I am watching the 1975 LA Forum and is is appallingly bad. I really cannot understand people who say the Stons today are rubbish and they were so much better in the 70s. They certainly were not better in 75 - this gig is dreadful. Sloppy playing, terrible singing, dull lifeless performances.... It actually looks like a bad version of the Rolling Stoned (a Stones cover band here in the UK). I would much prefer a well played set of war horses played by a a band that has energy and passion rather than the stoned, self-indulgent and, quite frankly boring performance they gave in '75.

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john lomax
I am watching the 1975 LA Forum and is is appallingly bad. I really cannot understand people who say the Stons today are rubbish and they were so much better in the 70s. They certainly were not better in 75 - this gig is dreadful. Sloppy playing, terrible singing, dull lifeless performances.... It actually looks like a bad version of the Rolling Stoned (a Stones cover band here in the UK). I would much prefer a well played set of war horses played by a a band that has energy and passion rather than the stoned, self-indulgent and, quite frankly boring performance they gave in '75.

The singing was so bad.

Although I would add that Ronnie's playing in 1975 was much better than it is today... So maybe I'd prefer the 75 Ronnie with the 2015 Mick, Keith and Charlie....

Really don't like Billy Preston and Ollie Brown either...I like them as performers individually and on selected songs but don't like them on stage the entire time and it is ridiculous that Billy even had his own set....imagine if Chuck had a couple of his songs in the set!!!

on the other hand, 1975 had the vietnam war finally end.

'75 and '76 are the worst tour of the decade...Watch a '73 show and then we talk!

Not on the ballads. He had it in him

I would also claim that songs like Fingerprint File, All Down The Line, You Gotta Move, Heartbreaker, YCAGWYW, HTW, IORR, Ain't Too Proud To Beg, Midnight Rambler + the Preston numbers showed a band on top form in 1975. That's a good portion of the show.

But some songs were unbelievably bad, that's true.

Depends on the show.
The LA show on DVD is really bad whereas the different LA show on CD ( too lazy to look up the exact dates ) I really like.
Complete different band full of energy the other day one could think.

Blame Freddie Sessler. Moments of true brilliance followed by total disasters. There is no question they are more consistent these days but perhaps some of the true brilliance is missing.

I'd say the best of 1975 was still better than the best of 2015.

peace

75 LA Forum is sex, drugs and rocknroll, and i like it

Toronto 1975 is an excellent show.

I saw the 75 4th of July show in Memphis. My first and still unforgetable.

It's true that some songs on the 1975 dvd are bad, but the majority of the show is great. It also needs to be said that LA forum 11th or 12th July 1975 was far from the best performance of the tour. In those days they were very inconsistent and each concert were truly unique.

As for 1976, they were much better that year! Mick sang better and Keith played with much more concentration, songs like HTW, Get Off Of My Cloud, If You Can't Rock Me and Ain't Too Proud To Beg were different from and miles better than in 1975. It would be pure gold to have a complete soundboard from 1976 in pristine quality. Love You Live isn't good enough for me!

No need to compare their 70s concerts to their 2015 concerts, it's all about your preference and taste, yes there were horribly bad moments on stage in 1975 or 1973, just as there were equally bad moments in 2015! What can be said however is that in 1975 they played all their songs about twice as fast compared to now, and most Stones songs require a decently fast tempo to get my foot stompin', which makes me believe the 1975-tour was better. But to be honest this shouldn't really even be a question.

TOTA '75 in Greensboro, NC, was a great show, but I admit that a lot of my excitement came from seeing my favorite band live for the first time. I have not found any copies of that show (or even one song from that show), so I just have to go on memory here. I had a fantastic time, nevertheless!

The very next concert, also in Greensboro, was the Some Girls tour three years later, in 1978. I was so built up from the previous concert that it was a let down. Maybe some of that was that it was a very basic stage set up instead of the lotus pedal stage/lighting. I used to rank this show at the bottom, but when I heard the bootleg of the show (called "Southern Quotations" ) I decided I had been too harsh in judging it. They had some great moments in that concert.

I didn't see the Stones again live until Steel Wheels, '89, in Birmingham, and that was the single best show of all. In '78 it was raw, and they were younger, but they had also developed sort some "live sloppiness" that was sometimes powerful and other times not so good. The Birmingham show seemed like they had gone back to the old songs, really listened to them again, expanded out the deep cuts, and made a very concerted effort to give a much better show than previous tours.

I saw them a week ago here in Atlanta on the Zip Code tour, and can honestly say that I psyched my expectations down a good bit. What a surprise to get a Top 5 out of 10 show! Yes, it was warhorses, but we also got "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" and "You Got to Move" and "Some Girls", which sent that show over the roof.

All that being said (since we are comparing 1975 and 2015, a span of 40 years), here is how I rank my Stones shows:

1. 1989, Steel Wheels, Birmingham
2. 1975, Tour of the Americas, Greensboro
3. 1997, Bridges to Babylon, Atlanta
4. 2006, Bigger Bang, Atlanta
5. 2015, Zip Code, Atlanta
6. 1994, Voodoo Lounge, Birmingham
7. 1989, Steel Wheels, Atlanta
8. 2005, Bigger Bang, Atlanta
9. 1978, Some Girls, Greensboro
10. 1994, Voodoo Lounge, Atlanta

Just personal preference, here. It's so hard to compare shows over that time period (what you think is fantastic at age 20 might not be so great at age 60!). Also, so many things figure into this: who you were with at the show, the sound at the arena (which puts 1994 Voodoo Lounge at the bottom because of the cavernous Georgia Dome), how tired you were during the show, whether or not there was a person near you screaming "UNDER MY THUMB, UNDER MY THUMB!!," etc.

Cheers.....

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DandelionPowderman
Not on the ballads. He had it in him

I would also claim that songs like Fingerprint File, All Down The Line, You Gotta Move, Heartbreaker, YCAGWYW, HTW, IORR, Ain't Too Proud To Beg, Midnight Rambler + the Preston numbers showed a band on top form in 1975. That's a good portion of the show.

I don't know ... I found that some of those songs dragged, especially Fingerprint File and Heartbreaker. Sure, I love those songs, I love a good funk jam, but watching the dvd I found those too long and lifeless.

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Mongoose
whether or not there was a person near you screaming "UNDER MY THUMB, UNDER MY THUMB!!," etc.

Oh man, was that you I ticked off? I'm sorry. People seemed so wasted I didn't think they'd mind, plus I'd been told that Jagger often took requests shouted out from the crowd... who knew...

OK - I saw them in KC on 6/6/75 and then Memphis on 7/4/75 - both awesome at the time - then saw them in Dallas on 6/6/15 (yep, 40 yrs to the day after KC). I really prefer the current Stones: the guitars now have exactly the right combination of bite and twang - both guitars are playing with more concentration than in 75 and play like there's more on the line. -In the 70's it WAS just doing what they do - which I've always loved - but they could also coast on the energy of relative youth and drug-fueled adrenalin.

Today, they have to work it with considerable focus to make it happen - but they're pulling something off that NOBODY of their generation could touch today - and that's a real accomplishment. Mick has lost some of the range and growl today - but delivers a more focused vocal than he did when he didn't need to try (not to say he didn't deliver an awesome show, as always)

In Dallas last week, I was next to some 20-something guys just scratching this off their bucket list - it took about 30 seconds for them to turn to me and go 'Holy Shit!' - watching the 70-yr-old Stones knock out one scorcher after another is a revelation. Next stop: KC on the 27th!

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LieB

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DandelionPowderman
Not on the ballads. He had it in him

I would also claim that songs like Fingerprint File, All Down The Line, You Gotta Move, Heartbreaker, YCAGWYW, HTW, IORR, Ain't Too Proud To Beg, Midnight Rambler + the Preston numbers showed a band on top form in 1975. That's a good portion of the show.

I don't know ... I found that some of those songs dragged, especially Fingerprint File and Heartbreaker. Sure, I love those songs, I love a good funk jam, but watching the dvd I found those too long and lifeless.

Yeah, but the show on that DVD has pretty much been infamous for being one of the worse shows on the tour. Try Toronto, or even the LA-show from the 13th

Jacksonville 75' was a pretty damn good show, Fingerprint File excluded.

6 straight nights at M S Garden were great

1975 was rock n roll. Ronnie was the only weak link (he was needed for their 1976 output though edit: and of course 1977-1982). Mick's vocals were great and misunderstood (he had attitude, he was spontanous, he was camp and he was black and even more so in 1976). Ollie Brown changed the whole sound in a marvelous way. Unique sound that tour. No they didnt play as good as in 1972 or 1973 - Taylor was so much better. But I love that tour. They never looked better. They never displayed their lifestyle on stage like that ever again.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-06-18 23:07 by Redhotcarpet.

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Turner68

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Mongoose
whether or not there was a person near you screaming "UNDER MY THUMB, UNDER MY THUMB!!," etc.

Oh man, was that you I ticked off? I'm sorry. People seemed so wasted I didn't think they'd mind, plus I'd been told that Jagger often took requests shouted out from the crowd... who knew...

No worries, mate. If you will remember, at that same show, I was the one shouting out "THE LANTERN!! GOMPER!!!"

(Think THAT didn't get some stares from people around me.....)

:-)

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john lomax
I am watching the 1975 LA Forum and is is appallingly bad. I really cannot understand people who say the Stons today are rubbish and they were so much better in the 70s. They certainly were not better in 75 - this gig is dreadful. Sloppy playing, terrible singing, dull lifeless performances.... It actually looks like a bad version of the Rolling Stoned (a Stones cover band here in the UK). I would much prefer a well played set of war horses played by a a band that has energy and passion rather than the stoned, self-indulgent and, quite frankly boring performance they gave in '75.

That is HILARIOUS!

l saw all six shows at MSG and they were great,given there was lots of Coke around, but imho much better than what they do now days,all the songs were relatively fresh....

"No dope smoking no beer sold after 12 o'clock"

Reading about their tours in the 1970s has made me wonder - why did they bother? They were so coked up, heroined up, drunk, screaming, not singing, too fast, too slow, sloppy, getting busted...

Keith. "Oh man, we're going on the road again... haaarrrrrghhhhh, I better hook up." For what? Playing and travelling isn't exhausting enough?

Poor Charlie.

75 Tour of America ROCKED!

The STONES were on fire. It was one big party
at the 2 Shows I saw in Philly.

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GasLightStreet
Reading about their tours in the 1970s has made me wonder - why did they bother? They were so coked up, heroined up, drunk, screaming, not singing, too fast, too slow, sloppy, getting busted...

Keith. "Oh man, we're going on the road again... haaarrrrrghhhhh, I better hook up." For what? Playing and travelling isn't exhausting enough?

Poor Charlie.

dafuq you mean?

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GasLightStreet
Reading about their tours in the 1970s has made me wonder - why did they bother? They were so coked up, heroined up, drunk, screaming, not singing, too fast, too slow, sloppy, getting busted...

Keith. "Oh man, we're going on the road again... haaarrrrrghhhhh, I better hook up." For what? Playing and travelling isn't exhausting enough?

Poor Charlie.

They bothered because it still made them money, and I can't say this from experience but I would assume that the audience was just about as f'ed up as they were and thought it was great regardless...

I agree with you. Poor Charlie. Although he probably got some amusement out of it at times.

What people don't see is that back then the audience was as Fu--ed up as the band was,so is was a huge party,at least in New York no one was sitting down,not like now when people behind you get upset if you stand up,or sing along,it was a PARTY....

"No dope smoking no beer sold after 12 o'clock"

Give me a bad 75 show over a good 73 any day!

C

In my opinion the tour of 75-76 has had ups and downs, some great concerts, others much less.
Wild Horses is fantastic version [www.youtube.com]

everything's turning to gold



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-06-18 18:44 by Testify.