Re: The Stones must stop as presently constructed!
Date: September 2, 2007 00:18
Beauforde, may I ask how old you are?
Many of the tours touted now as so great were not so well recieved at the time they were played.Nostalgia and a few well chosen bootlegs are the stuff of legends. So, when the Stones embarked on the TOTA's in 75 they were playing some new stuff, and a major review called it all loud noise and remarked that the well loved oldies, or as the reviewer saw it, the songs the audience had come to hear, were not well represented
A few tweaked King Biscuit Flower Hours packaed as Handsome Girls has completely enshrined the 78 tour, and yet you want to talk about set list variety; THERE WAS NONE. Yes it was bold to play so much new material, but it was do or die in one sense in that the band had been pretty much written off as has beens , and that was 30 years ago. One of that era's major photojournalism mags ( and I cannot remember if it was Life or Look) ran an article that stated in so many words it was not worth missing work or school for the show. Well as we are now finally made aware of by Keith, these guys do read and are acutely aware of the press. so from what they have read, THEY DID TRY IN THE PAST to be unpredictable and they were trounced by the professional press. And you cannot ask them to screw the press and look at the fans, because from the front of the stage the mega tours drawing 50,000 plus consistently date from the era that you have termed the safe Vegas era. What do you think feeds thier ego more, looking out at 50,000 dressed in Stones t-shirts and playing their greatest hits, or really trying to remember when they were cutting edge and new, and playing to 12oo screaming bleached blonds all trying to be Lulu clones?
When you Beauforde are ready to shave the crown of your head and take A VOW OF POVERTY, then start bitching about the bank show etc. Myself, as an MD that works the emergency rooms, I love the Holidays and the staffing crunch they create,because I can make ridiculous amounts of money staffing days that are in a backwards way often the least busy.I have never turned down a raise, or a bonus, have you Beauforde? Why should the Stones? They have spent decades always charging more than any one else, and doing what they please. When they pissed on a wall that was cool becauise they basically said "we don't give a @#$%& what you think." Well for me, the same applies for the bank gig, I think THAT IS REALLY COOL BECAUSE THEY REALLY DO NOT GIVE A @#$%& WHAT YOU OR I THINK. They are true to themseleves and no one else.They are now, they always have been, the ultimate capitalists, hasn't anyone been listening? "What can a poor boy do?"
As for the kids, I have been all over this tour with the Stones, and remember no other being such a family affair.At the third O2, Theo knelt in the catwalk staring adoringly at her father, entranced, and singing along with him as he rocked though his second number.In Saint Petersburg it was Keith that sang Little T&A to both of his girls with a look of pride that was just poignant. It bothered you the kids were on stage? May I ask then, at what point in your life did embracing and celebrating family become uncool?
And in the end, it does not matter because for me the Stones have again shown just how cool they are BY DOING EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT TO DO WHEN THEY WANT TO DO IT NO MATTER WHAT OTHERS SAY. And doing it in such style, they have just ended another tour that is phenomanally successful while a bunch of people who have never even sang Auld Lang Syne at the local pub at the stroke of New Years have advice abundant on how they could improve.
Last, let me say something about myself that gives it perspective for me. At age 50, I think I have finally figured out what maybe the Stones have known for a long time. The coolest @#$%& on Earth are those of us that have discoverd, it doesn't even really matter if your cool.