The B-Stage added another dimension to the show and seemed to bring out the best in the band. Some of the best performances by the Stones came on the B-Stage, particularly during the Bridges to Babylon and Licks Tours.

Why do you think it hasn't featured since 2007?

.....

Olly.

Charlie doesn't like to leave his stool any longer.

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Olly
The B-Stage added another dimension to the show and seemed to bring out the best in the band. Some of the best performances by the Stones came on the B-Stage, particularly during the Bridges to Babylon and Licks Tours.

Why do you think it hasn't featured since 2007?

I agree with that. For the Bridges tour it was the highlight of the show for me as my seats at Dodger stadium were rear floor.
When they came out on the B-stage, that was the closest I'd ever seen them up to that point.

For the free Staples Center, Feb. '03 show, I had a friend who won tickets via NRDC Presents the Rolling Stones, and we ended up with tickets right on the B-stage.
Again, this was the closest I'd ever seen them up to this point, and when they played Midnight Rambler on the B-stage it was surreal and the single most thrilling experience I've had at any Stones concert.
I remember drifting back to my youth learning to playing guitar by playing along to some of my favorite albums, and here they were right in front of me nearly within arms reach showing me how it was done almost like it was a private lesson. Making eye contact with all of them while watching and listening to the ultimate extended jam of Midnight Rambler is something I'll never forget. Sure I've seen better Stones concerts as a whole. Yes I have been front row. And yes I've seen them in clubs and theaters. But if I were to pick one song that I've seen live, and have the opportunity to relive it all exactly as it happened- it would be this.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Maybe the people up front got mad that they would "lose" their front row seats
for 3 songs and told Mick "Stop that! We don't like turning around!"


I loved the B stage!! I thought it was a great equalizer giving folks in the cheap seats the best seats in the house for 3 songs. Even when I had great seats up front I would run back and do the B stage and then go back to my good seat. I don't mind a lil jog around the arena.

I remember on the Licks tour in Denver we bought tickets at the box office an hour before show time and got last row on the floor... I mean LAST row.... and it was fine. They were affordable and last row is not too far away.

At one point point security started bring out those portable metal barricades and lining them up right behind our seats. It made for a couple of amusing interactions between security and a couple of people who WOULD NOT BE TOLD! where and when they can go... but yeah, they got told where they can go... anyway, I didnt know or care what the barricade things were for, I was rocking and rolling...

So anyway when the B stage part came we were right there, I can still see it in my mind, clear as day. Those 3 songs were heaven on Earth for 15 minutes, my band 8 feet away... and after the three songs they walked down a little stairway off of the B stage then walk 2 feet behind us into the tunnel before making their way back to the main stage for the final song. It was fun.

I suppose it is really about the money.
Because of touring just a few months a year they've been using a very standart stage for the past stadium gigs (2014-16). If they plan to do a bigger tour in support of their new album, they may choose to get a new and big scale stage design and the b-stage would be there too for sure. But maybe thats to risky at their age. The ABB stage did take the money of the first 30 or so shows until they made profit...

The B stage was a great concept for BtB tour and they used it to do old numbers at 1st , recreating their mid 60s gigs. It kind of just interrupted the flow of the gig after 99 IMHO.

It was a thrill to be up against it at some arena shows though !

sc uk

It would be good if their was a compilation from btb and licks tour of the b stage performances

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philrock90
It would be good if their was a compilation from btb and licks tour of the b stage performances

AN EXCELLENT IDEA.

Loved the B stage on the BB Tour. In 2006 I was at the far end of Giants Stadium and the rolling b-stage brought the boys practically right under my nose as they played Under My Thumb! Great memories!

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philrock90
It would be good if their was a compilation from btb and licks tour of the b stage performances

The best I saw was neither. Charlie on the B-Stage for Midnight Rambler at Anaheim on the No Security tour was the ultimate for me. I'd always thought he slipped a little after that peak. He kind of acknowledged it recently, kind of wistful in an interview, almost an aside, after seeing Exhibitionism, that they would never reach those musical heights again. Sounds like he's missing those nights when, '...the drummer thinks that he is dy-na-mite....'

They don't use it anymore probably because to them, it got stale. Mick and Charlie have always worked on new concepts and art forms to present the band. It's very important to Mick to keep the Rolling Stones current. Just my opinion.

It's the only way they could stop Chuck from tossing Keith's guitar picks to the crowd ....



ROCKMAN

It seems many other performing acts took this page from the Stones play book and did it too. Not the first time, and probably not the last time, The Stones lead the way with a great idea.

The Stones are actually kind of cool when you think about.

Mick got the b-stage idea from seeing U2 on the Zoo TV tour in 92-93. That's the first time I can recall a band using a b-stage, when they'd go out into the audience mid-way through the show and do a 3 song unplugged acoustic set.

Podiumboy,

100% correct...I seen it myself at Giants Stadium on that U-2 Tour.

Then got to see the real thing at Giants Stadium on the B2B Tour...that was awesome!

A staple of the modern Stones show that disappeared...Did they not have a
"B" Stage on the 2013 Tour and 2014 tour?


PECMAN

THe B stage was certainly one of the greatest show experiences if you had the right seats for it.

It did however sometimes cause sound problems when less than "autopilot" type numbers were chosen for it.

I's like to see an intimate little blues set performed on the B stage...but some might feel it wouold spoil the dynamics of the show.

Too expensive to provide all that machinery for the modern-day short tours, when they have not been sure whether each 14-date group might not be the last.

I loved the B-stage. If you had lousy seats, the B-stage could, for 15 minutes anyway, transform a stadium into an arena, and an arena into a theatre. In 2005 at Comerica Park in Detroit, my wife and I had seats on the field; not the $450 ones, but the $160 seats that were way off to the side. I knew the setlist, and I noticed there was really no one hanging around where the B-stage was going to be, so when Keith began singing "Infamy," I said, "Okay, now's the time to start wandering on over there." Seeing the Stones do "Satisfaction" while they were only 10 feet away from me remains one of the highlights of my concert-going career, and I didn't even have to pay top dollar to see it.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2016-04-11 16:42 by tatters.

B-stage cool. Mick's B-stage headset mic, not cool.

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tatters
I loved the B-stage. If you had lousy seats, the B-stage could, for 15 minutes anyway, transform a stadium into an arena, and an arena into a theatre. In 2005 at Comerica Park in Detroit, my wife and I had seats on the field; not the $450 ones, but the $160 seats that were way off to the side. I knew the setlist, and I noticed there was really no one hanging around where the B-stage was going to be, so when Keith began singing "Infamy," I said, "Okay, now's the time to start wandering on over there." Seeing the Stones do "Satisfaction" while they were only 10 feet away from me remains one of the highlights of my concert-going career, and I didn't even have to pay top dollar to see it.

Success is 70% timing

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Spud

It did however sometimes cause sound problems when less than "autopilot" type numbers were chosen for it.

If you were right near the B-stage, the sound was terrible, though this was more than made up for by the (for some of us) once in a lifetime intimacy of the experience. At a stadium show, the B-stage was so far from the main stage that it would take the sound coming from the main stage PA two to three tenths of a second to reach the B-stage, so what the people near the B-stage were hearing was the sound of the band's B-stage amplifiers, followed 0.2 or 0.3 seconds later by the sound coming from the main stage PA. By the time you heard Mick sing "I can't get no," his lips were already mouthing the word "satisfaction." It made it kind of difficult to sing along.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2016-04-11 19:40 by tatters.

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podiumboy
Mick got the b-stage idea from seeing U2 on the Zoo TV tour in 92-93...

Possibly, but Mick was always trying to find ways to get closer to more of the crowd for years -- they were designing the stage w/ lots of roaming/running room with angles etc. so that he can get to as much of the crowd as possible. Even with rotating stages.

When I first saw Stones in '81, Mick got on a crane that stretched him out into the audience. Videos from earlier years show a star shaped stage that allowed for access further into the crowd.

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Bastion
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On the internet nobody knows
you're Mick Jagger

saw the b-stage at murrayfield in edinburgh in 1999, the songs i think were routte 66, midnight rambler and like a rolling stone. was a great experience although we were high up in the stands, but the b-stage with those songs did give something to the concert, not so sure about the last 02 gig in 2007.

the b-stage experience really has to be more than 3 songs, possibly 5 would make it worthwhile and it has to be rare songs only, not songs they would do on the main stage other nights.

probably logistics and cost ended the b-stage.

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tatters

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Spud

It did however sometimes cause sound problems when less than "autopilot" type numbers were chosen for it.

If you were right near the B-stage, the sound was terrible, though this was more than made up for by the (for some of us) once in a lifetime intimacy of the experience. At a stadium show, the B-stage was so far from the main stage that it would take the sound coming from the main stage PA two to three tenths of a second to reach the B-stage, so what the people near the B-stage were hearing was the sound of the band's B-stage amplifiers, followed 0.2 or 0.3 seconds later by the sound coming from the main stage PA. By the time you heard Mick sing "I can't get no," his lips were already mouthing the word "satisfaction." It made it kind of difficult to sing along.

Yep,

Illustrates how difficult it actually is to play those huge stages and keep the train on the tracks most of the time.

2 of my favorite Stones live moments came from the B stage. Vegas on the Licks tour they did "Brown Sugar" stripped down to end the show (minus encore). Just the 5 of them with Bobby Keys strolling out to do the sax solo. Mighty! On ABB in Seattle, the Ronnie was ahhhh, adjusted, & not at his best I had Keith's amp pointed right at me during "Honky Tonk". Awesome! It was a good concept & nice for the folks who didn't get the prime seats. I believe the first time I saw that done was U2 when "Achtung Baby" came out. Now its kind of become common place.

It's just not necessary anymore. When U2 first did it for ZOO TV they had a multitude of video screens on stage.

When the Stones did it in 1994, what little they did, the video screen was one big one.

BRIDGES was absolutely brilliant. The best ever. Since that, eh, the LICKS tour was cool because of the dirty way they played those tunes but it had gotten old. The one for the BANG tour seemed like a nightmare.