Hi all. So one of the biggest thorns in my side for the last year now has been the fact that this is the first tour since the Voodoo Lounge outing that I was unable to go see my favorite band play live. The bottom line was money - having just moved to Nashville, TN I simply could not afford it. After all, it took every last dollar I had (not to mention several additional borrowed dollars) just to get here. Besides, I MAYBE could've swung it had they stopped by Music City, USA but, inexplicably, they chose not to. I can't imagine why after the scorcher of a show they put on here during the Licks tour (one of the three best of the tour, IMO). The B2B show in 97 was a fine one as well.

Anyway on with the show. I finally procured a bootleg (ahem, I mean "unauthorized") dvd of the Buenos Aires show from February of this year and, after watching it twice, here are some thoughts.

(note, this is not a complete song by song review as I am just pointing out what were, for me, some of the high and low points)

Regarding the disc itself: not bad. Obviously this was taken from a ppv show, so it's a pro shot. But while the video is quite good, the audio is flat, muffled and a overall disappointment. Sounds like it comes from a 3rd or 4th generation VHS tape (which it likely did).

Moving on. Things get started w/a underwhelming JJFlash. Some would say "well it wasn't a great version but I have no complaints". Well, I do. As it is arguably the greatest song the band as ever done, there is simply no excuse for a performance of this song that qualifies as anything less than great. As the show proceeded, I did notice that Keith's playing was much better than on the Licks tour. I heard far fewer sour notes and missed licks. He seemed to really dig into ONNYA though I am sure it was a chore to keep up with Charlie who, God bless him, couldn't seem to stay on time and kept speeding up! And for those that say Keef poses more than he plays, you need to start pointing the finger at Ronnie. He spends the first 3 songs clowning and making gestures at the audience, rendering that thing around his neck more an accessory than a musical instrument. Speaking of, he did come alive for his solo on "Worried About You". No, it wasn't a very good solo per se, but it was ragged and it had spirit - something missing from his playing much of the time these days.

Keith's set. "Place Is Empty" - a charmer of a song, one he should be proud of. It's one of his best ever, in my opinion. Too bad this performance was a little underwhelming. Ronnie's limp steel guitar playing didn't help either. "Happy" was better. KR was ALL smiles, looked to be having a hell of a time. He capped it w/a nice, dirty solo.

Warhorse time. "HTW" was, simply put, lousy. I wish they would drop this one. Don't get me wrong as it is one of my al-time favorites. But they sound tired of it, and frankly I am too. Same goes for "Sympathy". Both songs at this show had the same 3 things in common: lifeless playing from Keith, sloppy drumming from Charlie and a flat vocal from Mick.

Redemption does arrive, however, in the form of "Paint It Black". After almost being put to sleep by the previous ("Rough Justice" was at least well done, if unremarkable) I get a good jolt from a spirited rendition of one of their oldest classics. Mick was in fine form, thankfully avoiding the lower register (unlike his godawful performances of it on the '89 tour) and Charlie was solid as a brick wall. Thanks for this one guys.

Ronnie surprised me in the intro to "Brown Sugar". Instead of coming in with the same old damn lick he's beeing doing for 20 years (he saves it for the 2nd verse this time) he actually lays down a little rhythmic muscle, seemingly trying to compete with KR's riffing. The version is pretty average otherwise. That is until Bobby's solo. Something at that point causes Charlie and Darryl to just lock into each other and they start pounding the song home. It's one of those great, spontaneous moments that you only get from a live show.

Anyway, I hate that this review seemed pervaded by so many criticisms, but these are just my honest thoughts. True, it could be that my appreciation for the performance was hindered by the average quality of the disc. But the bottome line is I just was not impressed by this performance. At all. I really hope there were much, much better shows on this tour. I hope that through the advent of technology I can get my hands on a dvd of a more inspiring performance. But if this is not the case, then I don't mind that I missed this tour and I hope, for their sake and ours, it's the last one.

Go get the Saitama DVD.

Vilhelm
Nordic Stones Vikings

I heard it's a good dvd. I am sure it's better than this one audio-visual wise, but what about the performance?