Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-04-29 15:54 by bye bye johnny.

Rolling Stones rock small LA club ahead of tour

Apr 28, 8:52 AM EDT

By DERRIK J. LANG
AP Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- For one night only, the Rolling Stones were an up-and-coming band again.

The legendary group rocked a small club in Los Angeles on Saturday night for a minuscule crowd compared to the thousands set to see them launch their "50 and Counting" anniversary tour a week later on May 3 at the Staples Center.

The band kicked off Saturday's hush-hush 90-minute concert at the Echoplex in the hip Echo Park neighborhood with "You Got Me Rocking" before catapulting into a mix of new and old material, as well as their bluesy covers of classics from Otis Redding ("That's How Strong My Love Is" ), Chuck Berry ("Little Queenie" ) and The Temptations ("Just My Imagination" ).

"Welcome to Echo Park, a neighborhood that's always coming up - and I'm glad you're here to welcome an up-and-coming band," lead singer Mick Jagger joked after the second song of the evening, "Respectable."

Despite clocking in several decades as a band, Jagger, drummer Charlie Watts and guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood showed no signs of slowing down Saturday.

Jagger, who ditched a black-and-white track jacket emblazoned with the band's logo after the first few songs, worked the crowd into a singalong frenzy with "Miss You," complete with a harmonica solo from the strutting frontman.

Tickets to the Echoplex concert were sold earlier in the day for $20 each - a fraction of what tickets to the tour cost.

Hundreds of fans lined up outside the El Rey Theatre across town for a chance to attend the spontaneous show. Buyers were limited to one ticket, and they were required to pay with cash, show a government-issued ID, wear a wristband with their name on it and be photographed. Their names were verified at the venue, which has a capacity of about 700.

Cameras and smartphones weren't allowed inside the Echoplex, which usually plays host to hipster bands and mash-up dance parties. The lack of personal recording devices made the Stones' performance feel even more exclusive and old school, freeing concertgoers' hands of the gizmos that have become commonplace at concerts nowadays and further bonding the crowd, many of whom built up camaraderie during the confusing ticket lottery earlier in the day.

Toward the end of the show, the band was joined by former Stones guitarist Mick Taylor for their version of Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain," as well as "Midnight Rambler."

The band, which was backed by Darryll Jones on bass, Chuck Leavell on keys, Bobby Keys on sax and Bernard Fowler and Lisa Fischer as backup singers, encored with the hits "Brown Sugar" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash."

"(This is) the first show of the tour, probably the best one," Jagger said at the end of the set.

Bruce Willis, Gwen Stefani and Skrillex were among the famous faces in the sold-out crowd.

Rumors of the surprise show spread across social networks last week after the band teased the appearance on their Twitter accounts. The dance-pop band New Build, which was originally scheduled to play the Echoplex on Saturday, was first to leak details about the performance.

"Our gig got shifted b/c the Rolling Stones are playing Echoplex," the band tweeted Friday. They joked that they were looking forward to "having it out" with the Stones.

The Rolling Stones performed a few dates together in London, New York City and Newark, N.J., last winter but didn't announce a tour until this month. They will play 17 dates in the United States but may add more down the line. The lowest price for tickets to the show at the Staples Center, which has a capacity of about 20,000, is $250.

[hosted.ap.org]

[www.facebook.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013-04-29 00:15 by claudine.

Rolling Stones invade Echo Park, perform an hour of classics



By Randall Roberts Los Angeles Times Pop Music Critic

April 28, 2013, 11:24 a.m.

During 50 years of performing, the Rolling Stones have done some peach gigs: They’ve stood before Hells Angels at Altamont, sold out Wembley Stadium and Madison Square Garden, gigged the Palladium in Hollywood, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for "The T.A.M.I. Show" and countless rounds at the Forum. Until Saturday night, though, the band had never played Echo Park.

In a surprise gig described early in the set by Stones singer/dancer/showman Mick Jagger as “the first show of our North American tour,” the band played the Echoplex, a basement club with a capacity of 650. In the crowd were friends, family and a few hundred lucky, patient fans who’d won a ticket lottery earlier in the day.

I am a very fortunate Rolling Stones fan, and watched from a peach spot just in front of the sound board as the London band, currently celebrating 50 years as a unit, performed 60 minutes' worth of classic material that focused on their work from the late 1960s through the early ‘80s, including “Love in Vain,” “Street Fighting Man,” “Respectable” and “Miss You.”

They did so on an extended stage that cut the Echoplex’s dance floor by half, so the Stones gig felt even smaller than those who know the venue might expect. When Jagger splashed some of his drinking water into the crowd, I got drenched — and then like any true fan, wiped the water all over my head, licked my lips to get some into my mouth. (This morning I feel like I’ve got some of Jagger’s DNA in my system.)

When Keith Richards, bandanna wrapped around his shock of gray hair and with gold hoop earrings, stepped up to hit the classic opening riff of “Start Me Up,” he did so with a force that knows no age, filled with power, confidence and the pure spirit of a man who has internalized blues, rhythm & blues, rock & roll and country. His six strings sent shock after shock through the venue.

Ditto Ron Wood, whose physique is as lithe and lean as his guitar lines; during “Street Fighting Man,” he worked with as much inspired physicality as in his days with the Faces.

The band’s been oiling the machine at a rehearsal space in the Valley, and the set had the feel of a final dress rehearsal for its upcoming tour, which starts Friday at Staples Center — capacity 19,000.

In the same way it’s unfair to critique the soft opening of a restaurant, this Stones gig at the Echoplex isn’t the one to review — that’ll come on Friday — but it is one that needs to be documented. After all, how many more times will the band be playing such a small space?

The set’s highlights were when the band stretched its material, and on three occasions these expansions thrilled the Echoplex. To see the Stones perform their classic dance-floor stomper “Miss You” on a Saturday night in a tight, sweaty space was as thrilling as you’d imagine. Bassist Darryl Jones pushed the rhythm, and his smooth solo was funkier than Bill Wyman’s original. Jagger pushed the crowd to sing along to his "oooh"-filled chorus, and the room did so willingly.

The Stones’ former guitarist Mick Taylor has been doing gigs with the band of late, and on Saturday he arrived for two of the evening’s most bluesy numbers: “Love in Vain,” the Robert Johnson-penned song that the Stones (with Taylor) covered on “Let It Bleed.” To watch Wood, Richards and Taylor work the blues was to witness three great guitarists tap into the depths.

As they’ve done for years, the Stones brought backing vocalists Bernard Fowler and Lisa Fischer to harmonize with Jagger, and keyboardist Chuck Leavell resurrected the late Ian Stewart’s piano runs like a mystic.

Equally deep was “Midnight Rambler,” which Jagger presented with as much menacing energy as ever. Again, with the three guitarists working a chunky blues progression, the band delivered both big volume and energy; these didn’t seem like 70-odd-year-old men but vessels for a music that is as timeless in 2013 as when the Stones were starting out.

And any mention of time must acknowledge the metronomic Charlie Watts, a man whose jazz-inspired drumming offered typical consistency. Equally adept at the disco rhythms of “Miss You” and “She’s So Cold” and the rock of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Brown Sugar” — both of which the band performed in its encore — Watts continued his uninterrupted reign as rock’s most measured drummer.

How was the gig? How the hell do you think it was? It was the Stones in a little club, and for most in attendance, a dream come true.

That's how it was.

[www.latimes.com]

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bye bye johnny
and keyboardist Chuck Leavell resurrected the late Ian Stewart’s piano runs like a mystic.

Funny! Can't wait to read the reactions to this observation. :-)

Thank you very much Johnny, your continued effort are appreciated, and thank you claudine for the high res pix. bv can we please keep this thread seperate, on it's own?

Rolling Stones - The Echoplex - April 27, 2013

By Lina Lecaro Sun., Apr. 28 2013 at 10:53 AM



We get big bands in small venues around these parts not infrequently. Hell, Depeche Mode just played the Troubadour on Friday. But the Rolling Stones at the Echoplex? That's as good as it gets. The announcement that a small amount of tickets -- maybe 350 -- would be available yesterday at the El Rey sent folks scrambling from all corners of the city. And while we had our complaints about the process, we ended up snagging a ticket.

So how was the experience of seeing Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, Charlie Watts, and Daryl Jones -- plus Mick Taylor and Bobby Keys -- play a 700 capacity club? Not to put too fine a point on it, but it was pinch-yourself, next-level unbelievable.

Even the celebrities who grooved near us -- including Johnny Depp, Gwen Stefani, and Skrillex, in a roped off VIP area stage left -- seemed in awe, moving un-self-consciously to the night's 14 songs. (The full set list is at the end of this post.)

Those of us who scrunched up in the floor "pit" areas of the Echoplex -- in front of the two big pillars that flank the room -- were ecstatic, even if drained from an entire day of, well, waiting for Rolling Stones tickets.

Their set kicked off with "You Got Me Rockin," a latter-era track we wouldn't count among our favorite 50 Stones songs. Still, the sound was clean yet robust and most definitely the best we've heard at the 'Plex. (The band brought their own sound crew, natch). The Stones seemed almost as excited as we were, Mick making a joke about how Echo Park was an "up and coming neighborhood" and they were "an up and coming band." He didn't talk a lot, but he showed off his Brit-wit and connected with the crowd, even asking about the lottery from earlier in the day.

The first block of songs were designed to get the blood-pumping: "Respectable" followed by "She's So Cold," "Live With Me" and "Street Fighting Man." If you're wondering if Mick Jagger still moves like Jagger at 69, the answer is yes, and here he offered up famous moves including "the arms wave," "the side-to-side hip shake," "the chicken-head" and "the point."

Dressed casually in dark jeans, long-sleeved white t-shirt and jacket, the frontman clearly maintains his passion for performing. Richards, in his typical headband, was maybe less showy than we would have liked, and he didn't really speak (or sing a song, like he does at arena shows), but he had a few front-of-stage moments and was smiling for the entire show.

Even his more intricate riffs are, at this point, effortless, but that's not the same as being thoughtless or lazy. Part of Keef's cool is the way he pours himself into his instrument, infusing every song with sexy, gritty, bluesiness. He's still got it, and seemed especially giddy when things took a more soulful turn on a cover of Otis Redding's "That's How Strong My Love Is" and his friend/idol Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie."

The Stones started off as a cover band, after all, and can still knock other artists' material out of the park. They also did the Temptations' "Just My Imagination," off of Some Girls, and Mick Taylor made his appearance during another cover, Robert Johnson's "Love In Vain," made famous by the Stones on Let It Bleed.

Though not as much of a showman as his replacement Ronnie Wood, Taylor's contributions were notable, and seeing him play with Wood was incredible.

The set ended with "Start Me Up," which we're also not too crazy about, mostly because it's overplayed. But we developed a new appreciation for the lyrics -- "You make a grown man cry, you make a dead man cum" -- for some reason. Did we mention that the sound was amazing, and that it was really cool not have cell phones blocking your view? (After all, they weren't allowed.)

For the encore they performed 'Brown Sugar" and "Jumpin Jack Flash," two more big hits that seemed especially surreal at such a small venue. In any case, it's fair to say that it was all enough to make this grown woman cry.

Critical Bias: Bonafide super-fan here.

The Crowd: Nobody was too cool to not to put their hands up when Mick asked, or to dance their asses off to "Miss You" or sing along to "Jumpin Jack Flash." There were a couple of "hip kids" there who maybe didn't know every word, but we were glad to see a new generation digging it. Old and young, everyone knew they were lucky to be there.

[blogs.laweekly.com]

What great reviews to read.
Thank you so much for posting.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-04-28 23:56 by crawdaddy.

Thank you so much for the pix from everyone.

Great stuff.

Cheers.

Best show ever
Best show ever
Best show ever

Does anyone have a set list ?

You Got Me Rocking
Respectable
She's So Cold
Live with Me (with Bobby Keys)
Street Fighting Man (first since 9 Nov 2003)
That's How Strong My Love Is (Otis Redding)
Little Queenie (Chuck Berry) (first since 19 Sep 1998)
Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) (The Temptations)
Miss You (with Bobby Keys)
Love in Vain (with Mick Taylor)
Midnight Rambler (with Mick Taylor)
Start Me Up

Brown Sugar (with Bobby Keys)
Jumpin' Jack Flash

Fantastic Thanx !

Crash Landed In A Louisiana Swamp

So Mick Taylor played an Ampeg this time?

great pix, thanks.

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bye bye johnny
Rolling Stones rock small LA club ahead of tour

Apr 28, 8:52 AM EDT

By DERRIK J. LANG
AP Entertainment Writer

........ They will play 17 dates in the United States but may add more down the line. The lowest price for tickets to the show at the Staples Center, which has a capacity of about 20,000, is $250.

[hosted.ap.org]

Nope, besides the $85 tickets, there were also $150 tickets.


When I saw The Eagles in the early 90's, Don Henley dedicated Dirty Laundry to the AP - which he said stood for Accuracy Problems.

Great pics thank you. They look like rock and rollers! Go figure.

kevinmazur
#RollingStones club gig at the #Echoplex in #LA was ROCKIN!! $20 ticket #Priceless to see the #Stones in a club

Quote
uhbuhgullayew

Quote
bye bye johnny
Rolling Stones rock small LA club ahead of tour

Apr 28, 8:52 AM EDT

By DERRIK J. LANG
AP Entertainment Writer

........ They will play 17 dates in the United States but may add more down the line. The lowest price for tickets to the show at the Staples Center, which has a capacity of about 20,000, is $250.

[hosted.ap.org]

Nope, besides the $85 tickets, there were also $150 tickets.


When I saw The Eagles in the early 90's, Don Henley dedicated Dirty Laundry to the AP - which he said stood for Accuracy Problems.

Maybe they just worded it poorly and meant the $250 and higher are what's left to buy. Though I don't know if that's the case, but I'd imagine (as well as the fact that there's a thread title about the expensive tickets not selling) that the cheaper ones all went first.

In Echo Park. A movie starring Susan Dey and Tom Hulce about bohemian Echo Park called ECHO PARK is low key and amusing. Next door to Echo Park, in Silver Lake, Mick worked with the Dust Brothers on some of the songs on Bridges to Babylon. Mick said he had to "empty out their bong water." That sounds like Silver Lake.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-04-29 00:33 by Title5Take1.

Why do I doubt that Darryl Jones bass on Miss You was funkier than Bill's? I guess a lot of you are right about most people not knowing who Mick Taylor is/was. He's hardly mentioned and he's the only novel thing about this whole outing.

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24FPS
I guess a lot of you are right about most people not knowing who Mick Taylor is/was.

Uh, his last name is Jagger. Kids these days.

Darryl plays a solo now. I guess that's the funkiness here

Directed at no one in particular and to me too
Is there any chance the amount of OT drivel can be kept to a minimum on this thread? Or does every thread have to be 500-1000 posts about taylor vs Wood? And yes, I can be as guilty as anyone, but can we keep this thread unclogged and mostly about reviews and pix of the show last night.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-04-29 00:51 by Max'sKansasCity.

Great pics and reviews. Thanks to all!

Thanks for the pics & reviews...
wish I had been there
Great fun!