In Memphis this past Saturday my wife and I had the seats directly over Bernald, Lisa, and Blondie.(This was our second show of this tour, Atlanta was the other.)The seats gave us total view of everything that was going on back stage.(By the way,these were not the seats we purchased. How we got these seats were due to my wife public-relations skills.)I noticed a blonde haired lady arranging Ronnie's area. Jo Wood? She attended to Ronnie during the entire show.
There were dual stairs leading up from under the stage. When the lights dimmed and the intro music started up, I focus on this area. The first one up was Keith. He was all grins and started to shake hands with some of the stage techs.He strapped on his guitar and stepped up between the drum podium and amps.
Next up was Charlie. He went straight to his drum kit.He was all smiles.
Mick was the next one who came up the stairs stretching like an athlete preparing for a marathon.He procceded between the drums and amps waiting for his cue.Ronnie was last one to appear attended by Jo(?). He strapped on his guitar and waited .
Keith strolled to the front of the stage and stuck the opening chords, Mick pranced out as did Ronnie.
During the second song (It's only r&r)Keith seemed to notice something not quite right about his guitar as soon as he hit the first notes.He waited until the intro was over then swaped it for another one . Wrong tuning?
During IORR Blondie Chaplin strolled on stage, took a seat on a stool and began to play acoustic guitar. The sound during the show was fantastic you could hear Blondie on acoustic, Darryl's bass notes were very clear, the best sound that I have heard during a concert. The guitars were up in the mix. The keyboards were down.
Tumbling Dice was the Fourth song of the night. Keith and Ronnie both experienced problems with their guitars during the song, after Keith swapped his out he stepped to the front of the stage and ripped off a blistering solo. Ronnie after a give- it- my- best shot solo also swapped out his guitar.The rest of the night appeared to go smoothly after TD.
The Stones all seemed to be in great moods, lots of inter-play between them. At one point Keith even gave Ronnie a wedge. Mick noticed as he bursted out laughing. They were not done, a couple of songs later as mick passed by Ronnie he also jerkedup Ronnie's underwear. Laughs all around. During the band introductions, Ronnie seemed to notice something going on as he went over and spoke in Keith's ear. What ever he said nearly collapes Keith with laugther. Ronnie then went over and spoke to Mick as Keith looked on. This also bought laughter out of Mick. After the bands intro as Mick headed off stage he went behind Charlie and spoke to him. Charlie, also burst out into laughter. I would love to what that was all about!
I watched as Mick went down the stairs and under the stage. He came back when Keith was finishing up Infamy,he had changed clothes and had on his headset and was handed a guitar. When Keith finished and was swapping guitars as well as changing shirts and a quick smoke, Mick came back on stage as the band started up Miss You.
During the B-stage part of the show the back-ups left the stage only to reappear during Get off of my cloud to add backing vox.
During the interlude between the main set and the encore the Stones all changed out shirts, Ronnie had a Bananna, Keith had a cigarette, Mick and Charlie seemed to only talk to the techs, Smiles all around. Everyone seemed to be in great spirits.
As for the show I wish they had played a few newer numbers, but the performance was GREAT! Hope to see them again next year. Hope that I did not bore anyone with this post. Thanks for reading!
One last note.My 12th show since '69. (This was my wife's 2nd show both this year.) I ask her her thoughts on the Stones She said Keith was the Rebel, Mick was the leader, Charlie was the quite one in his own world, happy and content doing his own thing. Ronnie's the outsider not quite fitting in but wanting to and trying to. The newcomer. She nailed it.

Yeah I have seen the gig from similiar perspectives before. From the 2nd row behind the stage in Denver on the No Security tour when they still did the full 360 seating, before the slow song segment Keith was staring intently at the setlist right next to Charlie while his tech was talking in his ear. But he was looking at the setlist like he hadn't seen it before.

one thing that has been UNIVERSALLY agreed upon about this tour is the sound. A+

No man this is the kinda stuff I love to read about. We need more stuff like this about shows. I wonder if the guys were laughing and a memember in the audience. Anyhow kienan thanks for the interesting post. Hail to the Stones. Hail to the South! Tom

Thanks for the info kienan, good to read an upper.



ROCKMAN

kienan,

great post.

I noticed the guitar problems as well, I thought that they only affected Keith. I thought the sound was cutting out in the intros of both IORR and TD. With TD, Keith seemed almost to storm back to get another guitar. And it took quite a while to make the trade.

Ronnie was heading for the solo and didn't have Keith on rhythm, he looked pissed off that Keith wasn't playing, but he was right at the front and couldn't see that Keith was making a swap. Mick glanced back to look for Keith only to find that he was off-stage, but Mick didn't blink an eye, he just kept things moving. The guy's fearless.

I thought Ronnie sounded great early on in the show, until after Rain Fall Down, and and then disappeared in the mix only to come back with Get Off Of My Cloud. He seemed to have a few problems on the b-stage, at one time falling/ jumping off the main riser and coming down right by the crowd.

We'll all have a better read on this stuff when Drake graces us with his Memphis Recording Studio mix. It should be good, in fact I know it will be good.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-12-06 05:14 by camper88.

great post kienan, thanks for the inside info!

"I thought Ronnie sounded great early on in the show, until after Rain Fall Down, and and then disappeared in the mix only to come back with Get Off Of My Cloud. He seemed to have a few problems on the b-stage, at one time falling/ jumping off the main riser and coming down right by the crowd."

Camper, I caught the same thing, but I thought he was having fun with someone on the side of the stage (and she appeared to be well-endowed!) and the riser started to move before he made his return. Late again Ronnie, dammit! I did notice a bit of a hiccupp by ron on the slide transition for RJ, but I still thought he played a solid show in retrospect.

Enjoyed your review BTW, but you left out the Rendevous?

Yeah Camper, I missed the Rendevous story during the general chaos of the pre and post show activities - let's hear that one!

crossfire Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Enjoyed your review BTW, but you left out the
> Rendevous?

Thanks for the compliment, Crossfire, I left it out because it wasn't germane to the show. I'm a believer (stickler) in talking about the context of the concert in a review, not the crazy stuff around it. Although damn those ribs were good, and just knowing that I missed the Stones by about an hour is enough to make a grown man cry.

On the bright side, I did see Chuck the next day and heard the story from the owner of the rib joint, and . . . I know better the next time the Stones come to Memphis. They've been there everytime since 1964, damn!

camper88 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> crossfire Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> >
> > Enjoyed your review BTW, but you left out
> the
> > Rendevous?
>
> Thanks for the compliment, Crossfire, I left it
> out because it wasn't germane to the show. I'm a
> believer (stickler) in talking about the context
> of the concert in a review, not the crazy stuff
> around it. Although damn those ribs were good,
> and just knowing that I missed the Stones by about
> an hour is enough to make a grown man cry.
>
> On the bright side, I did see Chuck the next day
> and heard the story from the owner of the rib
> joint, and . . . I know better the next time the
> Stones come to Memphis. They've been there
> everytime since 1964, damn!
>

Great story! They can't remember which songs are on which albums, but they remember a rib joint in Memphis. Go figure! Every time since 1964, now that is brand loyalty. This post makes me want to eat ribs and then go post it on the "what did you have for dinner" thread.

ohnonotyouagain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeah Camper, I missed the Rendevous story during
> the general chaos of the pre and post show
> activities - let's hear that one!

Just for you Ohno,

For dinner last night (Friday Dec, 02) I went to The Rendezvous, Memphis's best rib joint according to many. Right on the menu this is what it said:

Sink your teeth into a slab of what makes Memphis Memphis. Presidents and potentates, the King and the killer Rolling Stones have all been down for a bite.

What a great way to sell ribs.

And playing on the jukebox . . . Satisfaction.

That was last night.

. . .

Today at lunch I went back today to try the brisket, outstanding. So I loaded up the jukebox with Stones tunes, creating a big blast of cheers from all the Stones fans in the place (it's cool to hear people cheer when they hear a song on the jukebox), and I sit back down to my meal and who comes by but Chuck Levall. I'm not one to interrupt people and I like to respect people's privacy so I simply said hello and wished him well with the show tonight.

He graciously thanked me and went on to sit with a group of folks at the back of the restaurant.

Minutes later the owner of the restaurant came over to me and asked how everything was . . . I told him that it doesn't get much better, great food, and a great concert later today. When he found out I going to the Stones he told me that they were in last night, a table of about 40 with friends and family. They stayed from about 9:30 to 11:30 and were singing for about the last hour.

They've gone to the Rendezvous (or ordered take out) every time they've gone to Memphis since 1964. The first time they went the original owner didn't want to let them in, a call got made to the Peabody (The premier hotel in Memphis) and the folks at the Peabody said, don't mess with them, they're the Rolling Stones and they're all right.

I wish I would've been able to have my dinner later last night, seeing the Stones singin in a Memphis rib joint would have been outrageous.

Cool! Now that you mention it, I remember hearing part of this story when we were in Memphis. I lost those brains cells but just now partially recovered them.

lets call that 1 Rib this Joint

Wonderful post! Hearing things first-hand from a bird's eye view, things that I haven't seen yet on this tour is great reading.

Great post, kienan. You've got mail!

Kienan. Thanks for that great post. Maybe one day we will know what made them laugh

Did anyone catch Mick as he was introducing Ronnie? As he strolled pass Ronnie's stand that he uses for tissue and his bananas, he casual picked up the banana as he walk with Ronnie, he hesitated before he said anything, then just smiled as he kept staring at the banana. You could see his brian churning as to what he could say. Finally he just smiled and said "Ronnie Wood". He then placed the banana back on the stand. As I mention before the Stones were in a great mood. Anyone else catch any light moments like this at any other shows?

Great post and a great review Kienan. I love to read stuff like this

mick and ronnie are always joking around together - they seem to be the best of friends - i think for that reason, he fits in quite well!

A great read - thank you, Kienan!