Since 1990 this was my 12th and definitively my last Stones concert. Why? I love "A Bigger Bang" and I think it's their best album since "Tattoo You" ("Bridges To Babylon" & "Voodoo Lounge" are well done, too). But why the @#$%& they call their tour ABB and play only four songs from that great album ("Warhorses" or "Licks Revisited" would fit better for that kind of shows). Watch Dylan, watch U2, watch Pearl Jam, watch RHCP .... A new album ... a well balanced mix of newer songs and of course of greatest hits. But the Stones - the musical love of my life - four from 20 licks from ABB and 16 crowd-pleaser for the masses (okay, maybe five or ten from fifty thousand don't know "All Down The Line" & "Night Time"). Where are "Laugh, I Nearly Died", "It Won't Take Long", "Back Of My Hand", "She Saw Me Coming", "My Biggest Mistake", "Sweet NeoCon" or "Driving Too Fast" - songs that Keith promised to bring on the road!!! Where are the sing-a-longs from the last tours ("Saint Of Me", "Out Of Control", "Love Is Strong" ...)??? Where are surprises like "Heartbreaker", "Sway", "Can't You Hear Me Knocking?", "Let It Bleed" or "Shattered"? Every time almost the same set lists for every time more money! Front of stage and on stage tickets for horrible prices!!! No wonder that fifteen thousand places have been empty! In my opinon the Stones don't bother about the hardcore fans that buy every record, know every song and visit each tour three or four times. Shame shame shame. Not with me again! Goodbye!

I can totally see where you are coming from. Be prepared to get swormed with people saying you are not a true fan after writing something negative or about the set lists.

Stay at home if you don't like it. No one will miss you!

5 songs from ABB plus As Tears Go By, She's So Cold, PIB, etc. in Vienna - that's fine with me!

If you're complaining about the setlist it's the first sign of the fact that you're bored with your life and way too old to rock'n'roll. In your very first posting you moan about the setlist!!!! Shame, shame shame on ya dude! MEZ

and Ay ay baby it hurts

All I can say is everytime someone goes to a Stones show for the first time, they are blown away. Even if its a "bad" setlist or their performance is just plain weak. The n00bs dont notice it. If you dont enjoy the show anymore, thats fine. Dont go. The rest of us will still get a kick out of seeing them.

BTW, the setlist changes every tour but is pretty stagnant throughout the tour once they get their groove. Go look at the setlists for 69/72/75/78/81/89/94 and you'll see patterns. Each tour has its own groove. Every night might get a few rare songs but for the most part every tour has its own set-in-stone setlist. Dont get me wrong, I'd love to see more rare tunes in the setlist, but that wont stop me from having an awesome time seeing my favorite band. And its even more fun to bring people with you to the show who have never been before. When the virgin next to you gets his/her cherry pop'd by hearing JJFlash for the first time live, you get a buzz as well.

-Drake



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-07-18 19:36 by drake.

Don't understand why people can't respond normally with someone writing an honest post about their feelings on the Stones if they are negative. I wrote lengthy reveiws of shows I went to earlier in the tour, not all negative but not all praise either. and guess what, it was not posted of coarse. Only the good ones get posted I guess.

The Stones are the only band I can really think of these days that keeps things so similar from tour to tour, yet we pay the most for their shows and they have so many great songs..

Now they have managed to not play anymore blues songs, never thought I'd say that but its happened.

I understand you feelings about the set lists, I am know by everyone as the ultimate Stones fan among people who know me and everybody who has gone to their shows this tour that has seen them before always asks me 'why do they always play the same songs." I used to try and defend the Stones but I can really anymore.

It's definitely not a great or imaginative setlist these days. I think most of us know that. It's just that it could be worse.

Drake, do a comparison from each of those years listed and you'll see each tour had mostly different songs from the tour before besides a few big hits at the start and end of the show. Now look at the pattern now. You can't tell me its the same. I don't care if they played a rarity like Far Away Eyes once in the US. The four shows I went to see my only real surprise besides the 3 new songs was Shes So Cold and Nighttime.

Sad truth is Jagger's solo tour in the 80s is what the Stones shows are basically. Same parade of hits but that parade of hits is most of the show now.

In the UK 1st 10 rowsFOS are £60 ea.

Yes the £150. seats are expensive but everything is expensive here and they were selling seats @ £150 on the licks tour.

France: €91 for FOS I think is OK.
Even the Expensive seats @ €136 are much better than the UK prices.

I admit I dont like the £9 + £12 service charges and the $100 fanclub fee for the service they offer is a complete rip off.

That wont stop me going to shows though.

I look forward to any setlist ,I go to have a good time and not critique their playing or choice of songs.
Yes there are songs I want to hear but my life will not end if they dont play them.
I will have fun what ever they do as long as they show up.

What Drake said about taking someone along who has not seen them is true.
This time we take my OH relatives who I dont think have been to any concert in their lives.
I know they will be blown away .

I agree with "ätzl anf flash"

This forum is like some religious group that won´t allowd ANY negative opinions whatsoever!!!

Bjorn

If the Stones were content to only play clubs or small arenas to hardcore fans then I am sure that they could play mostly rarities or tracks from a (very good but) modestly-selling current album to reasonable acclaim.

The fact is they are the Greatest Rock & Roll Band In the World and they want to go on global mega-tours, playing stadiums and being headline news in the papers in every country they visit.

To do that, you simply can't play too much stuff that casual attendees won't know or enjoy as much as the obvious war-horses.

It's as simple as that so please quit moaning about setlists. In my book, this is more a symptom of obsessives with a little too much time on their hands...

There - I've really asked for it now - HELP!!!!

:-)

I guess I should rephrase my post. Compare a single setlist from every tour and you'll see the difference. The warhorses have been played every tour since they've been written. Honkey Tonk Women war released, it was added to every show. Start Me Up was released, it was added to every show. Etc... etc... If you take one setlist from every tour 69/72/75/78/81/89/94/97/99/02/05 you will see that the warhorses just keep getting added on, and that each setlist has its own groove. I'm not defending this tour as anything groundbreaking, just saying its not out of the ordinary. There's nothing strange about the setlist. Every tour has its hits, and tours like 72 were almost completely stangant with very little setlist variations throughout the ENTIRE tour, yet we dont complain one bit about it. Seriously, 72 setlists BARELY change from show to show yet we all love and adore it. ABB is not much different in that aspect, except they now play for about 2 hours.

-Drake

It's the ol' Hatfield/McCoys type feud - right, Drake?

Both arguments hold valid points. And, ain't nobody gonna change anyone's opinion on this subject.

I just would like to think folks here are mature enough to tolerate dissent from their own opinion without taking it as a personal affront.

For instance - I think Drake is full of b.s. But, I know he doesn't take that personally.

Btw, the last two shows I saw showed again that the audience does need the old hits at least the stadium audience. Like it or not...

I guess some people will just not get it. In 72 the Stones were playing mostly songs from their past two albums, and playing them with drive. Satisfaction, maybe their biggest hit, was not played.

"To do that, you simply can't play too much stuff that casual attendees won't know or enjoy as much as the obvious war-horses."

Are trying to tell me that the Stones don't have more than 15 warhorse songs that the casual fan won't know?? They choose to play the same hits over and over. They can easily mix up their selection of hits.

In 1999, the Stones did a very successful tour and didn't play all the hits they usually play and I didn't hear casual fans complain.

Drake, I see your point - still, the problem is that now, the arrangements are also just the same as the tour before.

If you heard SFTD or HTW in 69, 75, 78 and 89, you heard something different and excitingly new, although it was the same song. But from 89 to 2006 (17 years!) it's the same, note for note. And the same applies to most all the warhorses, to the point that I marvel at the slightest variation, like Jagger repeating twice 'never stop-never stop', or the background vox changed on Tumbling Dice.

That's mostly because the band has remained the same, I mean the background musicians. 69 was a no-sidemen tour, 72 had horns and piano, 75 was an all-rhythmic machine, 78 back to basic, etc. Now the formula is the same since 17 years.

I don't cry about setlists because, well, the last time I've seen the Stones was many years ago, and I will enjoy the show, just as I enjoy watching my favourite movie 120 times.

Still, I don't watch my favourite movie everyday, and I'll see two shows this tour and that'll be way enough.

And I also think it is amazing the fanatism and agressivity of responses to an honest post.

Come on guys !
It's a real problem.
Where are nuggets like Rocks Off, Shattered, Heartbreaker, Beast Of Burden, Out Of Control, Get Up Stand Up and Love Is Strong ?
Not to speak of It Won't Take Long, Look What The Cat Dragged In, Drivin' Too Fast, She Saw Me Coming, Let Me Down Slow, Neocon and LIND ?

I remember the Rolling Stone interview with Jagger from the September 2005 issue when he said that he does not care if the casual fan would rather hear Brown Sugar than a new tune.
It's almost funny how they talk about their back catalogue or their recent album and then play a show with warhorses, 2nd row warhorses, warhorses of other artists, 2 Keith song of which one is constantly played since 500 shows and 1 or 2 other new ones.

In former days, the B-stage was the place to play Neighbours or Crazy Mama and now they play Start Me Up on it because their recent shows are too short for all the warhorses.

the stones sound great on this tour...plus your lucky to have the stones at all...stay out of tree's keith...5 songs from the new album....come back to the states and play...

So since we are lucky to have them we better just give them our money and be happy with whatever they do on stage. I don't get this idea.

Jagger usually pays attention to what other bands are doing, not sure why he doesn't realize that today bands are mixing things up. And the Stones have more of a selection of songs to play than anyone.

for us the vienna setlist was excellent, it could be only better, if they are playing some more songs, but they don`t. and maybe a stones song instead of night time,is....

we don`t expect a better setlist than vienna anymore.

we are very happy

robert and claudia

i think it is more on how they are playing and how they sound..and they sound great...5 new songs....nice....with a 1,000 songs over 40 years they could play 40 songs a night and some would still bitch...
its a party...its a time to get it on with your mate and the stones...let it rock!
p.s. i do wish they play some very early tracks 63-66...and drop td, smu, ycagwyw.
but then others would cry because they didn't get to hear t.dice and smu!

Can we imagine a setlist without JJF,SFTD,MR,SMU,JJF,S,BS + 2 Keith : 9 songs,
45 % of the set in front of a stadium audience. I wouldn't and am very glad about it. Thus, 4 ABB songs is a fair balance. Of course as averyonelse, there are some songs I would like them to play in the remaining timing ( GS, LIND,DF ) but for what could be the last tour , let them play those warhorses with those raucous riffs we have loved.

woaw PhD, you even want them to play JJF twice? like, as an opener and an encore, perhaps...

I agree that it'd be nice to get more A Bigger Bang tunes in the setlists, but at the expense of what? All the classics they perform are essential and they're not pandering to us obsessives. I don't mean by this that they SHOULD'NT play the new tunes, but the Stones are a NOSTALGIA act. The only way they could perform more new tunes would be by actually extending the show and being the old farts they are, it's not possible.

or a 2 hour jjf set... wow...encore with smu!

Well, I don't think that it is impossible to switch Miss You and Start Me Up, Tumblin' Dice and Paint It, Black, Brown Sugar and Street Fighting Man.
Do you know what a casual fan (favourite tune: SFM) will say when he's asked about the gig ?
He'll say: Fantastic show, I'm a bit sad that they didn't play my favourite, but I really enjoyed myself, though.

I must say that I'm a real fan, I love the Stones, but I want to critize their setlist policy.

Where are nuggets like Rocks Off, Shattered, Heartbreaker, Beast Of Burden, Out Of Control, Get Up Stand Up and Love Is Strong ?
Not to speak of It Won't Take Long, Look What The Cat Dragged In, Drivin' Too Fast, She Saw Me Coming, Let Me Down Slow, Neocon and LIND !

I remember the Rolling Stone interview with Jagger from the September 2005 issue when he said that he does not care if the casual fan would rather hear Brown Sugar than a new tune.
It's almost funny how they talk about their back catalogue or their recent album and then play a show with warhorses, 2nd row warhorses, warhorses of other artists, 2 Keith song of which one is constantly played since 500 shows and 1 or 2 other new ones, you can be glad if you attend 5 shows and hear one really unexpected or rarely played tune.

In former days, the B-stage was the place to play Neighbours or Crazy Mama and now they play Start Me Up on it because their recent shows are too short for all the warhorses.

I think I almost exactly know the setlist of the gig I will attend tomorrow, that would have been impossible on VL, BtB or Licks.

duplicate thread.

-Drake

They played Beast of Burden in Washington DC. They played Love is Strong in Baltimore.

They're playing nuggets like She's So Cold many nights.

They played 5 songs from ABB last week in Austria.

They're doing what you say they should, they're just playing songs other than you want, no?