Memphis-the back stage activities
Date: December 6, 2005 04:11
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.