I first saw the Stones in 78' and of course every tour since..
I was thinking what my favorite opening to a tour was and for me it
has to be The Voodoo Lounge, with the cobra spitting fire then Mick sauntering
out to the cool beat of the jungle drums. but then everytime i've seen
them it's prickles running up and down my back..

81 / 82, take the A-Train.

Btw, wasn´t that 78 opening a classic theme?

Bridges to Babylon of course....nothing was better than this intro music + the comet...
Voodoo was cool as well :-)

'89/'90 with the fantastic 'Continental Drift'building and building in the dark (with searchlights) then stopping and teasing you as nothing happened, then starting again, reaching a thundering crescendo then fiery explosions and the greatest band ever in the history of the world for the first time in 7/8 years, bursting into Start Me Up.

The opening to Urban Jungle was fantastic and continental drift was just the perfect "song/sound" to get us warm.
B2B was also fantastic, pheraps the closest you get to the Big Bang. Under the opening of Voodoo Lounge and B2B I almost lost my legs and my mind, I`ve never felt anything like it before. Stones got a strong force on me.

Too Tough, thanks for that reminder about 81--that's when I saw them, and I'd forgotten about the "Take the A Train" intro.

However, I also liked the 1975-76 opening: Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man", and then the flower petals opening, with Keith pounding out "Honky Tonk Women".

The Stones have long had a flair for dramatic entrances. A great build-up to the climax and a two-hour long "eargasm"--what could be better than this?

tough call - but it wouldn't be VL - it really thought NFA was a just downer for an opener - barely audible guitars is no way to start a Stones show.

my vote would probably be B2B - Satisfaction just brought the house down - and KR was afire that tour from the opening notes.

"Let It Rock" '78 -- just the sheer surprise alone would have made me reach for a corncob amy!!!

"The wonder of Jimi Hendrix was that he could stand up at all he was so pumped full of drugs." Patsy, Patsy Stone

I remember some 10.000 loud and louder and not ending and new beginning cries at Steel Wheels during Continental Drift, the hell of noise when the fire-fountains exploded, and Start me up started ...
and
I remember some 10.000 loud and louder and not ending and new beginning cries at B2B and some 10.000 eyes looking to the star-sprinkling screen and waiting for the spark, that seemed to hit the audience, and then, when it hit, Keith started Satisfaction...

The A-Train was great too, but I regret, that I haven't seen any show with "Fanfare to the Common Man" in the 70s as opening.

Spectacular - BtoB Comet
Most Exciting - 72 opening night, the hype, the riot, the croud, the expectation, the intoxicants

Yeah, the video of B2B was great, but I think this was the apex of "theatrical" openings, and the Stones deliberately opted for a more subdued intro in the Licks tour. I think this was a good move, as what could be more dramatic than Keith just stepping out and ripping the opening chords of "Brown Sugar" or "Street Fighting Man"? If this is any indication, then the 2005 tour will also see fewer theatrical gimmicks and more wam-blam straight-ahead "here we are" openings.

Zoo TV! Zoo TV!


She was black... and her eyes were blue!

tussler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The opening to Urban Jungle was fantastic and
> continental drift was just the perfect
> "song/sound" to get us warm.
> B2B was also fantastic, pheraps the closest you
> get to the Big Bang. Under the opening of Voodoo
> Lounge and B2B I almost lost my legs and my mind,
> I`ve never felt anything like it before. Stones
> got a strong force on me.


totally agree. SMU was the opener! I also like NFA

1989 Steel Wheels hands down. Continental Drift got you all fired up then A TITANIC BOOM AND FLAMES.....and KR a split second behind it cranking out Start Me Up.

Looks great on The IMAX movie when they show multiple shots from all different angles....but you had to be there.

If you were within the first 20 rows on the floor it felt like you got hit with a blast furnace.

It was great.

Milo, NYC
Nothing to eat, nowhere to go

For me:
81/82 - Take The A Train and Under my Thumb
89/90 - Continental Drift and Start Me Up


'In the sweet old country...'

Urban Jungle: Madrid 16/06/1990

My first Stones Show:

Continental Drift very loud, and then a huge explosion and a Wall of Flames 20 meters up in the air, and then, that magic riff...

Unforgetable!!!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again - HTW will open the '05 shows. I guarantee it....

I like all of them, favorite is 89 Start me up!

Don't think HTW makes a good opener so I hope they don't open with it. Its seems like ever since they opened with it back in 75 they shyed away from putting this song at the top of the set list. I recall Mick saying something open it not getting the crowd in an uproar like other songs which maybe why they always put it towards the end of the shows ever since then.

Continental Drift + Start me up, an unbeatable opener.

Bingley Hall Stafford, 1976 I think. I queued for hours and got right down at the front. I was near enough to see all the Stones close up.

The Stones took for ever to get on stage and it wasn't until they got a slow hand clap that they came on. You could have cut the air with a knife - there was so much tension!

Bang! Straight into Honky Tonk Women! The place went nuts!!!!!

I paid our lead guitarist (Mr X) £10 for his £2.50 ticket as they were issued on first come first served basis through the post.

I've made him wish he went to that gig ever since!

Regards,

Ian.


Rolling Stones Tribute

Play Rolling Stones

Bigger Bang.

75' and Steel Wheels

1975 in Chicago, when Fanfare for the Common Man was blaring over the loud speakers and the lotus stage slowly unfolded, to reveal the Rolling Stones, does it for me.
The opening in Indianapolis in 1972 comes in a close second, as the first strains of 2000 Light Years From Home could be heard, and Chip Monck's introduction preceded the band's arrival on stage. The instantaneous, collective, adrenalin rush of the crowd blew the lid off the arena. And the band finished if off by burning the place down. No one left unscathed. It was 12 July, 1972.

Quote
Tseverin
'89/'90 with the fantastic 'Continental Drift'building and building in the dark (with searchlights) then stopping and teasing you as nothing happened, then starting again, reaching a thundering crescendo then fiery explosions and the greatest band ever in the history of the world for the first time in 7/8 years, bursting into Start Me Up.

That was a good one.

1975 TOTA opening.

1999 Ricky Martin tour. Viva Loca song with the dancing girls and car on the stage. Not my kind of music, but cool opening to a show. Okay, I did not pay to get into the show, I was a "house" photographer shooting the gig. I've seen a ton of shows that I would never normally pay to see and sometimes you get blownaway when not expected.

Also, Phil Collins opening in 1990 when his tour was a Circus theme. Opened up with "Hand in Hand" while the sides of the staging went up like a huge circus tent exposing the stage, lights, everything.

ZZ TOP - 1986 Afterburner Tour. Giant Egyptian Spynix backdrop that snorted the white curtain that was draped over the bands gear. Looked like it was snorting cocaine.

1989. Continental Drift, Flames/Explosions, START ME UP!
BtB Comet a close second, especially since you never thought you'd hear Satisfaction as a starter. (Also loved when they played it earlier in the set in '94)

Re: Most exciting concert opening new
Posted by: 3DTeafoe ()
Date: April 14, 2011 02:32


1975 in Chicago, when Fanfare for the Common Man was blaring over the loud speakers and the lotus stage slowly unfolded, to reveal the Rolling Stones, does it for me.

+1

Followed by the beginning of Honky Tonk Women.

No Security Tour - 1999, Anaheim. To see them in an Arena with excellent seats after always seeing them on football fields from a mile away was fanstastic. That opening video followed by Jumpin' Jack Flash is incomparable. The entire concert was.