This was sent to me by a friend at work who works out of our New Jersey office, from a newspaper in Cherry Hill. I found it very interesting and very true....


Rolling Stones Tour On Break For Holidays..

The Rolling Stones North American tour is officially on hiatus for the holidays before the band makes their second mini-trip through the US and then to Europe. Being a lifelong Stones fan and now working in a music publication it is a dream come true for myself. After seeing my first Stones show at MSG in 1972, I fell in love with the band. I never worked as a music writer until recent years and I can’t tell you how much fun it is to write about something you are so passionate about. Ten shows this tour, less than half of them for as I can now call it business, and underground cds so I can hear the shows I have not been to have allowed me to sort of follow the band throughout their massive tour. Now as a long-time Stones fan I find it my right to be able to be critical of these guys and please understand that my opinions are out of care of the band I have supported for so many years. Put it this way, the Stones are so important to me that if Mick does something embarrassing on stage, I am also embarrassed because they are my band and anyone who knows me that hears a Stones song usually thinks of me.

With that said, let me start by saying the new album A Bigger Bang is fantastic. Not only do I think this is a great album but I think Mick and Keith should consider getting back in the studio as soon as possible to they can keep writing music together while they are feeling it. I won’t say it’s the best album since Tattoo You or Some Girls, that has become very cliché. However I do like A Bigger Bang better than previous albums that went number one, such as Its Only Rock n Roll, Emotional Rescue or Undercover.

This leads to my first issue with the tour. With such a great album to support, I am very puzzled as to why the Stones barely play any of the new material. Most of the shows I attended they only performed three of their new songs, and the ones they played got a very good reaction, even better than the reactions for sub par songs like You Got Me Rocking, which seemed to draw very little applause. Sure it’s a matter of opinion but songs such as Look What The Cat Dragged In, She Saw Me Coming and It Won’t Take Long sound like they were made to be played in the live setting. While songs like Laugh, I Nearly Died and Let Me Down Real Slow show the Stones sounding different and fresh. Its really hard to understand why the Stones are not playing more tracks from this new album.

The one thing about the Stones that has always amazed me over the years was how they managed to do something different musically each tour that has every Stones fan say to themselves “wow I have to go to the show to hear them play that.” For me I could not believe the reviews in 1989 when I heard they were playing 2,000 Light Years From Home and Paint It Black. I almost thought it was a mistake in the paper. In 1994, I had the same reaction to them opening the shows with Not Fade Away. Same thing in 1997 when they were doing Sister Morphine, 19th Nervous Breakdown and so many others. In 1999 they went further into the obscurities catalog with Some Girls and Moonlight Mile. And we all know that Licks brought us so many great songs, too many to mention but one that caught everyone’s attention. Can’t You Hear Me Knocking. Not to mention that all these tours I listed above had many more songs performed by the Stones that I never thought they would ever do live. It was a dream come true for a Stones fan. After the band confirmed last tour that they loved mixing up the set as it keeps them fresh, I started to wonder what would be next… Mother’s Little Helper…She Was Hot... maybe even Flight 505 or something from the underrated album Dirty Work.

Much to my disappointment, the tour so far has seemed to be a rehash of greatest hits, and not just greatest hits but only the same hits that they have been playing the last 10 years. Not even any songs that are radio friendly but seldom played. They teased us a bit with As Tears Go By a few times but unfortunately I can’t make it to every show. Get Off My Cloud has been a nice treat from what I have heard on recordings but didn’t get a chance to see it at any of the shows I attended. I will mention You Got Me Rocking again because this song has been played at almost every show since it came out in 1994 but there are way too many songs in the catalog for this to be played every night. After interviewing several concert goers leaving Stones shows in Hartford, Boston, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Memphis, Virginia, and Chicago. I found a majority of fans feeling the same way I did. The most common answer to “how was the show” was “great but bad set list.” I even spoke to a few folks who said it would be their last show. One person in particular told me this said it was his last after 89 shows and the only time he had been truly disappointed with almost a tear in his eye. After closely following the reviews in the media I found most news articles to say the same thing about playing the same songs. Even the positive ones that said the band was playing great usually slipped something in about the same set of hits. Don’t get me wrong I love the hits but when you have 50-something hits or well-known songs it should not be hard to mix them around from tour to tour and still be able to please all different kinds of fans. They don’t have to necessarily play 20 different songs each night, but give us something different or creative.

One highlight of the shows has been She’s So Cold, the only real surprise in the set besides Get Off My Cloud. This great rocker has been played with the vigor we saw in 1981. Sway was attempted once but I guess the band felt that was enough. It seems like Mick saying “we are going to try numbers we’d never performed live before and do some numbers we have not done in a long time” must have meant that this is all we get or maybe just a cheap marketing trick. Just like promising club shows so they can sell more fan club memberships, another trick I fell for. However it was surprising to see them do Out of Control, the band never seems to play their 80s/90s stuff live unless it’s a Keith song or You Got Me Rocking.

This leads me to one of the most important things, how the band is playing. I must say on some nights they sound nice and stripped down, a very nice change from the big band arrangement. However some nights they would be better off if Ronnie didn’t come on stage. I am hoping there is something wrong that we don’t know but on some nights he is so bad that other members of the band give him looks as if they want to strangle him. Not sure how long Mick and Keith will put up with this. However there have been some nights were Ronnie has been great, not great as he was in the 70s but great by today’s Ronnie Wood standards. Charlie of coarse has been fabulous, he seems to be hitting the drums harder than ever. And what else can you say about Mick, I think his singing is better now than it was in 1966. Would like to see him do his harmonica spot in Imfamy or them just not play the song but I guess it all doesn’t matter, this has truly been the Mick Jagger show. Keith has been Keith, screw ups here and there but for the most part he has been very solid. Some nice solos on Sympathy for the Devil but he needs to play his guitar more when he sings and also it would be nice if he did some back-up vocals but will let him pass. The rest of the backing band has been a little quieter than previous tours which is nice, but Blondie seems to be playing more than Ronnie this tour. The band also seems to sort of hide this since you wouldn’t always realize he is playing unless you are sitting on the side of the stage. Looks like the boys know Ronnie can’t hack it.

With all this said the Stones still know how to put a show but the one thing they should consider is playing the song Respectable but renaming it to Predictable. The Stones basically just built a new stage, shorten the shows and chose a bunch of songs that would surly leave the casual concert goer (which is one that has lots of money and can’t name one song on Their Satanic Majesties Request) happy. But they are leaving their true fans disappointed. I say this based on the reaction I got from people I interviewed because we obviously know by now how I feel about this tour. It is obvious by watching the band that they are bored at times and play some of the songs like they have done them a thousand times. Its hard to understand why they would let this happen when they have more songs in their catalog than almost any band ever. Other acts from their era that are still performing such as Bob Dylan, the Allman Bros., Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young all know how to please their fans, play a nice variety of tunes and show that the music is still what matters. In the Stones case you question that or at least I do.

This guy writes for a newspaper??? His grammar is atrocious!

wow JJ do your fingers hurt....that get off my cloud was awsome no question in memphis...but what can they do for the hard core fans??? i mean we go to what 5-10 shows?? the average joes dont so they have a conumdrum...do they play for the 1-2 time crowd or the hard core people.....i would jusy be happy w/ one or two more tunes ...that s it...jj i repect your post what is the answer????....i am the man on the mountain .........come up........every little thing from your loving cup.......

very well said. I think I agree with every single word (except, of course, "coarse"). if i had the time and inclination to write such a piece, it would be very much like this.

UnderAssistantWCpromoMan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This guy writes for a newspaper??? His grammar is
> atrocious!


haven't you been reading newspapers these days? everyone's is!

Very tough to read that kind of assessment from someone who loves the Stones so much.

I just pray that this isn't the last time out and that they figure out a way to address some of these problems.

they are masters at masking the problems...that's how they get by...big spectacle et al. and, then there's Jagger - one of the wonders of humankind....

T&A Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> very well said. I think I agree with every single
> word (except, of course, "coarse"). if i had the
> time and inclination to write such a piece, it
> would be very much like this.


Agreed. I've been very dissapointed in the setlists and I'm not that hard to please. If they would play six songs per show from A Bigger Bang instead of 3-4 I'd be happy. And it wouldn't hurt them to rotate out a warhorse or two for one of their many songs that most would still recognize, such as Last Time or Under My Thumb.

It was a letter sent in to the Cherry Hill local paper from an anonymous Parsippany resident. Besides the grammar I think the points are good and shows the person at least knows about the Stones.

I'm tired of all the Internet moaning about how crappy the Stones or Phil and Friends are(however right they may be), how lame the Dead is for disallowing downloads (since retracted), or how everyone on the Web seems to have not gotten their golden enema this morning (can't do anything for ya there).

If those same people put as much energy into griping about (and predicating that-learning about), oh I don't know, the war in Iraq, the poor condition of the planet we live on or the absurd state of reality in general, maybe I could tolerate such digital diareahh.

The Internet could have been the greatest tool mankind invented for itself. Instead, it's degenerated into a wasteland of porn and half-wit opinions that anyone, including myself, is free to post at will.


Ahhhhhh, I am drunk with power!

Well everyone is intitled to there own opinion but if they were bored or on auto pilot as some people say I don't think they would be talking about touring again after this tour ends. And they are talking about it even Charlie seems willing to. I mean they sure don't need the money.

UnderAssistantWCpromoMan Wrote:
> If those same people put as much energy into
> griping about (and predicating that-learning
> about), oh I don't know, the war in Iraq, the poor
> condition of the planet we live on or the absurd
> state of reality in general, maybe I could
> tolerate such digital diareahh.
>
>


I'm an equal opportunity whiner/carer - I whine/care about all these things. Thanks for your whiney post!

You're very welcome T&A. More to come!

lol

Agree with most points. A true fan who knows what he's talking about. J-J-Flash will you sent this letter also to our friends of RS-com?

but, let's be clear and honest about this. it's not going to change. oh, sure, there will likely be minor tweaks here and there in '06, but you can pretty much expect more of the same next year. reason: they are coasting and coasting is easy and fun!

tat2you Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> but what can they do for the hard
> core fans??? i mean we go to what 5-10
> shows?? the average joes dont so they have
> a conumdrum...do they play for the 1-2
> time crowd or the hard core people.....i
> would jusy be happy w/ one or two more
> tunes ...that s it...jj i repect your post
> what is the answer

the answer is that it doesnt have to be exclusively for "the hard core fans". No one's really suggesting that should be the case

You're effectively saying that the reason they do a show almost completely consisting of greatest hits is because of the "average joes" who only go to 1-2 shows

However, these people went to 1-2 shows on previous tours, yet it didnt stop the band - as they have done on every tour in the last 20 years - pull out songs (many of which were well known) which had not been played in many years or ever been played before (examples - 2000 Light years, Not fade away, Ruby Tuesday etc). No one complained about those songs being dug out and played again - and they were still able to play lesser known songs ('deep album cuts' as some people like to call them) as well as new songs and 'warhorses'.

How come all of a sudden the Stones seem to think that the vast majority of people who go to see them only know about 12-15 songs in their back catalogue? THATS whats different about THIS tour and what makes it so frustrating. Its effectively become a selection of songs from 40 Licks plus 3-4 new ones. And little else. The only 'old' Stones song on this tour that has been played on a regular basis and which has been out of the show for some time has been 'Shes So Cold'.

The Stones' fanbase deserve more credit than the band gives them. I mean, pretty much every Stones studio album sells anything from 2-4 million copies, some have sold as many as 8 million. Their audience KNOW their songs.

If the people who are going to shows in 2005 DONT know the songs, maybe its because the price of the tickets indicate that its NOT targetted towards the people who DO actually buy many of the band's records, but the executive type of fan who owns 40 Licks and nothing else and to whom $1000 for a pair of tickets is nothing and a Stones show is just another night out.

By all means, play a good cross section of greatest hits. However, they have so many that are well known,,,they dont have to stick to the same 12-14 every show. Rotation keeps things fresh and with a back catalogue as wonderful as the Stones have, it deserves to be plundered

Greatest hits, new songs, well and not so well known songs from classic albums and a few songs they havent played in a while. Thats been the formula on previous tours. And it worked.

the letter reproduced above is pretty accurate. The guy is obviously a genuine fan with a deep passion for the band's music and their place in history.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-12-07 23:18 by Gazza.

UnderAssistantWCpromoMan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm tired of all the Internet moaning about how
> crappy the Stones or Phil and Friends are(however
> right they may be), how lame the Dead is for
> disallowing downloads (since retracted), or how
> everyone on the Web seems to have not gotten their
> golden enema this morning (can't do anything for
> ya there).
>
> If those same people put as much energy into
> griping about (and predicating that-learning
> about), oh I don't know, the war in Iraq, the poor
> condition of the planet we live on or the absurd
> state of reality in general, maybe I could
> tolerate such digital diareahh.

I do put a lot of energy into those things, just not on this board because it would get deleted. And rightfully so, this is a Stones board, not a political board.

The writer does a good job of capsulizing the band's adventurousness for the tours '89 through Licks. One problem with the "greatest hits" setlists nowadays is that people somehow get the impression these are all they've been playing in that whole time. And mick even says as much in his banter. I wasn't really paying attention through the 90s, and it's impressive to see their tours characterized in this way.

cc

And, as someone posted today elsewhere on IORR - so what if people don't know the songs? I mean we've all gone to plenty of shows where we didn't know some, many or even most of the songs. Does that preclude us from liking the song and the show? Geezus - if the songs are any good to begin with, a concert-goer is going to enjoy the show. And, we all know the boys have more than 44 good songs.

Sounds like 'dozens' of other posts made on this board. J-J did you really send this to a news paper?

I ain't stupid, I'm just guitarded.

oh I don't know, the war in Iraq, the
> poor
> > condition of the planet we live on or the
> absurd
> > state of reality in general, maybe I could
> > tolerate such digital diareahh.
>
> I do put a lot of energy into those things, just
> not on this board because it would get deleted.
> And rightfully so, this is a Stones board, not a
> political board.
>


............and no one is suggesting it should turn into a political board either.

My only real point is:

You are a hardcore "true" Stones fan. You go to the shows, you read the crap-er, I mean, posts, here on the board, even the setlists. You collect all the bootlegs.

You go to see them armed with the knowledge that some, not unlike yourself, walked away disappointed. You spend your hard earned dollars on the tickets; dollars you slaved all day at Rally's to earn.

Are you mad because:

a) The Stones are Rip off artists

b) The Stones are "coasting" and not "delivering"

c) you are the idiot sucker who spent your money on a show you knew you weren't going to(I mean, might not) enjoy. I mean, it wouldn't be cool to enjoy it anyway, right? Having fun takes effort sometimes, and doing things is for poesuers, fer sure!


Mick Jagger 1969:"I mean, the concert's just an excuse, right? It's an excuse for people to have a nice night out and get very stoned and ball each other. I mean, it's not just about seeing the Grateful Airplane or the Rolling Dead."

J-J-Flash, very well done. Like T&A, I agree with every single word. And your interviews explain perfectly why it is possible that people come out of the shows claiming "it was a great show" and still feel somewhat disappointed by the fact that it is more or less the same procedure as every year setlist-wise.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-12-08 12:05 by retired_dog.

Everyone is entitled to have his/her opinion! But everyone KNOWS that the Stones should had:
A. made Licks their final tour and they would had gone out with a BANG!!! or

B. They should had waited with releasing Bigger Bang and/or to later or not at all with this album!

They say the material is so great they wanted to tour. but they hardly play any new material! The obvious reason is they wanted to do it one more time as long as they can as, after Charlie's throat cancer, they might realise how vunerable they are. SO they decided to do it one more time but actually weren't in the mood to do it. The show's I have seen or heard were nice but uninspired. While even the "regular" stadium shows during the Licks Tour were a blast now every single show, at least in my eyes, drags on. There's no inspiration, the band sounds sloppy and uninspired. Maybe they are getting TOO old but the fire seems to have gone out or at least burning very low.

We here on this board are the hardcore fans we want clubshow setlists all the time and are bored with the Satisfaction, JJF, Brown Sugar, Only Rock & Roll, Street Fighting Man, Gimme Shelter, YCAGWYW, Sympathy and Honky Tonk WOemn runs in the setlist. They are all great songs but we hear them every single tour almost in the same running order! But indeed regular concert goers want to hear HITS, as that's all they now. For that reason, as if anyone cares not to mention the Stones themselves, I pass on this tour. I even forgot that tickets went on sale last Saturday and heard it on the news later that day the shows sold out. I rather spent my 130 EUROS on something else I truely enjoy! I hope the Licks shows weren't my last decent Stones shows and that they'll come around one more time in TRUE fashion. But I passed the point where I bought tickets just because it was THE STONES. They have to "deliver" for my hard earned cash and that's not what they're doing now. So that leaves 2 tickets for people who never swa the Stones who will propably have the time of their lifes that night!

Wow, I agree with almost everything said here. Wish the Stones would read this....

I call bullshit that this guy spoke with many disappointed people. I didn't see any disappointed faces. I didn't poll the crowd but thats definitely not the vibe I got.

Also I am sick of hearing that because you are die hard fans that you deserve something more than the other people there. The great thing about being in a band with such widespread and enduring popularity as the Stones, is they don't need you at the gigs. They probably don't even want you there.

Look at the sales for the first few dweeks of A Bigger Bang and compare that with the attendence figures. Thats how many so called die hard or superfans there are. Possibly even less.

If memory serves me "Some Girls" was there biggest selling album so its easy to do more tunes from an album like that. "Bigger Bang" while a very good album has not sold well so there lies your answer.
You made some good points but to say "Looks like the boys know Ronnie can't hack it" is just plain wrong. Yeah he's had some rough spots, but know more than Keith, Mick or Charlie. Your just following the rest of the Ronnie bashers most of whom are just frustrated guitar players creaming for Mick Taylor to return.

I was expecting to hear a GOOD story.

Very accurate article.

Although I hit a pretty good night set-list wise (Sunday, 1st S.F. show: Sweet Virginia), Ronnie was non-existant and Jagger carried the show. I like the warhorses, but I want to hear a few gems as well.

What's going on here is we're avoiding the elephant in the room: The Stones have reached an age where that EXTRA magic is harder to come by.

Everyone gets old, and the Stones have pulled off not falling victim to complacency and old age for more years than we could have expected.

They have been superhuman in their ability to carry shows into their fifties and now sixties.

We have to accept that at 60+ their versatility and ability to experiment each night isn't going to be what it used to.

We still have Stripped, we still have the Paris show on Four Flicks, and countless other live shows to fall back on...

-



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2007-12-23 00:57 by cirrhosis.