I just wanted to know what the other fans at the Hartford show thought of the Stones performance on Friday Night. I myself thought it was one of the greatest rock shows ever. When Mick and the boys went to the B stage I was standing about 15 feet or less from them. That was a very exciting experience. The show, lights, stage and the fireworks were way over the top. The Rolling Stones indeed made "A Bigger Bang" on Friday night

I was also at the Hartford show. From where I was standing (directly in front of the B stage about 10 rows away ) I felt the sound was a bit choppy especially during the first half of the show. I was quite suprised about that because the opening act was crystal clear. Things became cleaner once they were on the B stage and for the rest of the concert..

Did you notice that there was an extra keyboard in the corner of the B stage throughout the first part of the show? I bring this up because it was blocking the view of people and they were complaining. Once the stage arrived Chuck stopped playing and jumped off and went to the keyboard. When the boys went back to the main stage the roadies went to work and packed this keyboard up. This might be a minor point in the great circle of life with the Stones but for the life of me I can not figure out why people have to pay $160 for a seat and have a problem like this.

I have been going to shows since 72 and you are correct - this is the most over the top show that they have put on. To me the low point was Get UP Stand Up and the high point was Satisfaction.

GLad you had a good time. Now on to Giants Stadium, Albany, Hershey and Philly I.

THIS WAS MY 30th STOS SHOW AND IT WAS A GREAT ONE! HIGH ENERGY, MICK AND KEITH SMILING ALOT, even Charlie seemed very happy! The sound in A6 was balenced and just right, could hear all lyrics, not much of Chuck, guitars up high, bass right on! RUBY TUESDAY and ALL DOWN THE LINE were done to perfection and I LOVED GET UP, STAND UP and THE CROWD DID TOO! A REALLY INCREDIBLE SHOW AND VERY APPRECIATED BY A CROWD TOTALLY INTO IT, START TO FINISH. I was amazed by the crowd singing along with almost all the songs and LOUD! The applause was deafening and the band got doubly pumped up as a result.

So, Debra A6 was that infront of Ron or Keith? Trying to find out the best place to be for Seattle.

Here are a couple more pics from hartford: [notontelevision.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-08-30 02:06 by notontelevision.

Well I was also there together with my girlfriend. And I am still thrilled and amazed ! It was one of the best perfomances I have seen from the boys and for me also another adventure with the greatest Band on Earth. I thought I should write a bit more since I barely post although I 've been following this great board for a few years now. I mean I don't understand so much from the open-G and vibrato discussions here and English is not my native language but I do play some basic guitar and as for the most of us : the Stones have been a soundtrack for my life.

I saw them first at the Olympia stadium in Berlin in 1990. Not getting emotional but born and raised in a 3000 soul village in Thuringia in former East Germany it was one of those dreams after the wall came down...Anyway the only Deutsch Mark I had when the presale started I did invest in a Stones ticket. So this will ever be my favourite show perhaps more related to circumstances rather than to the band musically output ? But again it was just Great (even the drive on the Autobahn to West Berlin with my "Trabant"). Great stadium, great town, great growd and of course the Greatest R'n'R Band on Earth.

Later on in the 90's I saw them at least once on every tour: I got to Hockenheim in 1995 with my bycicle right underneath through the A5 from Heidelberg where I now lived and studied and bought a ticket from a scalper for 80 DM. It was the biggest concert I have ever been to. The official release was 90000 but I guess it was over a hundredthousand. From what I remember the VL tour was very good the guitars were up and it was a great stage with the Cobra head on top.

I have mixed memories about the B2B tour. I saw them in Mannheim in 1998. It was a cold day already in September and the crowd, about 85000, was very lame.
In 1999 my company sent me (of course I also applied for) for 1 year to England. I lived in Watford near London. A great time ! You folks probably know what comes now: Yes I scored tickets for the Saturday show at Wembley and I had great expectations. I mean the boys play in their home town what else can you expect as a huge sing along with the crowd ? It was a great show but it could not match, at least not in my memories, the Berlin show in 1990 and also Hockenheim in 1995. I also recognized that Ronnie maybe didn't play so well or was he just not that concentrated ? For the Friday show I couldn't get tickets but showed up at Wembley stadium and tried to bride a security guy... for 20 pounds he indeed had let me in for the last four songs. Well I was already grazy infected with the RS virus I guess...I saw when Keith took a bow through Charly's and Mick's hands...funny.

I found the Licks tour much more better than B2B tour (but I like the B2B album) although I had a hard time to see all the AC/DC fans in Hockenheim. Did they upstage the Stones or not ? I would say they were equal....
So I skip anything else about Licks - it's not so long ago.

Now what can I say about Hartford what has not already been mentioned here and in the reviews before : Hartford was for 1 night the Rock'n Roll capital in the world. The band played fresh on a amazing energy level and it's good to see all of them : Keith smiles AND plays, Ronny plays and he is loud in the mix, Charly as ever : solid and constant the engine ! And Mick who believes that this guy is 62 ? It's not only that he works the crowd as only he can : His vioce seems stronger than ever and surprisingly he sounds so youthful ! Skipping my emotional part for the first show in Berlin I would say : These are the best Stones I have ever seen ! The crowd in Hartford was fantastic. It was also the first US show I attended and we got nice weather too. My favourites : a more rocking version of Beast of Burden, than Ruby Tuesday were the crowd sung along, Oh No Not You Again I couldn't get this out of my mind the whole Saturday, a sharp Satisfaction and a Jumping Jack Flash with Keith playing tremedous.
There havn't really been weaker moments, somewhat on Sympathy I couldn't hear Keith solo in the first part of the song so well but the revitalised Ice pick guitar came back at the end and the entire song is a crowd pleaser as usual.
I do not complain about the set list because it's a stadium show so they have to play their big hits and they do this with passion. If they can keep this ,the high energy level, sharpness and freshness this will be a very good tour and they prove once more that they are the peak for all they others.

After the show we couldn't find our car because the parking level A and B look so simular with the same view to Rentschler field. After 4 times backwards and forwards on level A somebody gave us a hint to try the same procedure at level B...now we got it !

What a night ! We got home safe to NYC where I was sent by my company in 2003...You can rate I also applied for :-)

Thanks Rolling Stones
Ray

Good on ya Ray ... nice to read your positive words.

ROCKMAN

I was in section A5,row PP (44th row) and the sound was perfect. I agree this was the best audience I ever saw a Stones show. The floor sections ran like this: A1, A2, A3 on Keith's side with A3 coming to the moving stage track in the middle. A4, A5, A6 on Ronnie's side with A4 starting on the other side of the main stage track in the middle. The tall column of main speakers point directly down sections A2 and A5.