DeRogatis made a real bad review even in 1997 for the tour opening, making all Stones fans real upset back then, I remember. Then he made a great review later on may be No Security I don't remember which show. His review from the Monday show is a personal view as seen from his point of view. He is demaniding a lot and I think he is some times very moody. But it is true he is a professional. The Stones are certainly no Las Vegas act but he just realized they were not at their best and too bad he did not review the Chicago I show at Soldier Field last year which was one of the best for the entire tour.
If you read the IORR reviews you will see there are bad reviews coming in for two shows on this tour:
- Philly I (Oct 10) [
iorr.org]
- Chicago II (Jan 23) [
iorr.org]
Philly I was the one with most fans being upset. Chicago II also many people were a bit disappointed. But if you read the Chicago III reviews it all changed and they are back in top form.
So may be it is as simple as they gave it all for the first 5 shows and Chicago I was simply the city where Mick had a cold and the rest of the band slowed down a bit so they lost concentration and made a show more like 7 of 10 while normally 9 of 10.
It would be almost unique if they made great shows 10 out of 10 every night. Two shows slightly below average out of a total of 50 shows performed as per today is not bad really.
Bjornulf