Dedicated to Beast, Paulywaul, Anastasia60, Heartbreaker, BV, and every Stones diehard keeping the flame lit… (It is a long read, but take it in pieces, it will go down easier...)

We don't worry 'bout the things we used to be...

There are those of us who remember when the Rolling Stones were culturally relevant. More than that…they were culturally dominant. They were piratical Royalty…the living link, the Rosetta Stone to the origins of the dark, savage art we called Rock and Roll. They had started out as snotty punks that brought us the Magik Blues, then turned into druggie, trend-setting, hit-making dandies of Swingin’ London, then they ascended the throne and became the glamorous and decadent Jet-Set Lords of Misrule, followed by drug-addled creative decline, a miraculous mid-career re-birth, then a dispiriting phase when their incandescent lead singer tried to become a pop star, and finally around 25 years ago they settled into their roles as regal Elder Statesmen. There were bands and acts that were (momentarily) bigger, more vital, more “happening”, and sold more records…these cats came and went. The Stones rode them all out, survived, and thrived. They reminded us that this genre of music was built not on technical prowess or virtuoso talent or even hype and units sold…the Stones made clear that this music – at its most essential – was made of sweat, swagger, attitude, and charisma. The Rolling Stones, more than any other band, embodied and possessed these qualities in spades. They were The Blueprint.

But something happened to the Stones as the Elder Statesmen phase went on the last 3 decades. The late-period (post 1989) records that were laid on us had moments of brilliance – this was the Stones, after all – but the cohesion was missing. When Bill Wyman finally left in 1993 he took with him the sorcerous secrets that made the Stones’ rhythm section magic. It was just as well. Fame and fortune had laid waste to their communal creative spirit and the Stones – record-setting world tour after record-setting world tour – settled into money-making auto-pilot. New music came less and less often, and then only as an appendix, a supplement to accompany the next corporate-sponsored global extravaganza. Threatening outcasts no longer, the Monkey Men were now raking in hundreds of millions and their lead singer – once the very embodiment of rebellion, deluxe excess and sexual debauchery…the man who was the primal definition of Rock Star – was knighted. It’s hard to maintain the edge (and even the will) necessary to create great art when age, accolades, riches, and global fame create a blunting layer of patrician comfort and the masses throw millions at you for playing by-the-numbers Classic Rock Jukebox to memories of their youth. The teeming flocks of cultural tourists on their package rock and roll holiday expect the old hits, a party, and a celebration. The Stones are happy to deliver. Nostalgia is lucrative, but it is the kiss of death to the creative spirit.

Yet, there were still moment of Truth amidst the carnival vulgarity of the roaming spectacles – shining moments where the few worthy new songs presented to us onstage fit perfectly alongside the old masterpieces and often became highlights of the shows. Out of Control from Bridges To Babylon was honed into a singular tour-de-force, and songs like Saint of Me, Slipping Away, Back of My Hand, and Rain Fall Down shone with the gleam of discovery. Even tripe like Streets of Love was willed by Jagger into a shining highlight of the Bigger Bang tour…no really. But often the new material was slowly phased out as the tour progressed. That is the tragicomedy of the Stones’ late-period output...they would play three or four new songs for a few shows and then cut them back to two, then one as the tour progressed because the day-trippers wanted to hear Tumbling Dice or It's Only Rock And Roll for the 497th time. The Stones once stood defiantly behind their new material and made it come alive...now they wanted to please Dad and sell T-Shirts. Welcome to Rock and Roll after its descent from ethos and paganism to mere entertainment.

Ain't I rough enough, oh honey, ain't I tough enough?

Notwithstanding, if you doubted that the Rolling Stones still had “it” – whatever that magical factor is – the answer could be found on the rare occasion when they had something to prove and an audience willing to push them to prove it. The last European tour in 2006/07 had its share of lows, mostly because Keith Richards was at a nadir and Ronnie Wood had slipped back into his role of drunken Court Jester. The guitar section was often a clunker, and without that part of the machine humming loudly the Stones sound is thin and unrealized. Jagger, ever splendid and working double-shifts, kept the enterprise on course, but anyone who had seen the Stones in better days knew that this was a high-wire act on the precipice of parody.

Yet one blisteringly hot night in Budapest in July 2007, with waves of assaultive heat bearing down upon the packed throng of 40,000+ fans, one of the most heroic performances I ever witnessed took place. These people (there were people in their 60's and kids in their teens – a wide demographic – as per usual at a Stones gig nowadays) still believed in the Rolling Stones. They still symbolized freedom and release to them – quaint notions to us in the West, but precious things to subjects of the former Soviet bloc. For a good part of the audience the Stones represented the antidote to the repression and fear they grew up in...not, as for many of us, just a rock band that played as the soundtrack to our youthful misdeeds and was now a paragon of sold-out commercial bloat. The Stones still meant something to them.

That night the Rolling Stones turned back the clock and literally ripped the heart out the crowd. I have never heard cheering so loud and so genuine. The Stones, under the most difficult physical conditions, and at an age where most of their contemporaries would have wilted after 10 minutes, took no prisoners and stuck in the dagger...they were absolutely lethal. After the show there were people in tears and people walking out of that stadium in stunned awe...that is how much the Stones gave to them that night. Everything. Anybody who claims the Stones no longer can deliver the goods will just get a laugh from me...that was perhaps the greatest rock and roll show I ever saw.

Bit off more than I can chew and I knew what it was leading to, some things, well, I can't refuse...

And now here we are in 2014 and the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus is on the road again. The Stones are a global commodity. Their tongue logo is an international brand and you can buy Rolling Stones jackets, posters, shoes, hats, and even wine (ugh! May cure all your ills, but it can't cure mine.) But how (and where) is the music? We know their concerts are a communal celebration, but what, if anything, do the Stones have left to offer artistically? Well, aside from one song (and its derivative B-side) there has been no new music in nearly a decade. That well is dry. There have been brilliant re-issues filled with newly excavated songs from long-ago recording sessions, which, depending on your perspective, either fills you with joy at having these ancient gems in pristine digital form, or affirms the gloomy predictions that the Rolling Stones as recording artists are completely finished and there will never again be another Stones album. The reality is that the Stones as a creative unit are, in all probability, dead.

We can try to convince ourselves that the Stones long ago ceased to care about recorded output, and that at this point their Art is the stage. Moreover, the truth is that we are incredibly fortunate to just have the Rolling Stones as a functioning unit at all, and that yearning for new recordings at their age is probably unrealistic and too much to hope for. But the lack of any new music in a decade still mystifies. And this is where things get complicated.

There are other artists of their generation who are still creating and releasing interesting new material. Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, John Fogerty, Robbie Robertson, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Steely Dan, the Beach Boys, and Robert Plant have released new material of late that stands up to a lot of their past work. Recently deceased artists like Levon Helm and Johnny Cash were creating phenomenal art until their last days. The Rolling Stones, in seemingly rude health and nearly intact personnel-wise, have remained silent. Why?

Are they, as some claim, a go-through-the-motions Baby-Boom nostalgia act aimed primarily at those with plentiful pocket change and no real interest in the Stones’ wicked art aside from their AM radio hits of four, five decades ago, or are the Stones still creating and exploring their dark magic in a live format, albeit in front of thousands of high-paying punters? Put another way, are the Stones continually bastardizing their own legacy and name by dragging their creatively depleted circus/theme park extravaganza around the world – Victory Lap Tour after Victory Lap Tour, ad infinitum – for the purpose of breaking attendance records (and the bank), or are they ageing, seminal artists digging into their magnificent back catalogue in existential search of magical moments of transcendence that only being onstage and performing their music can give them and their audience?

Ultimately, it depends on one’s perspective. The answer is to a degree “yes” to both paradigms. The avarice and the Art go hand in hand…and here is where the frustration and the miracle that is the Rolling Stones in the 21st century come to life: They have nothing new to say, but they’re still liver than you’ll ever be…

The band's on stage and it's one of those nights...

Though septuagenarians (!) and having lived lives that would have ravaged and felled most of us, these cats are back prowling the stage with unlikely sparkle and verve. Yes, the set-list is calcified and thoroughly dominated by the songs they wrote when they were the youthful strutting satyrs of four or five decades ago…but the sound is once again muscular and thunderous.

The side players that dominated in the last tours have thankfully receded into the background, which gives the core band more space to breathe and alternatively smash and seduce us, as the song necessitates. Charlie Watts is somewhat diminished, but only he can drive this train and drive it he does. The guitars reach earsplitting volume and once again pack a vicious kick. Ronnie Wood is sober and newly re-committed to his instrument, and it shows. He is playing his best guitar in many years. Keith Richards is like your favorite wastrel uncle at the holiday table…he is essential to the proceedings, you are thrilled to have him there, and during moments of lucidity he still dazzles. When he hunkers down and focuses on his rhythm and riffing and driving the sound he is still the best in the business at what he does. He is the Michelangelo of rhythm guitarists. But he fades in and out…and there are times when he shits his pants and loses the plot…moments where he is but a shadow. He will astonish with a savage riff on one song, and then totally clonk the opening riff to Brown Sugar or Start Me Up – riffs he should be able to perfectly pump out in his sleep – on the next song. Or he will sing a heartrending rendition of You Got The Silver and then forget his lyrics halfway into the next song. The Stones are famously and gloriously “sloppy” – that is part of their appeal – but this is graceless. At these times Ronnie and the rest of the band guide him gently back to safe ground, and you feel the comradeship that makes the Stones (and Ronnie’s simpatico personality) so special. The Keith Richards that once commanded the stage and led the band like a swashbuckling buccaneer for hours at a time is long gone. His extended “solos” (if they can be called that) are often pantomime…gestures and body movements that make an effort, but the music is in a distant place that cannot be recalled and so he mostly smiles beatifically and we smile back. Then he regroups and slays us on the next tune. That’s Keef.

Which begs the question…where is Mick Taylor – now that he has been welcomed back into the fold – and why is he so reprehensively underused? Rock’s cautionary tale of wasted genius and bad judgment, Mick Taylor waits in the wings…and waits. The Stones have with them on this tour one of the most majestic lead guitarists in the history of rock music – a man capable in his peak of unleashing solo runs so transcendent that one is puzzled why his genius did not flower beyond the music he made 40-45 years ago with the Stones – and they trot him out once a show. This is doubly puzzling when one hears him play with this iteration of the band. Mick Taylor’s musicality is still awesome. When he is out on the boards with the Stones the entire bands’ musical game is observably elevated. It is so plainly obvious. The Geriatric Guitar Army of Richards, Woods, and Taylor is pulverizing. The Stones’ 2014 version of Midnight Rambler (Taylor’s sole spotlight on the European Tour) is demolishing. His virtuoso interplay with Jagger’s blues harp in the middle section of the song is the musical highlight of the show, and when the band gives him rope and lets him run he dazzles while they provide the stonking locomotive thrust behind him that makes Midnight Rambler a stunner. When I saw this live I was just blown away. I could literally hear the echoes of the propulsive chug of 1969’s Rambler on Ya Ya’s. The idea that they have this game-changing musician available for lead guitar duties on songs that he once elevated to masterwork status in live settings like the classics Sympathy For The Devil and You Can’t Always Get What You Want, (not to mention rare studio gems like Waiting On A Friend) while choosing to settle for far inferior lead guitar work from Ronnie Wood (who often simply plays a simulacrum of classic old Taylor solos on songs from that era) or Keith Richards really rankles. The audience pays top prices and deserves to see the best “product” the Stones could possibly put on stage. This is the responsibility of any artist or businessman, and there is no man that better straddles the two worlds of commerce and art than the Stone’s leader, Sir Mick Jagger. So why are the Stones holding Mick Taylor back? One could ask Sir Jagger but…

…actually Mick Jagger was abducted by aliens years ago and in his place they redeposited a fat-free, bionic, Olympic-athlete-level rock and roll cyborg. I know this to be true because in 2014 a (supposedly) 70 year-old man pretending to be Mick Jagger, looking spectacular and magisterially dominating the show, is prancing around the stage leading the Stones. This Jagger-clone (or is it a 3-D hologram?) sings like a prince, and is as limber, energetic, and animated as a man half a century younger - at times sprinting from one side of the stage to the other while keeping in tune, but mostly moving gracefully and efficiently while keeping 50,000 people engrossed in every note he sings and every move he makes. I know this to be humanly impossible, even though I saw it with my own eyes. When Jagger-clone sang Worried About You it was breathtaking, and when he sang Gimme Shelter his voice boomed to the rafters as if it was peak 70’s Jagger. When the band ripped into the brutal blues of Midnight Rambler he became the shoot 'em dead, brainbell jangler, and when syncopated conga-beats introduced Sympathy For The Devil he was faux-Lucifer flanked by banks of flames. We all know this is inconceivable, so I simply conclude that this Jagger-cyborg/clone is a Trojan Horse-type gift from an alien race to us to keep us entertained until the Final Takeover. I have no other explanation. I thank the aliens for this, and I am sure his accountants and servants and ex-wives and band mates (and you) all do too.

Til the next ime we say goodbye...

Whatever the shortcomings and virtues, the end is near and this tour has been a wonderful goodbye kiss.

Ultimately, whatever the Stones may have done to dull their creative powers and hurt their credibility is something they decided for themselves. Like an old boxer who just couldn’t say no to another fight (and payday) they have answered the bell one more time. The joy they give to their fans is a worthy principle, even if – apart from an exhilarating (and expensive) night out – they have nothing else artistically left to offer. It used to be about the band, their aura, and the music, but not anymore. At this stage they are about as artistically compelling as Vegas burlesque and as menacing as a Disney production. But that is forgiven. They are still, on any given night, the best rock and roll band in the world, for whatever that is worth. I will take that.

What used to bother serious fans about the Stones was that they abandoned their quest for artistic transcendence and settled for kitsch. But that is simply the disease of the age. We have all fallen short of our ideals and all our idols have proven to be deceivers. Greatness is sustained until it brings fame and fortune…then it is cashed in for riches and killed off by greed. Songs that once were considered near-sacred are used today to sell automobiles, television shows, computer software, and shampoo. As the great Beelyboy once said, “I saw a credit card commercial on tv using 'all you need is love'…we are a lost cause...the Stones sold out years ago...and they were rich enough to not ever NEED to...so go figure…but we love them because we love them...”. Amen.

THE ROLLING STONES IN CONCERT - EUROPE, JUNE 2014











Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014-06-17 21:54 by Turd On The Run.

Both, maybe?

This is a really well written and interesting article and I am in agreement with most of it. Spot on!

Wow! Hats off.
very well written.

Nice. But its really about all of us just getting old!

The Stones today have less to Bitch about.

Today its more of a celebration of a Great life lived.
A party of conquest. Beating the system and becoming
the real Soul Survivors.

Its kind of cool for the Rolling Stones as they
Are now able to do what Jagger once said.
What else can a poor boy do except sing in a rock n roll
band!

Its really nice seeing the Stones doing exactly what they
love....Playing music to their fans.

Party on The Greatest Rock and roll band.

You're expreesing my thougths and my feelings too, Hot Stuff...

THis was a wonderful read, written with love. The fact is the Stones are contemporary with the times, there is no room for new music in this day and age. There is very little money in it as well... Play on boys.

Neither. I'm sure they view themselves as successful musicians whose accomplishments continue to take them around the world.

What about the middle-of-the-road television shows they did back in the 60s to promote their number 1 radio hits? Oh, and what about the Rice Krispies ad they did--isn't that selling out?

Rather than viewing them through the retrograde hippy-dippy ideals so many fans would foist upon their larger than life heroes, I suspect the Stones were grateful for whatever success that came along to liberate them from the austerity of their upbringing in post-war England.

Also, I doubt they view themselves as a "Vegas act" or their biggest most popular songs as "warhorses". No doubt they are proud that so many people young and old still want to hear their greatest accomplishments--it must make it seem like the work was worthwhile and the time well spent.

<<the end is near and this tour has been a wonderful goodbye kiss.>>

I've no doubt that Charlie hopes this to be true, as he's said on numerous occasions in recent years that the end of the Stones would not bother him a bit, but until we hear it from the other two, it's best not to assume anything. If you were in the band and were playing and sounding like they do, would you think of stopping anytime soon?

Quote
stonehearted
Neither. I'm sure they view themselves as successful musicians whose accomplishments continue to take them around the world.

What about the middle-of-the-road television shows they did back in the 60s to promote their number 1 radio hits? Oh, and what about the Rice Krispies ad they did--isn't that selling out?

Rather than viewing them through the retrograde hippy-dippy ideals so many fans would foist upon their larger than life heroes, I suspect the Stones were grateful for whatever success that came along to liberate them from the austerity of their upbringing in post-war England.

Also, I doubt they view themselves as a "Vegas act" or their biggest most popular songs as "warhorses". No doubt they are proud that so many people young and old still want to hear their greatest accomplishments--it must make it seem like the work was worthwhile and the time well spent.

<<the end is near and this tour has been a wonderful goodbye kiss.>>

I've no doubt that Charlie hopes this to be true, as he's said on numerous occasions in recent years that the end of the Stones would not bother him a bit, but until we hear it from the other two, it's best not to assume anything. If you were in the band and were playing and sounding like they do, would you think of stopping anytime soon?

This is what and who they are Stonehearted. Great perspective.

Well written and thoughtful piece, nice read and in the main pretty spot on from what I can gather being down under. I will reserve my final 'judgment' on the demise, sometimes, of Keith until I witness it first hand in Perth and Adelaide!

....but I do have to ask you about that "near 3 hour" Budapest show in 2007. Your detailed excitement about it had me search for it on some bootleg sites as it seemed to be one I needed to have.

But I couldn't find it.

The ONLY one I could find in Budapest in 2007 was not even a 2 hour show. Am I missing something? From the IORR 2007 Tour page:

The Rolling Stones
The Puskas Ferenc Stadium, Budapest, Hungary
Friday July 20, 2007

The set list

Start Me Up
You Got Me Rocking
Rough Justice
Ruby Tuesday
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Midnight Rambler
I'll Go Crazy
Tumbling Dice
--- Introductions
You Got The Silver (Keith)
I Wanna Hold You (Keith)
Miss You (to B-stage)
It's Only Rock'n Roll (B-stage)
Satisfaction (B-stage)
Honky Tonk Women (to main stage)
Sympathy For The Devil
Paint It Black
Jumping Jack Flash
Brown Sugar (encore)

The Rolling Stones : 9:15pm - 11:10pm

"Cocaine is a hell of a drug" - Rick James

Very nice read...you made my day.
Thx

<<< Dedicated to Beast, Paulywaul, Anastasia60, Heartbreaker, BV, and every Stones diehard keeping the flame lit… (It is a long read, but take it in pieces, it will go down easier...) >>>

Well thank you kind Sir for the compliment, we're flattered.

Great read, deliciously written, and if I had to choose one phrase to reiterate here, Europe 2014 (if indeed it turns out to be that last kiss) .... well then WHAT a kiss it was ? The long lingering kind, and the miracle of it is that for an artist that one has embraced for a lifetime, when you stand there a few metres in front of them today and take in the sights and sounds, that last kiss is still manages to be as sensually exquisite as memorable as the fist exploratory one - all those years ago !!

How do they manage it ?

"Ladies n' Gentlemen, will you welcome to the stage please ...... the ROLLING STONES".

I cannot bear to think that one day, I will live in a world in which I'll have heard that for the last time.

Boys n' girls n' children, if you're out there and hesitating, don't. Go and see this band. Get close and lose yourself in their world for a couple of hours, there's simply nothing like it. As it might well say in the guide book: Recommended !!

[ I want to shout, but I can hardly speak ]

The Rolling Stones is a miracle. Go and see them. They are GREAT!!!

The writer seems to have tapped into my mind and sorted out out most of what I already think. I am in awe of this well-written 'love-letter' about the Stones

Wonderful stuff, Turd On The Run... you are beatifully explicating and finding right words for some personal dilemmas I also have in 'viewing' the modern Stones. And among other many great things and insights, your take on today's Keith, Taylor and Jagger is just so spot on that I believe I have never seen anyone doing anything like, So accurate´, fresh, innovative term choices. I could pick up many things there, but since I don't find anything to disagree with, why to spoil such a great, complete cake by splitting it into small pieces?

Wow. What a read! Thank You!

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-06-11 11:45 by Doxa.

Rubbish

Quote
Gooo
Rubbish

this is too simple. what is rubbish and why?

.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-06-11 16:02 by The Joker.

I agree wholeheartedly with Hot Stuff - spot on for me...

Personally, I never want to hear Back Of My Hand and Rain Fall Down but Streets Of Love was a highlight of the BB tour which surprised me.

We are lucky they are still playing and they are STILL the greatest "live" band ever so I'm happy if they keep playing the hits - I don't care if it is IORR for the 498th time...

"till the next time..."

P.S. See you in Stockholm

Star

that's a nice article about the Stones but the Jagger abducted by aliens part is silly.

its a band that loves to play live. I've always felt they were the ultimate bar band, never to be surpassed.

in their professionalism and acclaim there's a lot to be admired for a long time to come.

having said that, its a really good act. you buy a ticket (if you can) and you go and enjoy them. its great that they span four generations now.

what I admire most, and I count myself as a diehard longtime fan (since age 10 and I'm now 58..) is their own ability to overcome adversity and their love for each other and their band.

now if only Mick Taylor were included more..

Fiercely truthful article and well said. My thoughts too.

Commenting on being invited to watch The Beatles in April 1963...

"We were so turned on by those chicks screaming at The Beatles that we all wanted to be rock & roll stars from that night on."

- Keith Richards

A great read, thanks. I will let you know if I totally agree after finally getting to the front row in New Zealand in November. If it's the last time, it'll be a good time after first seeing them in 1973 for the first time live

Just for the record, this is from my report about the 2007 Budapest show:
[www.iorr.org]
The Rolling Stones show time : 9:15pm - 11:10pm
I.e. 1 hour 55 min and 18 songs.

I have followed the Stones during four decades, through the years with Mick Taylor, Bill Wyman and now since 1995 Darryl Jones. The day the band have "lost it" I would have moved on to something else, as I have so many other interests, like climbing mountains and biking races. But as long as every single Stones show is equal to climbing Kilimanjaro (I have done it six times), I will continue to see then live as long as they give me that great experience. Because after all, those shows are all gone at the moment of the final bow, while the mountains and the great races are there as long as I live. Easy choice.

I enjoy every minute of the shows, and from the 11 shows I have seen this year, so does hundreds of thousands of fellow fans. By the way, there is a great mountain race on Saturday - Birken. I wanted so badly to do it. But the Stones play Friday night in Paris, and I simply do not want to miss that show. So again it is an easy choice. I can run 21 km in the mountains at any time, but catching moments like those we had last night at Waldbühne is far more important for me. Still.

Bjornulf

Well written Turd On The Run. Nice piece. Didn't expect to see so much joy in the performance at Pinkpop by the band and by myself and the audience. Was the best feeling at a stones concert since at least Ahoy 2003 (which to me was better than vredenburg, which I also attended)

It was such a great night and it was a great feeling being a fan of this band. Despite all the ups and downs (for me 2005 - 2007 has its share of lows) they still have it in them to be the best rock and roll band in the world and nobody can touch them when they are on a roll. And they do have it in 2014. For me it is not anymore the amount of rarities played in the concert, but more the quality of playing (Jumping Jack Flash was one of the best I did see I think, great playing, great sound!) and seeing the fun on stage (for example the running of Mick during iorr to be in time for the singing part, en to see the smiles and interaction afterwards, etc) The performance level overall is more than I expected, maybe Berlin was slighly less (i don't know, I wasn't there and haven't seen any clips yet), but overall the level is really good I think. This European tour is on fire indeed.

There was nothing Vegas about the 3 nights at msg in 1998....I love the modern era....

Licks Tour whipped A Bigger Bang's butt by a long shot, the set lists alone blow away ANY tour they've ever done and i'll argue that until the cows come home.

Musically the Stones dont have much to add today. Nothing new. But imagine the amount of people that is finding and starting be to be addcited in their music due to these recent tours. Imagine the amount of young kids that never had the opportunity to see them live and now they attend their first concert with the same excitement we all had in our first Stones concert.

The Stones will survive in our souls forever.