I've been listening to quite a lot of the shows from the 1975/1976 tours,i wish the Stones would go back to this on stage approach with their sound.The four of them a bassist, keyboards and Bobby Keyes(even if he was not on these tours).Even a percussionist would be ok.Of course the gang is all abroad in Toronto(the back-ups). Just wish they would scale back on them and take the same appoach as the back to basics of the forthcoming "A Bigger Bang".

i think many on this board would echo your sentiments, kienan - but those days are long, long gone. And, even if the new album is stripped down - you can assume only about 4-5 of those numbers will be included in the setlist on a given night. They have a "winning" (i.e. conducive to mass appeal) formula that they aren't about to change at this late stage of the act.

That,s also my wish Kienan

I've been listening to the Buffalo Heartbreakers
cd from Rockpassion a lot lately. Sure does
sound great. Same with the Complete LA Fridays,
and some of the NYC sides. Ditto. I think they've
pretty much decided that they need Lisa, Bernard,
to help flesh out the vocals, also a larger horn
section, Blondie doing whatever it is Blondie
does, and so on. After all it is 30 years
later. I wonder how the boys would sound
without them now...........?

davido Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wonder how the boys would sound
> without them now...........?


I think they can handle a stripped-down approach for short bursts - that's what the b-stage is all about. But, for 2 hours? Apparently, not.

I think it's a shame that they try so hard to cover up their deficiencies with all those people on stage. I would love to hear Mick attempt to sing the high notes, even if it means his voice would squeak and crack all the time, which, of course, it would. But in my opinion, that would be part of the charm. It's almost as if they think we won't like them anymore if they strip things down and expose their shortcomings and, in effect, their age.

As an example, Elton John performed here in Philly on the Fourth of July. I'm not really a fan, but I nevertheless admire the man. His voice isn't close to being what it used to be, but that didn't stop him from attempting to belt out the high notes, regardless of whether he could hit them or not. And he ended up sounding great, warts and all. It made his performance all the more real, and, to me, that's what rock n roll is about.

So yes, I've been praying for years that the Stones would get back to basics in concert and perform without all the extraneous people on stage. But we all know how vain they've become, and it just ain't gonna happen.



-- Keep on rollin'. Keep on. Keep on. Keep on. --

Ya ,,those stripped down days are gone 4ever i think,,except for the B- Stage,,,what the stones need to do is release LA FRIDAY & a 78 TOUR SHOW ON DVD,,,Ya NO ,,So i can die easy

Well, even in 1973 they had a three-piece horn section, a percussion player on half the tour and the Billy Preston and Nicky Hopkins on piano for half the tour. In Rotterdam 1973 they had ten people on stage, which isn't far off for todays Stones.

Mathijs

But they had one player that has never been replaced Sir Taylor with his vibrato.

Mathis,who was the other horn player? (besides Bobby Keyes and Jim Price).I don't think you meant that Nicky Hopkins and Billy Preston where on stage together,correct? Nicky on the early '73 and Billy Preston on the latter tour. Billy Preston was the opening act on the '73 tour of europe. Was Ollie Brown the percussionist? Plus Ian Stewart was also on stage for a few numbers,same as all other tours.

On the 1973 European tour, Trevor Lawrence played sax and Steve Madaio played trumpet and trombone.

I don't know who all the players are, but check the large picture of Rotterdam 1973 in Bill Wyman's Rolling with the Stones book: there's both Hopkins and Preston (Nicky Hopkins missed the second half of the tour due to health problems), there's three guys in the hornsection, and to the left of Jagger, there's a black percussionist.

Mathijs

Mathijs Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't know who all the players are, but check
> the large picture of Rotterdam 1973 in Bill
> Wyman's Rolling with the Stones book: there's both
> Hopkins and Preston (Nicky Hopkins missed the
> second half of the tour due to health problems),
> there's three guys in the hornsection, and to the
> left of Jagger, there's a black percussionist.
>
> Mathijs

Nicky Hopkins didn´t play with them at all during the 1973 European tour.
His last tour with the Stones was Australia/New Zealand in February 1973.
Also, I don´t see him in the pic you mention.

On the BtB tour, there were 14 people on stage.

They ahd Jim Horn playing horns with them. Sometimes they had a black horn player. the there was either Rocky on percussion. Or Ollie but mostly it was Rebop, I believe.
As m,uch as we would love the stripped down version of the Stones I think the only way to even entertain that idea is to also lobby for smaller shows. Jagger is 62, right? he is playing a stadium. A stadium means he HAS to run around a lot on that mega stage. Wear bright clothes so people cna even make out which dot is moving. With all that running it's hard at 23 to hit the notes. He needs Bernard not so much for arragment purposes (that's Lisa's job), but just for straight body. Bernard's role is basically to act as a Back-up-Jagger. Double tracked, picking up what Jagger doesn't hit. There really isn't much harmoies going on between them,.Sure on some key parts they duel a little but not very much.he's just fleshing it out.
Same with the horns and Leavell. Keith is all knuckled out, and his style is very sparse theses days. makes for good playing on his solo numbers in a small club. But he doesn't play the type of guiutar anymore that is needed to carry a huge Rocksound. Same with Ronnie. Remember Ron carreid the Faces with ONE guitar. Amazing stuff he did too. But Ron plays a ploinkety sounding Strat, or a Slide for fillers, and is clowning around most of the time anyway. maybe even as a foil to Jagger. But bottomline - something has gpot to carry the big sound. Look at that huge stage. They got to fill it with sound.
I'm just rambling at this point. ..

Well Folks, this is the price we pay, for being fans of the worlds greatest rocknrollband, that is going on for over 40 years... If they'd split in let's say 1977, we would say "oh, what a shame they didn't try this and that and....". Instead we wish the old times back. Come on, wake up, be happy! Keith should be dead for a longtime now, so should Ronnie. Or they could be fat coach potatoes. Instead they are going on the road again. I saw them in Olympia 2003 and they were absolutely fantastic. They've got ten times more engergy than most younger bands. They still rock'n'roll!

Yes, do it!!!!

I like the concept of the 75/76 tour, but the performances seem very weak to me. I've heard a few decent shows from this tour, but for the most part its some of the sloppiest Stones I've ever heard. Billy Preston sucks. Bongos on every song suck. etc...

Sole, I'm with you. If they had stoped at Goats Head Soup we would never have gotten Some Girls, Tattoo You, Emotional Rescue, Voodoo or A Bigger Bang.

billy preston sucks,,dont tell that to Eric Clapton

And without that tour where would we have gotten the lava lamp version of "Wild Horses"? Surely this has to be the best live version ever of this song.

Charles Baudelaire
1821-1869

There was a group called Kracker supporting them on Euro '73 tour, (not B Preston). Billy then did a tour with his own band and M Taylor.

OpenG, it is not Sir Mick Taylor but Saint Mick Taylor!

I agree with drake about the performances. It had already becomea circus by '75-76. A fancy folding stage, giant inflatable 'prop', Jagger swinging on a rope.....and the start of the audience participation sing-a-long-a-Jagger on YCAGWY. And start of obligatory encores......(very few in '73 or before). Oh, and Jagger's fancy costumes.

You think that was a stripped down stage/performance? The irony is that at the time (beginning of punk) they were lampooned for going completely over the top and having lost their raw, direct edge. That returned in '78 and to a lesser extent '81-2 when, although the stage was grandiose, the number of extra performers was still minimal.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-08-21 01:56 by Four Stone Walls.