French magazine Best sept 78 about the New Orleans show at the superdome ( i did the translation myself ... so be indulgent)
And the Stones make a hit again… without transition and in a kind of serene improvisation, your prefered extremists move up from the atmosphere of the small hall to the frenzy of huge arena. It’s the 1978 American Tour and Gilles Riberolles manage to rejoin it.
At the New Orleans’ Superdome the spectator number 80173 is seeing for you the always youngest-greatest-rock’n’roll-band-by-the-world, new look.
In New Orleans, shade is a precious commodity ; the atmosphere is so muggy, hot , that we just want to do like those groups of negro : find a little place under the shade, to drop, a radio close the ear, just waiting for the sweat to evaporate ; me, I find a better way : a flipper room, and in addition they sell beer !
New Orleans ; this old southern, the missisipi, the ferryboats, this colonial architecture, the little streat of the french quarter colored by thousands of tropical plants proundly exibited at the balconies . Who couldn’t catch the blues spirit, the rhythm, walking along Basin Street ,on the same street than Allen Toussaint, Dr John, Clifton Chenier…. ?
… I, cause the guy who just put his hand on my « close encounters » has his arm covered by tattoo, chain on his leather jacket, and is at least two head higher than me. Fortunately, I score not so bad, so he laugh and put 25 cents in my flip. From ball to beers we came talking about serious things : The Stones.
However, who doesn’t speek about the Stones today in New Orleans ? They came for the first time in this city, and young peoples are going mad : one can see cars painted with those few words : « Rolling Stones in New Orleans » .
T-shirts stick out huge tongue, while jukeboxes bring up the bitter taste of the Brown Sugar.
The big black woman who sell beers call me « baby », I can see cookroach appearing behind the split cane walls, it smell rotten banana.
My Hell’s angel « he told me his first name, but i’ve forgot it » him, is drinking his sixth Budveiser, but can still do intelligibly phrases ; The Stones don’t played concert in USA since 1975, and he was about to crack up ; so he mounted his bike toward atlanta, and since have seen most of the shows from the south and east coast : Philadelphia, Lakeland, Atlanta, Dallas, Washington… « sometimes they played in small halls like in Atlanta or Washington, and it’s great, we can see Keith’ pupil, or in other times they played in very huge places like in Philadelphia (90,000), it was really crazy, some girls were falling down, and the guys don’t even care and goes on jumping like kangaroo, arms up in the air ; they even played ‘Satisfaction’, but Mick was sick and had trouble with his voice, and he run out just as the last song ended ; and there was this surprise concert at the NY Palladium, I couldn’t go into cause it was a huge magouille to get some tickets : the day before they tell at the radio you had to call a phone number the next day ; when the guys phoned, one told them to go in such a place at 07:00p.m, and there they could buy a ticket for the Stones’ concert that have to begin one hour later ; it was at the Palladium, hey guy, it must have been really hot ! » (general burst of laughter)
80173
At 02 :00p.m, I take the road to the superdome where the concert take place, and there, two surprises : the place is indescribable : a Superdome , in comparison with, the ‘Palais des Sports »(in Paris) seems a proton ; second surprise : there’s already a huge crowd, one sell t-shits, dope, one already clamour for the Stones ! still six hours before the show, and around the Superdome it’s already a disaster area, due to the traffic jam, police van, clouds of fans. I take the risk of a huge sweating, but I walk back to the hotel.
At 07:00p.m, is the start signal and I ask to myself, what the Stones are doing : already in place to bite one’s nails ? doing some shoots ? wavering between two lipstick ?
Critics have a private box at the top of the dome, and it’s when taking place there, that I realize that exist something still more spectacular that the big colorado canyon : what a kind of huge arena, it’s colossal, and the spectator at the top seats are at an altitude of 150 metres ; on every of the Tree stage there is coca, T-shirts, hamburgers sellers, policeman ; hanging at the ceiling, five gigantic screens broadcast cartoons. And the stage, with a central protuberance, like a fleshy tongue, topped by a gigantic red mouth.
Desire, consummate, @#$%&, consummate.
A big electronic screen placed under the stage notice 80173 spectators, and the light went down at last.
I waited for Peter Tosh, but it’s Van Halen as first act ; forty minutes of abdominal waves, and a David Lee Roth very relaxed among all those hysterical girls…
Then, the Doobie Brothers…
It’s now 10:45p.m., the first were there at 2:00p.m. ; 6 hours under the sunbeams, 2 hours of music and wait for the rest ; and this big mouth that don’t still move his lips to susurrate us that the greatest rock & roll band by the world will be soon going to slip between his two lips .
The announcer comes again for the x time and gravely says : « We’ve been warned that a few policeman are in the crowd … so if you have some drug by you, throw it onstage and the Stones will did a good use of it ! »
Still a quarter before a voice shout oneselfhoarse « THE ROLLING STONES »
160,000
spots illuminate 160,000 little arms and from my perch, I can see this teeming crowd, whistling, yelling. It’s at this moment that an inebriated bearded man throw at me yelling « THE STONES ! ! » , « Yeah, yeah, I see, I see ! ! »
Jagger has a new look ; he wear plastic pants, a white leather jacket with rolled sleeves and just a silver bolero under ; his red leather cap placed back let show his mid-ear haircut.
The five Stones + the two Ian are under over-pressure and goes on with « All down the line », a steam machine . Jagger dissapear and Keith is at the front stage scratching the strings of his Telecaster with the first chords of « Honky tonk woman » : he’s wearing a black leather jacket with turn-up collar, hairs in the eyes, more than ever he looks like a hood ; Ron wood : white satin pants, matched bolero, and a black tie.
He’s Keith’s spiritual brother, he’s a joker but clean, and he ‘s with Jagger in all the gesture and stereotypes that make Stones’ picture. And once again the Stones give this impression of a depraved gang.
« She blew my nose and then she blew my mind… » It’s smell coke, New York. No more gadget-symbol, no more comments between the cuts, just : « All right » or « Ho do you feel ? » no more flashy that made the Stones scintillate in the jet-set… and narrowly missed to destroy them.
« @#$%&, » and Jagger run all the way of the stage, tireless ; he can’t refrain from being present and sometime doing too much. Jump on an amplifier or run forward the crowd but stop in time to prevent peril.
Despite the years on the road, Mick Jagger is still the king of the showmen, mixing provocation and achievement.
Then the atmosphere change : Jagger grab a Fender Stratocaster, and with three guitars they play « When the whips come down, » from the new album, seven of their new songs will follow ; Jagger move less cause of his Fender he hold low on his thigh, but sing well the new cuts.
16
« Beast of Burden », « Lies, » …. Then « Miss You » (already a big Hit in the United-States), and don’t says me the Stones doing disco ; « Miss You » is the summer’ Hit, and what ? it’s better than « Angie » didn’t it ? and it’s really black like « Black and Blue » , it’s isles, summer, and that’s all.
« Just my imagination, » « Shattered, » (Love and hope and sex and dreams Are still surviving on the street / Look at me, I'm in tatters! I'm a shattered), the Stones talking about dope, New York, streets, sex , they talk from themselves, not of a dream in degoulinascope (sic) for frigid little girls.
« Respectable », then, Ron Wood on steel guitar, Jagger on piano : « Faraway eyes » on the desert highways, and the only american rock band doing Hit in his own country ended the presentation of his new album. Jagger take off his jacket and guitar and sing the blues : »Love in vain» ; then back to the swing with : « Silver Train. »
Keith chew away at Happy’word, and Jagger still running. « any less sixteen girls here ? » « Sweet little sixteen », « Brown sugar, » « JJF, » and the enthusiasm come back, but they play since two hour and Jagger’s voice getting hoarse, then they leave the stage and soon come back to play « Street fighting man ».
Jagger is now alone on stage doing the hindu-salute , the audience cheers.
Gilles Riberolles – BEST magazinne