My most poignant memory of this album and tour is trying to get over Voodoo Lounge. I remember upsetting someone at a gig with my opinion. They were all for Babylon. To me this is a record that divides Mick and Keith songs. I did love the title and stage set though. It was golden times.

Was Bridges to Babylon the last truly epic, grand-scale Stones tour? In terms of performance, set-lists, stage setup and show production, perhaps it was. No Security was musically as good, though it was small-scale in comparison. Licks was magnificent, with a tremendous concept, but the stadium shows from '02 onwards have lacked the grandeur of the Voodoo Lounge and Bridges to Babylon Tours.

ABB was big as well, and they tried to mix up the setlists for a while, but ended up with setlists like we know today on the third leg of the tour.

I'd say the first leg of ABB was somewhat as big as the B2B-tour, but the playing wasn't really as good.

Many of the shows were still good, though (saw them in Bergen 2006 and in Oslo 2007).

After ABB they have scaled down their productions big time.

Mediocre album. bad production. A song like Flip the Switch or Gunface would have sound so much better with a different producer. It sounds so..shallow.. But Might as well get juiced on the other hand is way over-produced..

I like Saint of Me, You don't have to mean it, Thief in the night and Flip the Switch, but the rest...meh.

Probably a unpopulair opinion, but I prefer Dirty Work

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DandelionPowderman
ABB was big as well, and they tried to mix up the setlists for a while, but ended up with setlists like we know today on the third leg of the tour.

I'd say the first leg of ABB was somewhat as big as the B2B-tour, but the playing wasn't really as good.

Many of the shows were still good, though (saw them in Bergen 2006 and in Oslo 2007).

After ABB they have scaled down their productions big time.

I saw them a handful of times during the A Bigger Bang Tour, but there's not a huge amount of nostalgia there for me, really. I found them to be disappointing in comparison to the Licks Tour. Bridges to Babylon is a few years before my time, but I've always thought it to be an absolute top-notch tour; at least, going by the official releases. I read people exclaim that Ronnie was missing-in-action at times, but that doesn't detract from the overall enjoyment. Keith was certainly on fine form, despite a, very slight, continuing dip in his abilities. The effort was all there, for sure.

Fantastic album. How can I stop is in my top 2 of favorite Stones tracks. I love Flip, Low Down, Already Over Me, Saint, Juiced, and the great Too Tight.

Last great album by the Stones.

Mathijs

I've been playing this album quite a bit in the past year. Friend gave it me years ago, saying it wasn't really a Stones album....
I actually love the whole sound and feel of Might as Well Get Juiced - hard to understand why it is so often dismissed.
Too Tight was much better sung by Keith, in that tranche of outtakes, with the violinist, and different - totally different - lyrics and feel to what Mick came up with. Ditto Lowdown. I have grown to really like the country ballad Always Suffering, and the closing two from Keith are great - the last bit is one of the great endings for Stones album IMO.

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VoodooLounge13
The last great album.

I think I'd agree to that to a certain extent. The tour & No Security were certainly good. Out of Control & Saint of Me were both great live. On a good night they would certainly lock in the groove on those. Anybody Seen My Baby not so much, both album & live.

This album and tour was how I first learned about IORR. I was working in Sydney and we had one computer that was set up so that staff could access the internet. It was dial-up so it was really, but every afternoon after work I would get on that computer to try to get info about the album and the tour - and I discovered IORR! I booked a ticket to the Edmonton show, and then flew to Seattle first, then was in Vancouver when the album came out - then a couple of days later I flew to Edmonton for the show. Awesome gig, I particularly remember how good Keith was - really active and animated, playing his red 335 (on Bitch if I remember correctly). And Crazy Mama on the B- stage was cool. At that gig they didn’t have the bridge yet so they had to walk across a much lower divider….. great days, great tour

Outstanding:

Out of Control
Saint of Me
Thief
How Can I Stop?

Nice:

Seen My Baby
Flip
Gunface
Lowdown
Mean It
Over Me

No thanks:

Too Tight
Always Suffering
Juiced

IORR has been running for more than 25 years, so there are many links and pages related to Bridges To Babylon here.

I posted this album page during the summer of 1997, the page name is still "blessed.htm":

The new Rolling Stones album
Bridges To Babylon

The IORR 1997 news pages with many links:

IORR News Jan-August 1997

ALBUM TALK: Bridges To Babylon (IORR Tell Me Forum pages)

The press conference report:

The Brooklyn Bridge press conferences

I was seated on row one at the press conference, with Jane Rose on my one side, and the Sprint Manager (tour sponsor) on my other side. As Mick drove the car, and parked it right in front of me, just 5-6 feet away, I had front row position to make a roll of pictures with my cheap pocket camera.





Bjornulf



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-09-28 18:32 by bv.

Great photos, Bjornulf! How exciting that must have been to have a front row seat and next to Jane Rose.

Karen & Bill

Although I liked a couple of the songs when it came out, I never find myself wanting to listen to the album. It's a weird one. Not bad, like Undercover, or a lot of Dirty Work, just strange for a Stones album. Like they were trying to sound current, with up to date production, but it didn't really work.

I first heard Anybody Seen My Baby on vacation in Amsterdam. My god, it's been 25 years? I saw them on the BTB tour, and found it okay. But when they came back in '99 they were on fire. Out of Control worked really well on the No Security Tour, which by then, just two short years, was the only cut from BTB they were still doing. Which, excepting a few performances of You Don't Have To Mean It (which sounded great) is the only song they still perform from BTB. (I hope I'm correct on that).

Love it, though it’s too long. The standard for a RS album should be 10 songs. Cut some of the fillers for a kick ass album. Same goes for SW, VL and ABB.

JumpingKentFlash

I somehow liked it when it was released. In 23 years that followed I rarely listened to it. For me it's a 'we need a new album to tour'-album… I like(d) Voodoo Lounge much more.

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24FPS
Although I liked a couple of the songs when it came out, I never find myself wanting to listen to the album. It's a weird one. Not bad, like Undercover, or a lot of Dirty Work, just strange for a Stones album. Like they were trying to sound current, with up to date production, but it didn't really work.

I first heard Anybody Seen My Baby on vacation in Amsterdam. My god, it's been 25 years? I saw them on the BTB tour, and found it okay. But when they came back in '99 they were on fire. Out of Control worked really well on the No Security Tour, which by then, just two short years, was the only cut from BTB they were still doing. Which, excepting a few performances of You Don't Have To Mean It (which sounded great) is the only song they still perform from BTB. (I hope I'm correct on that).

I saw a show that was kind of tacked on the end of the BTB tour in Portland. It was in an arena & it was really like a preview of No Security. Fantastic show! I had a ticket behind the stage (open stage) & Mick was 10 feet away from me at times including the beginning. One of my favorite Stones shows I saw. Out of Control totally smoked that show. They hit the magic groove...

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slewan
I somehow liked it when it was released. In 23 years that followed I rarely listened to it. For me it's a 'we need a new album to tour'-album… I like(d) Voodoo Lounge much more.

Same for me. Whether VL is better than B2B is a moot point, though.

And these days, ‘It’s okay to tour without a new album.’

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ribbelchips
Mediocre album. bad production. A song like Flip the Switch or Gunface would have sound so much better with a different producer. It sounds so..shallow.. But Might as well get juiced on the other hand is way over-produced..

I like Saint of Me, You don't have to mean it, Thief in the night and Flip the Switch, but the rest...meh.

Probably a unpopulair opinion, but I prefer Dirty Work

Oh.

Well then, that says it all.

Interesting how you came to that conclusion.

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RisingStone

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slewan
I somehow liked it when it was released. In 23 years that followed I rarely listened to it. For me it's a 'we need a new album to tour'-album… I like(d) Voodoo Lounge much more.

Same for me. Whether VL is better than B2B is a moot point, though.

And these days, ‘It’s okay to tour without a new album.’

It seems like the fans who still go to the never ending Greatest Hits Tour would be annoyed with a warhorse or two being replaced by cuts from a new album.

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Big Al
Was Bridges to Babylon the last truly epic, grand-scale Stones tour? In terms of performance, set-lists, stage setup and show production, perhaps it was. No Security was musically as good, though it was small-scale in comparison. Licks was magnificent, with a tremendous concept, but the stadium shows from '02 onwards have lacked the grandeur of the Voodoo Lounge and Bridges to Babylon Tours.

Absolutely. It carried through a bit into SECURITY and LICKS, performance wise, and ever since it's been way less, but BRIDGES was it in terms of originality and the daringness of the catalog, when the music industry was really starting to change.

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GasLightStreet

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Big Al
Was Bridges to Babylon the last truly epic, grand-scale Stones tour? In terms of performance, set-lists, stage setup and show production, perhaps it was. No Security was musically as good, though it was small-scale in comparison. Licks was magnificent, with a tremendous concept, but the stadium shows from '02 onwards have lacked the grandeur of the Voodoo Lounge and Bridges to Babylon Tours.

Absolutely. It carried through a bit into SECURITY and LICKS, performance wise, and ever since it's been way less, but BRIDGES was it in terms of originality and the daringness of the catalog, when the music industry was really starting to change.

They opened with Satisfaction for Fk’s sake!!! Annnnnnd then for NS had the gigantic balls to say we’re not gonna play it at all this tour!!! No Security has been my favorite tour that I’ve seen of theirs. I’ve only been going since ‘97.

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ribbelchips
Mediocre album. bad production. A song like Flip the Switch or Gunface would have sound so much better with a different producer. It sounds so..shallow.. But Might as well get juiced on the other hand is way over-produced..

I like Saint of Me, You don't have to mean it, Thief in the night and Flip the Switch, but the rest...meh.

Probably a unpopulair opinion, but I prefer Dirty Work

Well at least you recognize that!

Haha, yeah I know many people dislike Dirty Work en have some love for BtB. I liked it when it came out. But nowadays, I hardly listen to it anymore. And when I do, I skip half of it. Already over me, Always Suffering... Give me Back to Zero, Too Rude or Had it with you, baby!

Two things stick out in my mind about this tour- the greatest press conference ever.
Mick driving the band across the Bridge in the old Cadillac even outdid the flatbed in midtown,
The pictures of the band with the twin towers behind them are haunting.
And at the tour opener in Chicago I actually heard them play a song live I’d never heard before.
The album wasn’t out yet.

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lem motlow
Two things stick out in my mind about this tour- the greatest press conference ever.
Mick driving the band across the Bridge in the old Cadillac even outdid the flatbed in midtown,
The pictures of the band with the twin towers behind them are haunting.
And at the tour opener in Chicago I actually heard them play a song live I’d never heard before.
The album wasn’t out yet.

There must have been at least six songs you hadn't heard live before in that show?

No, I mean a song I’d never heard before period, Out of Control. The video was playing on MTV of Anybody Seen My Baby but the album wasn’t out yet.
I thought they were playing Papa was a Rolling Stone at first and then WTF?
I’d have to look the set list up but I remember it was Really good.

Gotcha!

This is Keith's album

All three songs are very good with Thief in the Night and How can I stop two of his all time best.

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PaintMonkeyManBlack
This is Keith's album

All three songs are very good with Thief in the Night and How can I stop two of his all time best.

I disagree. Jagger has Saint of Me, Out of Control, Anybody seen My Baby, Already Over Me, Might as Well Get Juiced, Gunface, Flip the Switch. I like ‘em all

I have always thought it was a pretty decent album but also thought that Flip The Switch was the weakest opening track on a Stones album ever. Not a bad song, just a weak opener.