheer over-familiarity in recent years is going to eventually have a knock on affect on how marketable a tour will be unless they're very careful not to be too ambitious about it. Its really time for them to stop the juggernaut and scale down if they're still serious about continuing as a functioning band. They've done the mega tour thing to death and better than anyone else - there's got to be more important things than trying to outgross U2.
Unfortunately from the Stones perspective - and in my eyes, that means Jagger & Cohl as Keith has basically abdicated responsibility in recent years as a songwriter and onstage musical director and settled for an easy ride - I'm not so sure that there is.