I have been listening to Love you Live in the car recently and it struck me that musically the Stones were still very, very good in this period. And thinking more about this I had the thought that 75 was the last really great Stones tour. The Stones at the time were still very much a part of the anti-establishment/drug culture as were the crowds on that tour. By 1978, we had a newer, cleaner version of the Stones, with an entirely different sound. Gone were the evening concerts in smoke filled arenas, replaced with daytime concerts in cavernous baseball stadiums. Keith was clean and, you know, so were the crowds watching the Stones on that 78 tour. In short, the rough edges were gone as they have been from every tour since.

No Security was the last great Stones tour. It was all about the music, all in arenas.

50 and Counting...

Nov-Dec 2012!!!!!!!! I was in NJ on the 13th and it was my best show of 25 I've been too since 94.

50 and Counting.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-01-24 06:56 by jazzbass.

No Security was fantastic! 75 is very interesting but doesn't hold a candle to the ancient art of weaving... aka 78. 78 was also the last time we got two Chuck Berry songs at every show. They were having a good time!

81 was the last tour before cheesy backing vocals and Chuck's synthesizers.. So I would argue that from a purist perspective 81 was the last traditional tour.

The best Vegas-era tour is No Security. By far. 50 and Counting will not holdup over time, although the gig on the 13th was definitely the best of the bunch!

I agree, '81 was a great tour and the rest have been entertaining but more Vegas/show biz era.

I disagree that '78 was clean and sober. They were wasted when I saw them in Anaheim and so was the crowd. A lot of the crowd partied the entire night while in line and continued smoking all day inside. No way was the daytime shows to be confused with being clean. The Stones had a very rough sound that year and it was unique look for just that tour.

2012

1982

These things are always about opinions, with fans who love them live even now, fans who are firmly stuck in 1972/73 and can't see through the fog, or fans reliving the 81 tour. These last shows they did for their 50th rose beyond expectations, rumor, and impending doom. They pulled out some truly memorably magical moments. From paying homage to their friends doing I Wanna Be Your Man, to bringing out the studio glory of You Can't Always Get What You with the full choir, to the dangerous thrill of Midnight Rambler with Majestic Mick Taylor. Loved it, and the only dampening on the gleam was the cost of the tickets. I hope they do a few more shows in 2013. Count me in (especially if Mick Taylor is there, and Ronnie keeps playing focused lead guitar again).

1978..after that it's more for the show than for the music...

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tornnfrayed
I have been listening to Love you Live in the car recently and it struck me that musically the Stones were still very, very good in this period. And thinking more about this I had the thought that 75 was the last really great Stones tour. The Stones at the time were still very much a part of the anti-establishment/drug culture as were the crowds on that tour. By 1978, we had a newer, cleaner version of the Stones, with an entirely different sound. Gone were the evening concerts in smoke filled arenas, replaced with daytime concerts in cavernous baseball stadiums. Keith was clean and, you know, so were the crowds watching the Stones on that 78 tour. In short, the rough edges were gone as they have been from every tour since.

Some good points but...I would hardly say the rough edges were gone in '78 or '81. Keith was clean? MAYBE from smack but he, Ron and sometimes Mick were still drinking and doing enough coke to fuel a small army. The crowds were clean? Ha! I was at stadium shows in '78 and '81 and haven't seen so much out-in-the open voracious drug consumption ever since. I, personally would move the date for last Great Tour up to '81 - '82,IMO. And, BTW the '75 tour also featured daytime stadium shows...and '78 and '81 had indoor shows as well.

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tornnfrayed
I have been listening to Love you Live in the car recently and it struck me that musically the Stones were still very, very good in this period. And thinking more about this I had the thought that 75 was the last really great Stones tour. The Stones at the time were still very much a part of the anti-establishment/drug culture as were the crowds on that tour. By 1978, we had a newer, cleaner version of the Stones, with an entirely different sound. Gone were the evening concerts in smoke filled arenas, replaced with daytime concerts in cavernous baseball stadiums. Keith was clean and, you know, so were the crowds watching the Stones on that 78 tour. In short, the rough edges were gone as they have been from every tour since.

I usually say 1982 but honestly I really feel and know that 1975 and 1976 and 1977 are the last tours/concerts with the great, dangerous "real" Stones. El Mocambo being the swan song. You are spot on.

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stonesdan60

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tornnfrayed
I have been listening to Love you Live in the car recently and it struck me that musically the Stones were still very, very good in this period. And thinking more about this I had the thought that 75 was the last really great Stones tour. The Stones at the time were still very much a part of the anti-establishment/drug culture as were the crowds on that tour. By 1978, we had a newer, cleaner version of the Stones, with an entirely different sound. Gone were the evening concerts in smoke filled arenas, replaced with daytime concerts in cavernous baseball stadiums. Keith was clean and, you know, so were the crowds watching the Stones on that 78 tour. In short, the rough edges were gone as they have been from every tour since.

Some good points but...I would hardly say the rough edges were gone in '78 or '81. Keith was clean? MAYBE from smack but he, Ron and sometimes Mick were still drinking and doing enough coke to fuel a small army. The crowds were clean? Ha! I was at stadium shows in '78 and '81 and haven't seen so much out-in-the open voracious drug consumption ever since. I, personally would move the date for last Great Tour up to '81 - '82,IMO. And, BTW the '75 tour also featured daytime stadium shows...and '78 and '81 had indoor shows as well.

Keith was off smack in 1981 still "dangerous" though. But the "real" Stones were over by then. 1981 was great but really a last PR tour for Mick who I believe had already left the band to go solo. 1978 feels more like a PR tour promoting Some Girls and pretending Keith was clean, PR for the court hearings. ><

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Redhotcarpet

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tornnfrayed
I have been listening to Love you Live in the car recently and it struck me that musically the Stones were still very, very good in this period. And thinking more about this I had the thought that 75 was the last really great Stones tour. The Stones at the time were still very much a part of the anti-establishment/drug culture as were the crowds on that tour. By 1978, we had a newer, cleaner version of the Stones, with an entirely different sound. Gone were the evening concerts in smoke filled arenas, replaced with daytime concerts in cavernous baseball stadiums. Keith was clean and, you know, so were the crowds watching the Stones on that 78 tour. In short, the rough edges were gone as they have been from every tour since.

I usually say 1982 but honestly I really feel and know that 1975 and 1976 and 1977 are the last tours/concerts with the great, dangerous "real" Stones. El Mocambo being the swan song. You are spot on.

A good point. '81 - '82 was the last time the Stones played like a garage band, jamming playing in a free-form way rather than having everything arranged in stone like from '89 on. (Although I must say I have thouroughly enjoyed several post-'89 shows.) I will conceed that '75-'76 was the last time they had that "dark and dangerous" vibe that made our parents hate them. After that tour they dropped the darker songs like MR, SFTD, GS for a long time...and when they did dust them off, they were never quite the same again.

2012

50 & Counting, especially the London Shows with Bill & Mick T.

81 tour

No Security

1978, 1981, 1989, 1999 and last years mini tour blows 1975 away, 1975 is the worst tour the Stones ever did. Mick Jagger sounded terrible.

1997/1998 and NS to some extent, then they got lazy(er) in the studio :-(

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slew
1978, 1981, 1989, 1999 and last years mini tour blows 1975 away, 1975 is the worst tour the Stones ever did. Mick Jagger sounded terrible.

in that case, i vote for 1975....cos i hate mick jagger

the last great stones tour will be the 2013/2014 tour

but the greatest until today was the voodoo lounge tour

2012

the last one and the next one

It's clear that some people were not at the earlier tours and making judgments about quality based on bootlegs and videos.

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georgeV
It's clear that some people were not at the earlier tours and making judgments about quality based on bootlegs and videos.

it's better to evaluate based on recordings - having been there creates an unwelcome bias.

1978:the last FANTASTIC Stones Tour
1999:the last great Stones Tour

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mailexile67
1978:the last FANTASTIC Stones Tour
1999:the last great Stones Tour

any thoughts on when their last terrific tour was? oh...and also we're interested in their last awesome tour.

Voodoo Lounge 94 saw them 3 times.