Chuck Berry and Keith Richards Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll



The concert held on October 16, 1986, to celebrate Chuck Berry's 60th birthday and later released as the rock documentary Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, directed by Taylor Hackford, featured a spellbinding lineup of musicians, including Eric Clapton, Etta James, original Berry keys man and blues-piano virtuoso Johnnie Johnson, sax extraordinaire Bobby Keys and Julian Lennon. It was a powerful show of reverence for rock and roll's poet laureate, a tribute as could only be orchestrated by the film's musical director and Berry fan: Keith Richards.

In his 2010 autobiography, Life, Richards shared a letter from April 1962 to his aunt Patty that recounts his introduction to Mick Jagger, writing: "You know I was keen on Chuck Berry and I thought I was the only fan for miles but one mornin' on Dartford Stn. … I was holding one of Chuck's records when a guy I knew at primary school 7-11 yrs [sic] y'know came up to me. He's got every record Chuck Berry ever made and all his mates have too, they are all rhythm and blues fans, real R&B I mean… he is called Mick Jagger." The letter goes on to explain how Richards had started going to parties with Jagger, who he characterized as "the greatest R&B singer this side of the Atlantic." He talks about the band they form, how he plays guitar "Chuck style" and how he recently purchased a Chuck Berry LP "straight from Chess Records Chicago." By his own admission, Richards wanted to play like Scotty Moore and Chuck Berry when he first began playing guitar.

More than two decades later, in 1986, Richards was tapped to induct his "numero uno hero" into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, during the Rock Hall's inaugural awards ceremony. "It's very difficult for me to talk about Chuck Berry 'cause I lifted every lick he ever played," half-joked Richards during his induction speech. "This is the gentleman who started it all, as far as I'm concerned."

Over the years – and in spite of a mutual admiration and respect between the two – Berry and Richards have had some memorable spats. This year, during an episode of his Ronnie Wood Show on Absolute Radio, the two-time Hall of Fame inductee talked about an incident that left Richards with a black eye. "I used to play with [Chuck Berry] quite a lot, and he’d always have to have the money up front in his guitar case, and he’d leap straight from the stage with the guitar case full of money, throw it offstage and into the cab," he recalled. "Once Keith was there in the audience, and Chuck came off stage, and Keith ran up behind him, tapped him on the shoulder, at which Chuck turned round and went whack and smashed Keith in the eye, gave him a big black eye." Ultimately, the pugilistic misunderstanding was amicably resolved, and Richards was left with another dubious claim to fame.

After hours of rehearsals and careful planning, Berry's reputation for quite literally playing to his own tune came to fruition on stage at the Fox Theater in Saint Louis, on the first night of the 60th birthday concert. The provocative rock and roll innovator played in different arrangements and keys than had been planned, according to Richards, though it came as no surprise to him: "And he sure pushed me hard — you can see it in the film. It's very difficult for me to allow myself to be bullied, and that is what Chuck was doing to me and to everybody else."

In the clip below, taken from Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, Berry schools Richards on guitar technique, creating a palpable tension in the room as Richards tries to keep his cool as the Berry-led band work through "Oh, Carol."

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum will screen Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll in the Museum's Foster Theater on Wednesday, October 24, as part of the Rock Hall's 17th annual American Music Masters series of events honoring Chuck Berry.

- See more at: [rockhall.com]

Keith's induction speech:





[www.youtube.com]

this was such a great tribute. i saw it in the theaters when it came out and found it very well done. haven't watched it since; maybe I should today!

as far as I am concerned, chuck berry started it all.

i recommend it highly to anyone who hasn't seen it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-10-16 17:42 by Turner68.

Thanks for reminding us, Latebloomer - in two days we'll be wishing Chuck Berry a happy 89th and many more

Some clips from the concert:

CHUCK BERRY, ERIC CLAPTON, KEITH RICHARDS, ETTA JAMES - Rock 'n' Roll Music



[www.youtube.com]

Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards jam



[www.youtube.com]

CHUCK BERRY & KEITH RICHARDS - Nadine



[www.youtube.com]

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with sssoul
Thanks for reminding us, Latebloomer - in two days we'll be wishing Chuck Berry a happy 89th and many more

Yes! And thanks for the clips too, latebloomer.

Happy to be of service.

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Turner68
this was such a great tribute. i saw it in the theaters when it came out and found it very well done. haven't watched it since; maybe I should today!

as far as I am concerned, chuck berry started it all.

i recommend it highly to anyone who hasn't seen it.

There extended box set of this DVD set is fascinating.

I went to both of these shows. A few personal memories:

- Taylor Hackford came out early and explained it's a movie, not a concert, and there'll be long pauses to reload film. Which there were.

- During the first show these pauses included a lot of musicians standing around doing nothing. But during the second they went into long blues jams led by Etta James. There's some bootlegs of the audio, sure wish some video surfaced, it was really fun to watch Richards and Clapton smiling and playing with Etta singing.

- The Clapton song was from the 2nd show. The first show his solo was only half as long, the 2nd show he stepped back after doing the same solo and Berry's motioning for him to keep going, he steps forward and unleashes one of the best solos I've ever seen on a Gibson hollowbody.

- One of the biggest cheers from the crowd came when Richards was just killing time during one of these pauses, and probably not even thinking played the first 3 notes to "Start Me Up". Crowd went nuts, he kind of looked up surprised and put his hands up and shook his head in a "no no we're not going to start playing Stones songs".

- Couple of disappointments, Dylan was supposed to be there and apparently got sick. Ronnie was backstage but didn't want to play for some reason.

This has always been my favorite clip, and a highlight of the movie for me.
The respect given to Eric from Chuck Berry is immense, as Eric blows the roof off with some amazing guitar playing.
(not to mention the perfectly awesome piano playing from Johnnie Johnson)
Chuck then eggs on Eric to "take another on, take another one"...

ERIC CLAPTON - Wee Wee Hours




_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

ERIC CLAPTON - Wee Wee Hours
Clapton was on fire.

Is the 4dvd version worth getting?

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Whale
Is the 4dvd version worth getting?

i'd like to know too... it's tempting...

Yes what a friggin great concert and film this was. Thanks for the reminder bloomer. I have to laugh a bit seeing Chuck give it up so much for Clapton. It's almost like he was doing it to rib Keith a bit, maybe I'm wrong.

What sticks out for me about the film was the scenes where Chuck is teaching Keith how to properly play those classic licks and Keith struggling a bit and resisting the precision which Chuck was demanding. Obviously Keith wasn't used to being told how to play and only someone like Chuck could get away with it. Classic stuff!

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Naturalust
Yes what a friggin great concert and film this was. Thanks for the reminder bloomer. I have to laugh a bit seeing Chuck give it up so much for Clapton. It's almost like he was doing it to rib Keith a bit, maybe I'm wrong.

What sticks out for me about the film was the scenes where Chuck is teaching Keith how to properly play those classic licks and Keith struggling a bit and resisting the precision which Chuck was demanding. Obviously Keith wasn't used to being told how to play and only someone like Chuck could get away with it. Classic stuff!

one of the best non-concert scenes in a rock movie ever. i still watch that scene from time to time just to laugh and enjoy chuck.

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Turner68

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Whale
Is the 4dvd version worth getting?

i'd like to know too... it's tempting...

Yes, it's great, it was the 'boxset' I was referring to above. All the rehearsals at Chucks house and extended interviews with Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Bo Didley, Bruce Springsteen, etc. are worth it.

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Naturalust
Yes what a friggin great concert and film this was. Thanks for the reminder bloomer. I have to laugh a bit seeing Chuck give it up so much for Clapton. It's almost like he was doing it to rib Keith a bit, maybe I'm wrong.

Yeah, I'm not sure Keith was too fond of that, he ran a pretty tight ship I hear in playing the show the way things were rehearsed. There's another part of the film where Chuck asks to change the key mid-song and Keith tells him 'no'.

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Hairball
This has always been my favorite clip, and a highlight of the movie for me.
The respect given to Eric from Chuck Berry is immense, as Eric blows the roof off with some amazing guitar playing.
(not to mention the perfectly awesome piano playing from Johnnie Johnson)
Chuck then eggs on Eric to "take another on, take another one"...

ERIC CLAPTON - Wee Wee Hours

Yeah, that's the extended 2nd show extra solo I was referring to, totally off the cuff and the crowd went nuts.

can you buy this on dvd @ best buy etc?

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TheGreek
can you buy this on dvd @ best buy etc?

According to the search I just ran at bestbuy.com it looks like they've only got the cd available. Search at amazon.com showed the dvd available.

My two cents: WELL worth the purchase price.

Peace,
Mr DJA

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Whale
Is the 4dvd version worth getting?

YES!!