I know I've slagged this tour more than any other, but recently I've been listening to a lot of the shows (Wembley #2, #3, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Berlin, Antwerp, Copenhagen, Frankfurt). I must say that '73 Fall set was better representative of the band's talent than '72 or Australasia '73. Mick seemed a lot more confident in his stage persona and I think Billy Preston, far from being a honky-tonk interloper, held together a disentegrating Keith, Bobby K., and Mick T.-

"The wonder of Jimi Hendrix was that he could stand up at all he was so pumped full of drugs." Patsy, Patsy Stone

"Your debutante knows what you need, but I know what you want"


good efort...............

it is definitely a great tour...but i dont hear a disentigrating keith or mick t on the recordings...they sounded tighter than a knat's ass...but i do hear Mick J's vocals dropping a notch from the '72 tour (still great though)

If you listen carefully, all Keith does is start the rhythm of the song, rarely takes solos (SF an exception) and just strums away in the background, albeit brilliantly.

Mick J's vocals were raunchier and, yes, rougher. But where this used to rankle, it now just adds to the mise en scene.

They cut the 'throat-shredder' songs from the UK/Europe set anyways - "Bitch", "Rocks Off", plus Mick has his 'break' to 'powder his nose' during YCA for the final six numbers.

His vocals were miles better in '73 than they were in '75. IFYAWAWRAWMAY

"The wonder of Jimi Hendrix was that he could stand up at all he was so pumped full of drugs." Patsy, Patsy Stone

The 73 tour was the epitome of the Stones brief flirtation with becoming a 70s-arena-style hard rock band with a clear distinction between lead/rhythm guitar, a thunderous bass/drum combo, and a charismatic singer. In other words, this was the closest the Stones ever came to being Led Zeppelin. Led Zep was arguably the biggest live act in the world AT THAT TIME.

Of course, 32 years later, we still have the legendary Wembley/Brussels FM broadcasts in circulation. These have been critiqued ad nausaeum, but they must be considered in the context of the times. When the bootlegs of these shows came out is when I became a Stones fan. It was also at this time that the distance between audience & band began to be more pronounced, both literally and figuratively.

Listen to the Brussels concert - the best rock concert of all time.