he's doing that since he joined in 1997!

I know a few things about this. Blondie's job is TO FILL IN with his guitar. He doesn't play Keith's solos, he doesn't play Ronnie's solos. He fills in, and makes the sound richer anc gives freedom to Keith and Ronnie to concentrate on their weaving.

And about Keith's fingers: It's Heberdeen's Nodes. (please google it!) It was worse and more painful for him some years ago than it is today - and than it was on the last tour.
Keith's head injury in Fiji has no relevanse for the Stones using Blondie Chaplin. They started using him in 1997 (Keith started using him on the first Wingless Angels project), and Blondie's role hasn't changed since then.

About the pay: He's among the musicians on stage who earns the least. When they're touring, the backing band gets between $10.000 and $15.000 per week.
Actually there have been times when he has toured Norway - (I've set up tours for him, booking all the jobs, fixing him a backing band, appointments, accomondation - the lot) when he's earned more money in a week than he does as a backing musician for the Stones. (But then I'm NOT Michael Cohl.)

The musicians have to negotiate with Cohl before the tours. At times some of them have been unhappy with the offer, and people have started talking. Sooner or later the words reach Keith, and they might get a better deal than Cohl intended to give them in the first place...

It is an interesting topic. I was at a show in 2005 seated on the same side as Blondie and I actually was a little distracted and took notice as he was strumming away on his electric on a couple of songs. It was a little disconcerting because one thinks Ronnie and Keith have it covered. Keith seems to be almost BB King like in his playing as he ages...play a tasty lick and rest, play a bluesy little burst and rest.

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mckalk
.play a tasty lick and rest, play a bluesy little burst and rest.

Well tasty licks would have been great but often it`s not. This shows that Keith often does not lead the Band anymore on stage , just playing a few licks , but the basic strumm and changes (Chuck L.) are done by others..

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Elmo Lewis
Don't think she plays, just sings.

...Oops- and there I go feeling all 'sweet little sixteen' again...

["I can hear the Bullfrog calling me..."]

Thanks for the info, Addicted!
And nice to hear that Keith's problems with his fingers are going in the right direction.

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Thommie
Thanks for the info, Addicted!
And nice to hear that Keith's problems with his fingers are going in the right direction.

Hi Thommie. "Going in the right direction" would be exaggerating a bit. But the thing with Heberdeen's Nodes is that most of the pain and the deformation of joints occur in the beginning, After some (at times very painfull) years, the pain discreases. The disease stops developing, so to say.
But he's a tough guy when it comes to tolerating pain. Most guitarists are. Playing untill the fingers are bleeding - and then going on...

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KeefintheNight82
Seems to me that Keith quit rythmically driving the songs on stage a LONG time ago.
Whether is Chuck or Blondie, both to a degree.

But basically Keith just tacks up licks here and there.

It seems like he still drives the standards like Brown Sugar and Start me up.

Now you are talking about SOME of the songs Keith plays in standard tuning.

No doubt Keith is still driving songs like IORR, Satisfaction etc.

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Addicted
About the pay: He's among the musicians on stage who earns the least. When they're touring, the backing band gets between $10.000 and $15.000 per week.

Are you saying they backing band gets that in total, or each?

We should mack a list of the songs where Blondie plays electric or accoustic guitar, then we know.
That can be based on Four Flicks DVD, Shine a Light DVD - there we can see if plays or not.

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mtaylor
That can be based on Four Flicks DVD, Shine a Light DVD - there we can see if plays or not.

do those dvd's have special features that allow the viewer to look behind the curtain?

Thanks to Addicted to sharing the information.

Saw a Stones clip wherein Keith is posing, Ronnie is playing a fill and I was wondering where in the hell did that guitar part come from. Sounded like Keith, but it was Blondie. So I must agree that he is contributing more and covering for KR.

That recent video of Honky Tonk from the Bang tour B-stage with Keith going all over the solar system except Earth? There's no way Blondie could have helped with THAT one!

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kovach

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Addicted
About the pay: He's among the musicians on stage who earns the least. When they're touring, the backing band gets between $10.000 and $15.000 per week.

Are you saying they backing band gets that in total, or each?

Each. They're hardly going to do it for a couple of thousand a week!!

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Gazza

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kovach

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Addicted
About the pay: He's among the musicians on stage who earns the least. When they're touring, the backing band gets between $10.000 and $15.000 per week.

Are you saying they backing band gets that in total, or each?

Each. They're hardly going to do it for a couple of thousand a week!!

Shit,no wonder ticket prices are so expensive. That's a lot of mouths to feed.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

The backing band splits $10-15K or is individually paid this amount? Where do you get this financial info? It would seem Daryl Jones would earn a bit more. Just curious.

re: Waddy
Terrific clip, thanks for posting

More Stones music with Blondie and Waddy

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kovach

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Addicted
About the pay: He's among the musicians on stage who earns the least. When they're touring, the backing band gets between $10.000 and $15.000 per week.

Are you saying they backing band gets that in total, or each?

Each.
The Stones pay their folks decently. But still - when there's almost 4 years between tours... They have to work their as*es off between tours. And in America, where everyone lives, (the backing band) musicians don't get paid decent money for jobs. It's basically the same amounts as they used to get paid in the 50s! And the prices of housing - living costs in general - have risen dramatically. That's why some of them are over eager to come to Scandinavia in particular.
Blondie, for example, sometimes maske more money in one week in Norway than with the Stones...

i was sitting in the onstage seats in 05 and could see exactly what was going on..keith and ronnie were playing their asses off and no one was playing their parts for them. same thing in 06,i didnt see them after keith hit his head however.
in 06 i read that there was a guy playing behind keith[not blondie]when i saw the stones a few weeks later i had a good laugh,it was just pierre tuning one of his guitars.

i know they did some rough shows in 07 but lets not get carried away here.

There is some great info in this thread (thank you Addicted).

I always thought that Blondie is there "for" Keith in the same way Bernard and Lisa are there "for" Mick. Are they there to cover for him, fill the gaps, cover Mick's "decline?" Of course not, because that is not needed! And Blondie is there in the same way - to thicken the sound. I am happy that those who really know something about it confirm my feeling.

On the ABB tour, Blondie played electric guitar on Jumping Jack Flash, Start Me Up, Get Off Of My Cloud, Before They Make Me Run, Wanna Hold You and a few others. Mostly in full view on the main stage, unless it was during the B-stage part, or during the first couple of songs of the show (when also Lisa and Bernard were singing behind the amps).

Thanks for the info, erikjjf. I tend to agree with lem and the individual who posted a couple days ago that we can't have it both ways where Keith's limitations are concerned. Interesting stuff, nonetheless.

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erikjjf
On the ABB tour, Blondie played electric guitar on Jumping Jack Flash, Start Me Up, Get Off Of My Cloud, Before They Make Me Run, Wanna Hold You and a few others. Mostly in full view on the main stage, unless it was during the B-stage part, or during the first couple of songs of the show (when also Lisa and Bernard were singing behind the amps).

That's because Keith doesn't like to play the guitar as he sings. He never liked doing that - and never did that well. But now, that his voice has matured in such a sensationally beautifull way - it's great that he lets someone else play on his solo numbers. And Ronnie's playing on "Toy Got the Silver"... One of the highlights in some shows for me.

I would suspect that he now finds it difficult to play and sing at the same time. Dave Davies has had the same problem since his stroke.

Rocky Dijon, this is not about his "head injury". He's never been great at singing an playing at the same time. Now that his voice har improved so much, it's fab that he concentrates on singing his own tunes, and leave the playing to his band mates for just those two songs on every show.
If you notice when he sings harmonies - he doesn't play then, either.

I've seen every tour since 1981 and Keith has gone down somewhat since 1997 I thought his playing on the Bridges tour was fantastic. He has been ok since and sometimes still great. I saw a show at the Fleet center in Boston in January of 2003 and Keith was on fire and I remember tinking how well he was playing on Thru and Thru. I do not beleive that Blondie covers for him all that much. Keith in 2007 was suffering/recovering from a severe bump on the head the man had a hole drilled in his head to releive pressure and when I saw them at Giilette Stadium when they opened the final leg of the tour Keith was not the same Keith I had seen earlier in the year he was obviously slowed and was not at his best and the Stones may have been better off to not go on the road at the time. Some of the clips I've seen after that are not flattering. I will not sit here and bash Keith for this. The man has given my life so much I am going through some very rocky times and still when I hear that guitar sound that only he can make it always puts me in a great mood. Keith looks healthier of late and I for one am anxiuos to see/hear what he can still do or not do and if can not do what he used to do we all have our memories and a treasure trove of some of the finest recordings ever made of which Keith wrote and put his stamp on.

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Gazza

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kovach

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Addicted
About the pay: He's among the musicians on stage who earns the least. When they're touring, the backing band gets between $10.000 and $15.000 per week.

Are you saying they backing band gets that in total, or each?

Each. They're hardly going to do it for a couple of thousand a week!!

do you know this as a fact ?this sounds absurd to me that sir cheapskate is giving money away like this ,i find this impossible to believe.

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BluzDude
More Stones music with Blondie and Waddy

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Thanks for posting! That is a damn fine version of BOB. Waddy nails the magic riff. That riff never gets old. Again, thanks.