I went to NYC yesterday, my first real trip into the city since moving to NJ. While walking back to Penn Station after a job interview, I came across this distinctive round building which I recognized immediately from photographs as Madison Square Garden.

I stopped for a bit & looked at MSG, thinking about how just a tad over 40 years ago the Stones were playing in that arena, parts of which were filmed by the Maysles brothers for Gimme Shelter (and the bonus DVD from the YA-YAs set released last year).

That footage from Gimme Shelter really opened up the floodgates for me. I began collecting everything I could from the 1969 tour: bootleg LPs & CDs, the Ethan Russell LIB "big book", a 1969 tour poster & program, magazines, photos, even newspaper ads & articles.

And it all began with what was filmed in that building!





Greetings from the Jersey Shore.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-08-25 13:49 by misterfrias.

I haven't been to NYC (I'm actually british) but when I see MSG on tv nowadays I think of the 1969 Stones playing there. The stage is unrecogniseable now of course, but the ceiling is still the same..the circular central part with lines radiating out.

@WeLoveYou -- I would get the same feeling as misterfrias seeing MSG if I saw Royal Albert Hall (I am an American & have never been to the UK). Royal Albert Hall is so distinctive-looking and so many great musicians (and live albums, both official & bootleg) from there.

And Hyde Park! I know the Stones 1969 show there is often panned (sloppy performance, out of tune instruments) but still I would like to be in the park & think about that hot July afternoon . . . .

The Gimme Shelter movie is the hook that snared me onto the Rolling Stones too. Ethan Russell's book is a great record of that tour (wish I could afford one of his prints!). I also have an old Ramparts magazine with some great photographs of the 1969 Stones. I think I have seen them posted on here in another thread.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2010-08-25 18:38 by MILKYWAY.

Being a native NYer I ve been to MSG many dozens of times, including seeing the 69 & 72 tour& 75 tours, No Security, Licks, Bang tours...not to diminish the Knicks NBA championship in 73...
I went to RAH May 2005 for Cream reunion and I had that feeling others have about MSG.
Recently saw Tom Petty @ MSG and he greets the crowd in the "Temple of Rock"
thats MSG!
RB

...hey hey hey...don't forget the Rangers in 94!

Right on RIP THIS
just that I was at a 73 Knick playoff game and I compared it to the Stones in 72..
it was really intense, hard to compare the two

Anyone remember the OLD Madison Square Garden that was located at 8th Ave and 49th street? I think my parents took me to the circus there when I was a kid, but I don't remember too much about what the place looked like or how it compared to the current MSG.

That performance of Satisfaction is very sexy, musically and otherwise. Love those guitars. Still my favorite tour. Whatever you want to call it, live, studio or hybrid, "Ya-Ya's" is one of the most enduring recordings in RnR history. It never fails to please.

The significance of MSG to me stems from having fallen in love with Ya Yas all those years ago, and ever since having harboured an ambition to see the Stones in that venue. And it finally happened for me in the fall of 2005 ... and it didn't disappoint of course.

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

The first time I went to the RAH it seemed smaller and less grand than I was expecting. Still, so many of great people have played there!

I've been to Hyde Park many tiems (I live in London) but I always wonder which bit the concert was held at...where the stage was located. There's an aerial shot in the Hyde Park movie where you can see a large part of the park, I must look at this again sometime.

About MSG... the stage in 1969 was simply a 5 or 6 foot high (presumably wooden) platform. Does anyone know when it was replaced? Maybe sometime in the 70s...

I'm from Germany. So I don't have the possibility to visit the MSG that often. When I was in NYC this February, I could finally visit the home of rock'n'roll.
There is indeed a special vibe in this venue. Got goosebumps when I started to think about all the big concerts that where held there. Not only Stones.
But for a European the smell of the sweet junk food is kinda strange & disgusting. ^^

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pmk251
That performance of Satisfaction is very sexy, musically and otherwise. Love those guitars. Still my favorite tour. Whatever you want to call it, live, studio or hybrid, "Ya-Ya's" is one of the most enduring recordings in RnR history. It never fails to please.

Wasn't it your first Stones concert pmk, in 69? That might explain why 69 is still your favourite tour. Because I think it's not the 'best' one, however much I like YaYa's. I have made my own favourite 1973 setlist and burned it on CD (also uploaded it here) and it's maybe the best Rolling Stones CD I have. I prefer it to YaYa's by more than a moonlight mile. Btw: I'm sorry they didn't include this version of Satisfaction in the YaYa's deluxe release. It's much better than the YaYa's deluxe version of Satisfaction.

I think there were too many Berry(-like) songs on the setlists of the 69 and 70 tour. The 72 and 73 tour were the Rolling Stones at their ultimate peak, 72 being their most energetic one and 73 being musically the most interesting one. They reached the limits of their musical span during that tour.

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WeLoveYou

About MSG... the stage in 1969 was simply a 5 or 6 foot high (presumably wooden) platform. Does anyone know when it was replaced? Maybe sometime in the 70s...

Madison Square Garden has no permanent concert stage. Bands bring their own stage with them. I understand they HAVE been using the same boxing ring since the days of Jack Dempsey, and even before.

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tatters

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WeLoveYou

About MSG... the stage in 1969 was simply a 5 or 6 foot high (presumably wooden) platform. Does anyone know when it was replaced? Maybe sometime in the 70s...

Madison Square Garden has no permanent concert stage. Bands bring their own stage with them. I understand they HAVE been using the same boxing ring since the days of Jack Dempsey, and even before.

Ok..but in the early 70s they must have had the same stage for a while. I can't imagine that it chanegd much, 80s/90s/00s for sure..but back then?

It's round...

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WeLoveYou

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tatters

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WeLoveYou

About MSG... the stage in 1969 was simply a 5 or 6 foot high (presumably wooden) platform. Does anyone know when it was replaced? Maybe sometime in the 70s...

Madison Square Garden has no permanent concert stage. Bands bring their own stage with them. I understand they HAVE been using the same boxing ring since the days of Jack Dempsey, and even before.

Ok..but in the early 70s they must have had the same stage for a while. I can't imagine that it chanegd much, 80s/90s/00s for sure..but back then?

Huh? You mean the STONES had the same stage for a while. I don't know. Maybe. But I think it's more likely that the stage they took on tour with them in 1969 was used only in 1969. In any case, Madison Square Garden is a 20,000-seat basketball and hockey arena. It has no stage. You have to bring your own stage with you if you want to play there, which is what the Stones have been doing since 1969.

No, I mean did the MSG venue retain the same stage for a few years (at least). I can accept that bands have their own stage nowadays that they take with them from venue to venue, but back then I don't see this as likely. In 1969 the Stones didn't take their own stage all round the US, they used what was at each venue already right?

I understand that MSG is not normally a concert venue but I imagine the owners may have had (or rented) a stage for music events in the 60s - I'm just wondering if they had used the stage for a few years.

Did the Stones physically have their own stage in the early 70s? I seem to recongnise the stage floor dragon design in 1973..suggests they had their own stage. Going back to 1969, I've also noticed from photos that there is a star in the middle of the stage...perhaps they did have their own stage...

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kleermaker
I'm sorry they didn't include this version of Satisfaction in the YaYa's deluxe release. It's much better than the YaYa's deluxe version of Satisfaction.

The Gimme Shelter version of Satisfaction is two different performances spliced together. It is the first part (up to the end of the first verse) from the Ya Yas deluxe CD and then it's another performance until the end - notice how the tempo slows slightly from the solo onwards. The Ya-Yas DVD version is another performance altogether. There were three MSG dates so therefore three performances of Satisfaction available. What has never been released then is the first part of the Gimme Shelter performance, i.e. the intro up to the end of the first verse..I wonder if this has been bootlegged?

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WeLoveYou
No, I mean did the MSG venue retain the same stage for a few years (at least). I can accept that bands have their own stage nowadays that they take with them from venue to venue, but back then I don't see this as likely. In 1969 the Stones didn't take their own stage all round the US, they used what was at each venue already right?

They took their own stage with them in 1969. It was probably the first time a band ever did that. In many ways, that tour laid down the template that concert tours have been following ever since.

MSG was never my favorite venue and I've seen some great shows and sporting events there....besides it was never attractive and the people who built it destroyed what was without a doubt the greatest train station that ever existed in the US. Something Europeans can appreciate with their beautiful grand central stations...The only good thing one can say is that the city of NY came to its senses and didn't replace the 8th Avenue Post Office with a new MSG.