Gazza
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Rat Bastid "We piss anywhere, man.."
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Belfast, UK
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Really hard to do that show justice in words. For a fan it was almost life affirming to see them on that kind of form again.
Keith really was the unknown factor going into these concerts. So many shambolic performances in the last year of the Bigger Bang tour (although plenty of solid ones too, in fairness), the evident decline in motor skills that occurred post-Fiji coupled with what we know now was a fair amount of boozing, and then his subsequent inactivity didnt really bode well for his or the Stones' future as a performing act.
Something has obviously happened for the better in the last few months. Mick has even admitted that they 'weren't ready' to play the Olympics and it strikes me that a precondition of these shows happening were going to be that Keith got himself into the best playing shape possible. No Blondie Chaplin (which, from what I hear was Mick's insistence) ensured that he wasnt going to be doing any coasting.
Well, it seems to have worked - because that's the best I've seen Keith play in about a decade. Its not unreasonable for the band to be 'a bag of nerves on first night' after so long, but every single one of them were absolutely 'on' last night from start to finish. There were no trainwrecks - maybe Get Off Of My Cloud was a bit out of tune in parts, but a minor quibble - and while Keith seemed pretty reserved and maybe a bit edgy for the first three songs, once he ripped in to Paint It Black, you just knew it was going to be one of those magical nights. When Mary J Blige joined them on a ripping version of Gimme Shelter, it kicked up another notch.
The guest appearances - from ex-Stones and non-Stones - were all really good and none of them dragged the show down for a second. Quite the opposite in fact. Jeff Beck just ripped the roof off on Goin Down (I think someone must have went round the back and got the amps turned up to 11) and the guitar onslaught between him, Keith & Woody was wonderful.
Terrific to see Out Of Control back in the set again - always a marvellous live song, even though they didnt extend it as much as they did when it was a highpoint on the Bridges tour. The two new songs sounded really good - Keith even did back up vocal on One More Shot.
Mick then introduced 'former band member' Bill Wyman to a huge roar and he stayed for two songs, IORR (ironically a song whose studio version he didnt play on) and a terrific Honky Tonk Women. The band seemed really pleased to have him there.
Bobby Keys and Tim Ries didnt appear at all until the band intros, and I think they were on only about 4 or 5 songs at most. It was very much a guitar driven show, with Leavell down in the mix.
Its also nice to report that, unlike the second half of the last tour, Keith is obviously quite capable of singing and playing simultaneously again. Before They Make Me Run and Happy saw him singing and playing beautifully.
And then....lights down....the familiar opening notes flickered, the stage lights came up..and they're into Midnight Rambler - and oh my fucking God, Mick Taylor is onstage with them. No introduction, he's just there. And get this, he's performing. You think Mick just stands at the back anonymously like in all those old clips from the 70s? Not tonight. He's gliding across the stage, going up front beside Jagger, and playing off him - and his playing is utterly incredible. Taylor is clearly having the time of his life and the band manage to deliver what was possibly the best version of Midnight Rambler theyve done since....well, since he left the band actually. The absolute showstopper of the night and - whilst it may just be the initial post show euphoria - this could possibly have been the greatest thing I've ever witnessed at a Rolling Stones concert.
'Miss You' next - a bit 'meh' for me, but it wasnt bad and it got the crowd going. Warhorses from here on in, but all played well and some of them, such as 'Start Me Up' sounding surprisingly good. The lights went down at the end of Brown Sugar and at first I assumed that was the end of the main set, but then the familiar intro to Sympathy started which was a bit of a surprise to me - a song where Keith's had a lot of trouble in recent years with solo, but which on this occasion saw him managing it really well. Mick, Keith, Ronnie, Lisa and Bernard came out around the back of the pit area for the 'woo woo' parts.
That was the end of the main set, but the final real surprise was still to come. The lights go up and there are not one, but two choirs on opposite sides of the stage singing You Cant Always Get What You Want. The Stones play it absolutely beautifully and then as the choirs are packed off they close an unforgettable night out with a monster of a version of Jumpin Jack Flash.
Apparently 'Satisfaction' and 'Lady Jane' were down to be played but were omitted because of the curfew. They had brought the start time forward from 8.45 to 8 pm (apparently due to engineering works affecting the Tube) - but after the 'Gregory Drummers' intro (which consisted of about 40 people marching round the aisles in gorilla masks playing what appeared to be the intro to 'Sympathy'), the Stones took the stage at around 8.35. 145 minutes onstage - probably the longest theyve played in about 15 years.
I was at the back of the arena on the first level and even from there I thought it was fantastic from start to finish (and apologies to anyone hoping for a phone call or text - I couldnt get a mobile phone signal). I can only imagine what that must have been like for anyone up close. Saying that they didnt work the tongue stage as much as I would have expected. Also, they didnt use video screens for the first three songs - it started with Paint It Black (the tongue behind the stage was used as a video screen and there were two screens high on the sides as well)
For the anally retentive like me - the first performance of 'I Wanna Be Your Man' since August 1964. . Live debuts for Goin Down and One More Shot. First 'Out of Control' since Seattle 30.10.05 and it's first appearance in the UK since 1999. And whilst I might need to double check, the first 'Its All Over Now' since the final Voodoo Lounge show in Rotterdam in August 1995. 'Doom and Gloom' has of course only been played at the two club/theatre shows in Paris last month.
To sum up - yes, a horrendously priced event, but performance wise the Stones cant be accused of taking the money and phoning it in. They rose to the occasion and performed to a standard which I never thought they would still be capable of reaching. Astonishingly great.
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The O2 Arena, London 25 November, setlist pics etc (Read 63,774 times)
