Steel Wheels wrote on Dec 9^th, 2012 at 7:57am:



When you click on the link to purchase the tickets online, there's no longer anywhere there to do so.

Well...the show was very good and Barclays is a pretty cool arena. Massive disappointment in the house over the absence of Mick T. I'm so very glad now that I went to the London shows. This one would rank #3 of the 3 so far.

Some pics:

And a bit of JJF:

http://youtu.be/je9-1pE1K0Q

Really great photos, SV!  We appreciate your expertise!

SweetVirginia wrote on Dec 9^th, 2012 at 5:34pm:



Lisa too... they all seem to be hitting the deli trays backstage!!!

Just back home from New York.

Scattered thoughts: the show started off somewhat rockily, but cohered nicely. Crowd energy surged during the final third of the show. Much as I would like to hear non-warhorses, they're the ones that work. Alas. Still, if they do tour more extensively next year, I really do hope they crack the catalog some more. Just two or three rarities would make a *huge* difference. Something especially memorable for us psychotics.

Mick is an absolute physical marvel. It's stunning what he's able to do onstage at his age, and it shouldn't be taken for granted. Best Ronnie I've seen since '94. The solos and fills are thoughtful and tasty, and he's locked in with Keith on rhythm. The two of them know they're driving the sound completely on these gigs, and they've really stepped up their game.

I sat on the lower-level on Keith's side, and it seems to me playing has become a heavy lift for him. Joyful, but burdensome. It's almost like he's afraid of breaking something when he moves around. He and Ronnie do this thing on "Sympathy" where they hide behind the drum riser until the first chorus. Keith leaned on it with an outstretched arm as he waited to hit his mark, and for the first time he looked to me like an ordinary oldish man at rest. Shook me up in a weird way. He interacts a lot with Darryl, which I'd never noticed before. I think he looks to him for cues, or at least a general sense of "How we doing here?" All that said, he's actually playing really solidly. His powers are diminished — but he's making the most of what's left.

I'm going to Newark Night 2, and really looking forward to it.

Collectively I'm treasuring these five shows in a way that I didn't expect I would.

Steel Wheels wrote on Dec 10^th, 2012 at 5:38am:



they're 'verboten' on stage, but there were pics of him and Ronnie having a sly couple of puffs in the wings during one of the London gigs.

Keith withstands it all, darling. No farewell for the King of the Riffs anytime soon.

I'm in my late 30's but I'll take early 30's!

I just saw 87 year old BB King in Atlantic City. When he touches that guitar it's pure magic. For me, Keith is the same. Hearing him hit an open G riff is life affirming. Also, I play guitar. In my eyes, the older a musician becomes, the more economical they become. Less flash and more focus on the instrument. I've heard from musicians who look at Keith and say he's on the money. His fretboard work is all about focus and intensity, and he's playing better than he has in years and years.

Steel Wheels wrote on Dec 10^th, 2012 at 7:08am:


Keith is playing these shows like he's got something to prove. And he does. And he did.

Steel Wheels wrote on Dec 10^th, 2012 at 9:08am:


Both Ronnie and Keith have cut way back on the goofing and mugging. It's all to the good.

Funny moment at Barclays: he flubbed the intro to "The Last Time" — twice! — and smiled as if to say, "F*ck, there I go again!"

Here's my review, I saw three different shows in one show....Part A

1.      Get off my cloud
2.      I wanna be your man
3.      The last time
4.      Paint it black
5.      Gimme shelter (with Mary J. Blige)
6.      Wild horses
7.      Going down (with Gary Clark Jr.)
8.      All down the line

This part of the show in my opinion kicked ass, the crowd was rockin throughout these 8 songs, even a quite rocking during Wild Horses. I was literally in the last row of section 210 and hardly anyone was sitting down. People came out to rock and the first 8 songs provided a nice mix. I Want To Be Your Man and Last Time had some special old time magic, both sounded great.
Paint It Black and GS both had a NY kind of edge to it. If you weren't sweating from dancing by now, you were missing something.

Wild Horses was a nice way to catch your breath and admire the nice playing by The Stones. Then the intensity went back up with Going Down and ADTL. Again, our section was non stop rocking, must've been the weed, hash, coke , LSD and mushrooms going around our section. We saw it all and were asked to par-take in all the above. The party was in the last row. 

Part B

9.      Miss you
10.      One more shot
11.      Doom & Gloom
12.      It’s only rock and roll
13.      Honky tonk woman
14.      Before they make me run
15.      Happy

This was a transitional period, Miss You started out a little slow, but seemed to pick up strength...OMS and D&G seemed to take a little energy out of the show, people were starting to sit down and the energy was a little low.

IORR got the people back up to dance again, the energy level was back to the first part of the show. HTW, was nice. Everybody singing and dancing, lots of smiles on peoples faces.

The two Keith songs were good,, but BTMMR, was a little lackluster...Happy got things back on track again.


NOW the MOMENT everyone was waiting for.......Midnight Rambler

16.      Midnight Rambler (wo/Mick Taylor)
17.      Start me up
18.      Tumbling dice
19.      Brown sugar
20.      Sympathy for the devil


Well MR started and they was a collective vibe going around the arena...Where's Mick Taylor? I shrugged it off and thought, "cool, he'll come out later and do a different song." I have to say it almost looked and sounded like they had to get their street cred back by ripping into MR, which Keith and Ronnie did. The strong guitars ripped the song from beginning to end.

SMU, was SMU, it is what it is. When Tumbling Dice was played I thought, "OK maybe Taylor will come out and join them and lay down some tasty leads" The guitars were a little muddied during TD, not as clean and crisp as Rambler.

Brown Sugar was played like a warhorse, no special feeling, just accentuating the the Yeah, yeah, yeah, woo!   over and over.

SFTD, keith laid down some nice leads, but nothing jaw dropping, it was a strong number...BUT, the energy was down, and I have a feeling it was people wondering "Where the fck is Mick Taylor?"  We heard he cancelled his tour in Spain and he would be here, everyone was talking about it before the show...where is he?

The Finale....

ENCORE
21.      You can’t always get what you want (with local chorus)
22.      Jumping jack flash
23.      Satisfaction

By now, even us who were hopeful that maybe Mick Taylor would join for the encore, knew it wasn't going to happen.

YCAGWYW was very very sweet, nicely done and people around me had tears in their eyes. A very touching song done wonderfully.

JJF and Satifaction sounded like the tired warhorses they are. The energy was next to none in the section I was in...it felt like..."Not this shit again" Say what you want they they must do the warhorses, I feel like the energy is much higher for songs that people know but are not warhorses.

I give this show a solid 7, it could've been a 10 by throwing out three of the warhorse and an 11 if Mick Taylor showed up.

Nice 2 B able to  CELEBRATE 50 YEARS of Solid R/R  

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR8

Its like so GROOVY to have withstood 50 together its like a Machine!

Power to the STONES