Just been reading about The Bigger Bang on stage experience, did anyone here do it? was anyone part of the on Stage experience during the bigger bang tour? I can remember during the later half of the tour there was nobody on the stage, I think people came on just before they started but for some reason they stopped having people on the stage towards the end of the tour.

Can anyone eleberate?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-08-23 00:16 by pgarof.

did in the early part of the tour-it was freakin crazy.i was looking down at the numbered rows for my spot where i was supposed to stand and not even aware of the crowd.

everyone knew if the onstage people were coming out the band wasn't far behind ,so it was i heard an enormous roar and looked up and saw thousands of people looking back at me.i know the word surreal is often overused but.....

they are a very,very good band up close.

Was "on-stage" at Durham 2005. From my posted review:

I had Upper Right On-Stage location for the show. My first time in these boxes. I have mixed feelings about it. It is a really cool vantage point, and you're very close to the band. It was really interesting to see the back area of the stage with all of the crew and the fireworks rigs etc. etc. And, the sound was very good in our box. You really feel like you're more part of the crew putting on the show, than part of the crowd watching. Voyeuristic in a way. But on the downside you miss a large part of the show also. You get none of the video, or lighting. You don't see Charlie at all. Some of the stage fixtures block your view, and the band rarely acknowledges you. So, you're looking at everybody's back all night. (I'll have to post in the "Implants" thread about my top-of-the-head observations!). In addition, I felt that too many people were booked into my box. And, of course, three of them were quite tall (I'm not). Fortunately, the people with us were quite gracious about rotating rail postions, otherwise I might not have really seen all that much. This is poor IMO for a $250 seat. Plus, you have no concessions (they provide you with bottled water), you can't smoke, and to use the bathroom you have to find an usher and walk up and down four full flights of stairs. You also have to stand all night, although at a Stones concert this really doesn't matter. All in all I'm glad I experienced the On-Stage seats, but won't do it again.

I did it in Toronto, at the Rogers center (skydome). It was cool for about 15 seconds... but it was a hassle. It was hassle getting "handled", lined up BS before hand... then it was a hassle to being crammed 6 people in a box that fit 5, it was a hassle to take a pee where you had to be escorted down and back...

....but it was cool for 15 seconds, looking down at boys on stage, but the cool wore off pretty quick... for me anyway..... I didnt like the crammed in deal... and it didnt really feel like a Stones show... so when the stage started sliding out I split and went out front to see the show.

My review I wrote back in 2005- [www.iorr.org]





Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2011-08-23 01:19 by Max'sKansasCity.

.......Hu Huh!!! ...well guess Andy was right we're all famous for 15 seconds....



ROCKMAN

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Rockman
.......Hu Huh!!! ...well guess Andy was right we're all famous for 15 seconds....

Almost famous for 15 seconds




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-08-23 01:07 by Max'sKansasCity.

I'll openly admit that your review (posted above) is one of the major reasons I never took the On-Stage concept seriously. I'm not so much worried about not being able to see the video screens, but I was concerned about it affecting my enjoyment of the show. Not to mention difficult in bootlegging the show.

One thing though... It must have been really cool to hear the crowd from that spot. I know that I personally have never performed or spoken to 80,000 fans... So to hear them go nuts when the band first hits the stage must have been insane...

flacnvinyl, did you go to that Churchill Downs show with Alice Cooper?


PS
It still seems so odd to me how so many here whine, complain, bitch and say things like "The Stones have sucked since 1995(or before)"...blah blah blah.... but when I go back read reviews people wrote right after seeing Stones shows LIVE IN PERSON ( NOT watching a DVDbootleg ).... and they just rave about how great the yare livein concert ..... Which is how I always felt, but then again, I dont spend a lot of time examining bootlegs of shows which I did not attend.

e.g. Reviewing the Louisville show 2006 Rob Mattheu said [www.iorr.org]
""Then the Stones came on. OH MY! From the first bars of Jumpin' Jack Flash, it was clear that they weren't letting the rain get to them. I'd seen video and heard live CDs of Stones performances in the past. You'd think that in 40 years their performances would get more and more like other contemporaries. Essentially lifeless recreations of their hits with some nice stage effects to try and distract you. Instead, based on all accounts, including those of longtime fans, the boys are doing some of the best shows of their lives. They were incredible! From a sound mix that was far better than any show I've been in, especially one of this magnitude, you could hear almost everything clearly. Mick was actually singing, not talk singing or spitting out lyrics like in some shows I'd heard. He was hitting notes that a guy his age who has been doing that many shows for over a year should not be hitting. Charlie anchored the band as always, getting a huge sound without looking like he was even breaking a sweat. Ronnie and Keith looked like they were having a good time, lost in their own guitar playing. All of it was played out on a huge stage that added to the show without becoming the show.""



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-08-23 01:38 by Max'sKansasCity.

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Max'sKansasCity
I did it in Toronto, at the Rogers center (skydome). It was cool for about 15 seconds... but it was a hassle. It was hassle getting "handled", lined up BS before hand... then it was a hassle to being crammed 6 people in a box that fit 5, it was a hassle to take a pee where you had to be escorted down and back...

....but it was cool for 15 seconds, looking down at boys on stage, but the cool wore off pretty quick... for me anyway..... I didnt like the crammed in deal... and it didnt really feel like a Stones show... so when the stage started sliding out I split and went out front to see the show.

My review I wrote back in 2005- [www.iorr.org]

Max, we were at the same show!

I had actually won a pair of on the stage tickets, but scalped them outside the stadium as I had previously bought tix row 20 on the floor I think.

I wasn't sure I was doing the right thing, but I knew the floor was going to be great, which it was, but wasn't sure about the stage seats.

haven't read your review....what'd you think of Beck?

We did not get to see Beck, they would not let us in... so we went back to our hotel room... we could kind of hear him, so we knew when to head back. I think you made the right call selling you stage seats.

I love Toronto. Cheers on seeing the show with you



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-08-23 01:43 by Max'sKansasCity.

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Max'sKansasCity
We did not get to see Beck, they would not let us in... so we went back to our hotel room... we could kind of hear him, so we knew when to head back. I think you made the right call selling you stage seats.

I love Toronto. Cheers on seeing the show with you

Read your review...too bad about the hassles. It sounds like you were staying in the hotel connected to the Stadium.

I stayed there on a recent trip to Toronto...hasn't aged all that well recently!

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treaclefingers
It sounds like you were staying in the hotel connected to the Stadium.

I stayed there on a recent trip to Toronto...hasn't aged all that well recently!

Yeah I LOVE that set up... hotel hooked to the venue... what a great idea.

So the hotel is getting torn and frayed? eh?... actually I guess it is geting kind of old. My how time flies, how can 1989 be 22 years ago?? ....dang...

We first went to Toronto in 1989 to see the Steel Wheel tour and met a Canuck on that trip (at the Hard Rock) and he is still my friend (I was talking and laughing with to him yesterday)(both our wives are long gone, but we are still buddies)..... On the Voodoo lounge tour he scored front row center Stones at the skydome, and invited us to have 2 of them. I love that city and venue. That is why I seen them more time in Toronto than in Kansas City.

I love it so much I framed the shirt from the first time




Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-08-23 02:20 by Max'sKansasCity.

oops.... sorry to hijack the thread...

Id love to hear how other people felt about their onstage experience(s).

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Max'sKansasCity

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treaclefingers
It sounds like you were staying in the hotel connected to the Stadium.

I stayed there on a recent trip to Toronto...hasn't aged all that well recently!

Yeah I LOVE that set up... hotel hooked to the venue... what a great idea.

So the hotel is getting torn and frayed? eh?... actually I guess it is geting kind of old. My how time flies, how can 1989 be 22 years ago?? ....dang...

We first went to Toronto in 1989 to see the Steel Wheel tour and met a Canuck on that trip (at the Hard Rock) and he is still my friend (I was talking and laughing with to him yesterday)(both our wives are long gone, but we are still buddies)..... On the Voodoo lounge tour he scored front row center Stones at the skydome, and invited us to have 2 of them. I love that city and venue. That is why I seen them more time in Toronto than in Kansas City.

I love it so much I framed the shirt from the first time

Nice, I saw the Stones twice in Vancouver (where I'm from) in '89, so I have a version of that shirt as well. Saw them once on VL tour, twice (Vancouver & LA) in 97/98 and then twice for ABB (Toronto then Vancouver).

Were we together(apart) at the Rose bowl for VL too? Chili Peppers opened?

edit

was 97/98 VL or was that BTB?.... ah hell... these things get ot be like James Bond movies after a while.. they all blur together....

PS
Vancouver is another great city, but I have only been there once, because it is a lot harder to reach(much longer trip/flight)... but we had a great time... we accidently saw Bon Jovi (and Aerosmith came out and played with them) at BC place. I guess they all do a lot of recording up there.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-08-23 02:41 by Max'sKansasCity.

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Max'sKansasCity
flacnvinyl, did you go to that Churchill Downs show with Alice Cooper?

Yes sir! I hosted the after-show party in my recording studio and my bootleg is the only one in circulation. We listened to it that night in the studio. What a joy to have them in my home town!

Saw them in Chicago (1st Soldier Field gig where the did IORR as the encore), Memphis, Atlanta, Columbus and Louisville. Enjoyed all of them, in particular Louisville, Columbus and Atlanta.

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flacnvinyl

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Max'sKansasCity
flacnvinyl, did you go to that Churchill Downs show with Alice Cooper?

Yes sir! I hosted the after-show party in my recording studio and my bootleg is the only one in circulation. We listened to it that night in the studio. What a joy to have them in my home town!

Saw them in Chicago (1st Soldier Field gig where the did IORR as the encore), Memphis, Atlanta, Columbus and Louisville. Enjoyed all of them, in particular Louisville, Columbus and Atlanta.

nice Nice NICE...VERY NICE Bravo man.

We were headed that way... on the road... driving that way... but we were side tracked before we got 1 hour out of Kansas City... and that was that... I really really wanted to see that double bill.

As a rule of thumb I skip EVERY opening act (I have (almost) perfected skipping most opening acts down to an art form)... but for once I wanted to see the opener... but, it was not meant to be. And, of course, it turns out, that show had (still) one of the most sought after "dated shirts"...

We did see them 3 days later in Wichita... but to this second I would have liked to have seen that show (although the rain issue lightened my remorse at missing it)

yes once I actually was. I think it was 1989 or 1990. It was a date where Living Colour and GnR were the warm up acts. Los Angeles. I was escorted by a sweet 30 something dark haired lady (she had a handful of first and second row tickets she was giving to people right before the show. maybe a stage manager, and she set me down ON stage left on top of a crate that held the guitars for the travel to the next venue. It was OK to be close to Keith and all but he was concentrating on the people on the floor in front and I couldn't see his fretboard well so after 2 or 3 songs I hopped down and went back to the front to watch the show (and steal some licks).
The show is in the first 15 rows or so for me, the stones stage was huge and lonely and no place to actually watch the show from was my experience. peace.

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Max'sKansasCity
Were we together(apart) at the Rose bowl for VL too? Chili Peppers opened?

edit

was 97/98 VL or was that BTB?.... ah hell... these things get ot be like James Bond movies after a while.. they all blur together....

PS
Vancouver is another great city, but I have only been there once, because it is a lot harder to reach(much longer trip/flight)... but we had a great time... we accidently saw Bon Jovi (and Aerosmith came out and played with them) at BC place. I guess they all do a lot of recording up there.

'97 was in LA and was the BTB show, I don't remember the Chili Peppers, what was the band that did the song, "Walking in the Sun" or something like that...one hit wonders. I think they opened the show.

Yeah, recording and movies are fairly big industries in Vancouver.

I was lucky to get a backstage pass from Michael Cohl for the Halifax show. After that, I took the back-stage stairs up to one of the levels and got to see the show from that perspective. It was very cool but I wouldn't do it every time. You do miss lots and they tended to jam you in with too many others. Still, what a great memory.

For the second Fenway Park show, I had seats well behind home plate, but won the ticket upgrade they had before the show. You sent a text message (Stones) to a number and if you were picked, you got two upgrades to the stage seats.

For me it was great because I didn't have to pay the ticket price to get up there, plus there was an open bar.....

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batcave
For the second Fenway Park show, I had seats well behind home plate, but won the ticket upgrade they had before the show. You sent a text message (Stones) to a number and if you were picked, you got two upgrades to the stage seats.

For me it was great because I didn't have to pay the ticket price to get up there, plus there was an open bar.....

uuuuuuuummm open bar we heard those rumors... but they closed it soon after...

I did this in Hannover. Ticket cost about 400 euros if I remember right. Of course by that point in the tour they were giving away on-stage tickets because they couldn't sell them, so I felt a bit cheated. Oh well, on with the show. I was at bottom right stage (close to Charlie). As mentioned earlier he couldn't be seen from there. The other negative for me was the sound, it seemed we got about half, and it was muffled. Other than that I loved it. Nice to see a Stones concert from every angle. Though I doubt I would ever pay that price again.

Interesting reading about all your experiences with the on stage tickets. I tried so hard to get a couple for the Sheffield show and failed. What was the actual process for getting them?

Been on stage with Springsteen - at Hammersmith Odeon 1975 - but never the Stones. Don't think I'd want to be taking a look at what happened to that guy in 81.

crumbling_mice those tickets didn't sell very fast in Germany, so I had my choice of venues. Hence the reason they we're letting people "upgrade" at the ticket office for free on concert day. Also, there was a VIP pass in my goodie bag that I didn't see until I got back to the hotel room. The bag consisted of a standard tour shirt, tour book and setlist. That I really like as the rest of the stuff I already had.

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frankotero
crumbling_mice those tickets didn't sell very fast in Germany, so I had my choice of venues. Hence the reason they we're letting people "upgrade" at the ticket office for free on concert day. Also, there was a VIP pass in my goodie bag that I didn't see until I got back to the hotel room. The bag consisted of a standard tour shirt, tour book and setlist. That I really like as the rest of the stuff I already had.

Thanks Frank - I didn't realise it was so easy to get them, maybe it was different in Germany to the Uk, or maybe I just didnt ask the right questions to the right people. You got a great deal!

It's funny I remember worrying if I would get an on-stage ticket. As it turned out they gave away more than half of them, so I heard. The more difficult ticket were club shows during the Licks Tour. I bet there's a lot of crazy stories on this subject.

My review from the Detroit show, from 2005.

I've said this here before, and I'll say it again.
It was a unique experience, and I loved it.

Detroit On Stage Review

Cardiff Giant
""Tumbling Dice was great as always, Rough Justice simply rocks. Keith is loving this song as he romps through it. Beast of Burden was soulful, great vocals. Back of My Hand is gritty blues, back to basics. Mick on slide guitar, a real treat."" [www.iorr.org]

...so much fun to read the reviews of live shows from "back then" and how
great everyone thought they were, as opposed to the grumpy hens who only...




Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-08-23 16:38 by Max'sKansasCity.