I find this footage to be fascinating. They were trying out their 81 stage/sound for the first time and, compared to the Let's Spend the Night Together film, Mick and the guys seem REALLY nervous. Mick barely leaves the center of the giant stage and he hasn't settled on his moves and stage presence just yet.The sound is sloppy and in Under My Thumb, the piano is way more prominent in the main riff that later in the tour. And he has to give Keith a cue to solo during the song. Having said all that, I would MUCH rather take a sloppy nervous, imperfect version of the Stones than the Vegas version to come later. They have so much talent and charisma it carried them through sloppy shows up to 1981.

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punkfloyd
I find this footage to be fascinating. They were trying out their 81 stage/sound for the first time and, compared to the Let's Spend the Night Together film, Mick and the guys seem REALLY nervous. Mick barely leaves the center of the giant stage and he hasn't settled on his moves and stage presence just yet.The sound is sloppy and in Under My Thumb, the piano is way more prominent in the main riff that later in the tour. And he has to give Keith a cue to solo during the song. Having said all that, I would MUCH rather take a sloppy nervous, imperfect version of the Stones than the Vegas version to come later. They have so much talent and charisma it carried them through sloppy shows up to 1981.

Opening night jitters probably. Everybody gets them. If you don't, there's something wrong with you. Plus all the stuff being thrown at Jagger, I'd be a bit cautious, too.
That's a board mix, too, BTW. What I find odd is the obvious sloppy mistakes...after 6 weeks of rehearsal! But that was then. A friend of mine, God rest his soul, was at that show and loved it. Why? Because he said "they were lousy."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-10-22 05:53 by tomk.

I love how Keith didn't wear the 'tour colors'. No neon pink and turquoise on Keith.

Check out Philly '89 if you want opening night jitters. Not sure if footage exists.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-10-22 17:26 by jazzbass.

They were drunk and completely out of shape and unrehearsed in Philly 81. I guess this had something to do with any jitters...

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DandelionPowderman
They were drunk and completely out of shape and unrehearsed in Philly 81. I guess this had something to do with any jitters...

That's what I was saying in my earlier post. After 6 weeks of rehearsal?!?
I think for '76 they rehearsed for not even two weeks.

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tomk

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DandelionPowderman
They were drunk and completely out of shape and unrehearsed in Philly 81. I guess this had something to do with any jitters...

That's what I was saying in my earlier post. After 6 weeks of rehearsal?!?
I think for '76 they rehearsed for not even two weeks.

Make that 6 weeks of partying

There was a link to a great piece on the Stones's "preparations" for the 81 tour. They didn't do a lot of playing in that barn on Longview Farm...

It's fascinating for me to see this footage for the first time as I was at that show and right up front. Yes, it was sloppy but still a lot of fun and they rocked despite the flubs in their own perverse way. I don't think they were as terrible as a lot of people say, but certainly inferior to the awesome act they would evolve into as the tour progressed. Whatever the case, I remember being impressed by their energy and attitude despite the mistakes. There was a great party attitude down front and I had a great time.

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stonesdan60
It's fascinating for me to see this footage for the first time as I was at that show and right up front. Yes, it was sloppy but still a lot of fun and they rocked despite the flubs in their own perverse way. I don't think they were as terrible as a lot of people say, but certainly inferior to the awesome act they would evolve into as the tour progressed. Whatever the case, I remember being impressed by their energy and attitude despite the mistakes. There was a great party attitude down front and I had a great time.

Everybody who attended the opening shows say the same.

The boots might be a little misleading, as they often are, imo.

The low point in 50 years of Mick's dress sense

Seems like many IORRians went to these opening shows and had real blast and are seemingly still fans of band. I wanted to go but I was only 1,3 years old and my parents didn't let me.

Jagger and Richards later stated they would never do that again, that is was a big mistake to open a tour under-rehearsed in front of 90.000 people.

Mathijs

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jazzbass
Check out Philly '89 if you want opening night jitters. Not sure if footage exists.

They were tight as hell in 89 probably because they were scared sh!tless!
("Will they love us again" and all that jazz).

(at the Philie'89 show) the fear in Jagger's voice is almost palpable.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-10-23 00:00 by dcba.

Pretty bad. Keith's "solo" was hilarious. How long did that stage set up last? Not long I'm guessing. Stairs? Incredibly tiny for such a big stage.

The last tour where/when Mick did his foot kick/stomp.

That big in Whip is hilarious: Mick making sure Ronnie doesn't come to his mic, Ronnie going to Keith's mic, then going around to get on the 'proper' side, and then Ronnie going off on the lead while Keith furiously makes hand gestures about the mix sucking so bad for him!

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dcba

The fear in Jagger's voice is almost palpable.

He was aware of the Lennon situation from 10 months prior no doubt...or maybe he'd had another Hell's Angels threat as Bobby Keys alludes to in his book...

I didn't know Mick was a ballet dancer...

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Munichhilton

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dcba

The fear in Jagger's voice is almost palpable.

He was aware of the Lennon situation from 10 months prior no doubt...or maybe he'd had another Hell's Angels threat as Bobby Keys alludes to in his book...

I was thinking that too. I wonder if this gig went on in spite of some sort of specific threat that, thank Jah, was not fulfilled. They played wasted/poorly in front of huge crounds plenty of times. It's just not like Mick (or the rest of the band) to come across like unrehearsed high school kids. I mean they look like 5+ musicians who have just met.

If not some specific threat by some kook, the Lennon shooting seems to make Mick feel exposed and sort of scared to be in front of 90,000 fans. Hell, it looks like an entire Rock and Roll band having a panic attack on stage.