Oh, good that's what I thought, but wasn't sure.


Paranoia is a terrible thing.

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you.

What song is that from? Something from Nirvana, right?

Yes, but I don't think the line is original to them.

Wild Slivovitz Wrote:
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> "the Stones guitarists have elevated air guitar
> posing to an art form"... this is my favourite
> line.
>
> One of the best and most truthful reviews I've
> read so far, thanks!
>
> After Milan I thought that the sound's problems
> would disappear in the following concerts, but
> except for Paris they have been constantly
> reported. How comes that? I mean, in the USA the
> sound has always been very clear!


Turd, a very bright review in a perfect english I would like to have. A piece of art in its way.
The "Stones guitarists have elevated air guitar posing to an art form". I wished you had attended the Paris show and heard JJF, MR and PIB performed that night. Keith was really outstanding, riffing hard like nobody else can play. Unique. His sound was just powerful and at full volume. His chords on JJF and MR, for which I still listen to the Stones, are clear in my ears memory. I never heard him play like this since Wembley 1999. His playing on YCAGWYW was cristal profound.Agree that the sound in Milan was horreful at the start. Also would have appreciated a Laugh I Nearly Died.

Turd - the best example of constructive criticism this board has ever seen! Well worth the read.

Turd,

Sadly,I agree with your excellent post. Hope they sort out the sound problems for front rows or I'll be very dissapointed.


sc uk

I love this passage:

"That the soil of this rich tradition has produced such a band is a blessing. That this band has taken these traditions and has used them as a foundation, distilling them into a shorthand for what God intended Rock ‘n Roll in it’s purest, sexiest, dirtiest, most sublime form to sound like…and then taken this form into such diverse and delightful directions as country and disco and reggae and pop and folk and the such only serves to demonstrate how singular the Rolling Stones are. When they go the heart of Rock and Roll will break."

The Stones are so much better than the rest, so essential. Their and their music's attitude is unequalled. That's how I feel, anyway, and you express the same feeling so brilliantly.

Call me crazy! I thought Jagger's touring band in the late 80's was better. The musicians were hungry and added new life to the songs.

Turd On The Run Wrote:
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> “Rain Fall Down”... simply
> crying to be played live in front of an
> appreciative audience.
RFD blows live, youre lucky you didnt get it,
then again you got SOL instead lol

Rain Fall Down is without any question (to me) a highlight of the shows these days, together with Night Time and now SOL.


Belgrade-Bucharest-Budapest-Brno

Lorenz Wrote:
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> Rain Fall Down is without any question (to me) a
> highlight of the shows these days, together with
> Night Time and now SOL.
too bad they dont bring back out of tears lol

Slick Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lorenz Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Rain Fall Down is without any question (to me)
> a
> > highlight of the shows these days, together
> with
> > Night Time and now SOL.
> too bad they dont bring back out of tears lol

Man, that was excellent too in my opinion!!

extremely eloquent review, Turd! thanks.
The way I see it is that we are all disappointed to have to lower our standards and expectations for our heroes. We know what can be and it is disappointing when they are not in top form. Just being good is not satisfying when you know what can be - the greatest rock and roll ever. We go to the shows to see the moments when the magic happens and it is mostly a matter of luck as to what show you attend as to how much of the greatness you see.
It is unreasonable to not accept some limitations of Keith and Ron due to health. And the set lists pandering to the masses. And the need for stadium shows with the sound challenges. And the current line up.
But I can not accept not having the guitars way up in the mix and having the core Stones be the meat of the show. I am not going to the show to hear Chuck and the horns while seeing Keith and Ron pose.
I have been lucky enough to have excellent experiences at the Stones shows so I count my blessings. And from what else I hear the performances continue to be mostly very good to great, so it doesn't make sense to over focus on the negative.
I saw a Who show maybe 15 years ago where basically Pete pretended to play guitar while a guy at the back of the stage was really playing all the leads and the full back up band cluttered up the mix. I was devastated and still have not seen the Who since. (I think this was when his hearing problems were at their worst and I probably will see them this time after the solid reviews from the last tour and this tour). I shudder at the thought of seeing the Stones reduce themselves to something like that.
Mick is certainly doing his part and then some performance wise. Keith is on his game almost all of the time. Ron is on and off which continues to be a mystery. Charlie solid as always.
I expect continued strong performances with some allowance for some off songs or nights by all. I am hoping for the best and definitely am seeing the Stones when they come my way again, because I know there is the chance that I will see the best Stones show I have ever seen.

BjoeKah Wrote:
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> OOOPPPSSSS!
>
> KPDSU- acting here????

No more beer for BjoeKah, please... You've written that in the double thread and it's still there. But that's off topic anyway.

Thank you for that concert review. I am going to read it slowly and with passion soon.

CindyC Wrote:
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> I hope no one gives you crap for dissing the Stones, because
> it's obvious that you love them.

Cindy,what don't you get? Nobody can argue with him

cc Wrote:
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> Yes, but I don't think the line is original to
> them.

Exactly. Nirvana put it in a song, but people had been saying it for years before that. Beats me who came up with it.

.... good post,, an ya know there is tension and fear amongest alot,,
there are some bumps on this 'road show'.....

Autopilot is great description. Hey guys take a chance because this is the last time!

Turd, thanks for a nice editorial.........Your message of course is sad, but very well delivered.

ohnonotyouagain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> cc Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Yes, but I don't think the line is original to
> > them.
>
> Exactly. Nirvana put it in a song, but people had
> been saying it for years before that. Beats me who
> came up with it.

it was richard nixon, actually. kid you not.

Good review, Turd, and well written. Quite similar to Matthijs his A'dam report and my Cologne review:
Yes, they should play more ABB songs (although I don't like RFD live at all)
Yes, Ronnie become quite useless, sometimes embarassing
Keith though, played well in Cologne/very concentrated and less posing as I was used to. But he should change his songs.

Turd On The Run Wrote:

> And this leads me to my next observation. On my
> ticket is stated Rolling Stones - A BIGGER BANG
> TOUR. But once again, the Stones deemed to play
> only 3 songs from their new album. I thought this
> was to be the “A Bigger Bang” tour, meaning that
> we would get to sample a good number of the
> albums’ highlights live.

I specially agree with this part of your review. They have so many good songs to play, why do they always repeat the same ones? This playlist could be perfect to somebody who attends one of their shows for the first time in his/her life. But to someone who has already seen them many times, it seems to be a routine. It would be great if they included more songs from the Bigger Bang album or even from the Bridges To Babylon album or songs such as Mixed Emotions...

saw the stones twice last year and agree with much of this...But they are still great and the audience loved them...as far as acoustic, they are doing tears go by and bomh and angie...and some great rockers too... john lee hooker is gone, so be glad you can still them... and mick is amazing...

Turd, thanks for the profound "review". I have also been on Ronnies side. After having that bad FOS sound experience in Munich on Keiths side I was looking for a better spot sound wise. So I found out it's indeed a matter of where you are standing. After Munich I think I found it.

Though the sound was OK where I was standing the problem with the grabbed guitar sound still remains. It looks out as if they tried to hide the guitars in the mix where necessary and to pull them out if it might be "listenable".

Anyway, I thought that Stuttgart was at least - just in relation to the other German shows - the best show. When I say that Woody seemed a bit better than in Cologne it doesn't mean he was great. Maybe his best work was during PIB?

As to Keith, according to his arthritis he is doing his best. During Sympathie he strutted down the catwalk and then @#$%& up the solo. He was standing there without playing anymore solo but he was laughing about that and he was doing it with his typical charming so it was OK and everybody was loving him for that. Still a magic moment though.

The Stuttgarter Nachrichten at least had some sharp reviews regarding the high ticket prices, that thousands of tickets had to be give away in lotteries and that thousands have been available at show day. And that, when men get old and have less power they try to compensate with things they can buy like Ferraris and so on. And the Stones try to compensate their weak playing with a huge amount of technical afford, huge stages, more background musicians and so on. And they talked about the "Miracle Of Rock'n Roll", that some people are still willing to pay the prices for that.

trainarollin Wrote:
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> Call me crazy! I thought Jagger's touring band in
> the late 80's was better.

You are crazy

"most of this night the Stones were actually a hot band – still the best live band in the world, when they care to prove it..."

"The rest of the show was simply the warhorses once again, presented with professionalism and athleticism. The crowd roared. As they always do. And always will."

If a reviewer like Turd Of The Run who is so demanding and so severe on his favourite band, so unhappy with the sound on the particular concert and so displeased with the setlist observes that, then rknuth you have the clear answer to the question why millions people are still willing to pay the prices for seeing the Stones. Because they are very satisfied, that's why. Because after a Stones concert you see around thousands of smiling faces.

PS I wish i knew the english Turd Of The Run knows. I need lessons. Given by him or by Gazza...

Luke33 Wrote:
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> where's jumpingKentFlash when you need him...aka
> BV2 !
>


Don't you smirk at me mister. Turd made a good review of how he feels. The reason it was a good review was that he didn't make those jerk comments of how it used to be. I'd encourage all of you to read my review of Horsens when the time comes for that (Less than a month. Yippeeeeee). It may be good and it may be bad. Depends on the show...

JumpingKentFlash

An excellent review, Turd. I think you nailed what a recent Rolling Stones stadium show really is about for a hard core fan. With all its ups and downs. There might be some better nigths and some worse nights but I think the quality variance is not that huge.

- Doxa

That would have been exactly the review I could have given about Cologne... horrible sound as well as a band out of focus.

However, my account on Stuttgart is different, in so far as I thought the music was more accurate and the sound better. Yes, much better, and I was in the upper ring back in the stadium in one of the cells where the visitor supporters tend to be. My back still hurts from the 'seats' they put in those sections by the way.

Indeed the difference in sound quality is huge. And I have the odd feeling it even matters when you pick a spot 10 meters further down the field, or halve a meter further up in height.

On Ronnie

This time I could actually hear his riff in Jumping Jack Flash, the classic sitar part. He does these repetitions very accurately, and is of great value when in this role. The same goes for Miss You by the way, where his line during "everybody waits so long" was more accented than before. In Sympathy he also has this little line, which marks a classic line from the album version and is played by Ronnie. Although it was originally done by Keith, Ronnie takes this signature and adds a recognisable feeling to the song.

He is better at this kind of repetitive playing than at getting attention. Start Me Up on the b-stage doesn't do him much good. They're moving back to the stage while being cheered at by the crowd, when he has to give away his solo. I agree, not much came of it.

However, the Tubling Dice solo was rather good. It was different than the usual album imititions, with some added notes at the end that were actually on tune. Alas, I must have been the only who noticed this, since I paid special attention. He was turned back low in favour of Mick again before he finished this solo.

On Keith

He was stronger than the other night I saw them. It's a pity he hasn't got much to show it on, since he's turned most of his work into the same thing. The solos on IORR and ONNYA, in the second and third slot, are the same. The HTW solo is going the same way. Of course this is a classical rock and roll or Chuck Berry solo, but there used to be a little more variation in them... His strength he can show on Rambler. Good lord, what a fantastic potporry of guitars and harp this still is. Ovations by the crowd. Even though I'm sure 80% of it didn't know MR (too young and distinct), noone seemed to be unhappy or bored with this ten minute masterpiece.

Sympathy was a bit weird in Stuttgart. Keith soloed three times, and usually there are just two distinctive ones. For some reason, I thought something pissed him off during the song. Your account is that he went down the little stairs to the walkway to pose a bit, and get back. Might be. I should have followed everything on the screen but I decided on a little live action as well, so I missed some facial impressions.

As far as I remember, it was the second solo, when all the verses have been sung. The first was remarkable since he actually started it on time without missing some bars. For the second solo, he headed down the stairs for the walkway, stood, raised his arms to get them back to the guitar fiercefully, hit two or three strings, aborted his playing, lifted both his hands towards his head, turned, and got up the stairs again. He then walked to Charlie and only resumed some solo playing after he arrived there. Some moments later he made his way all the way to the end of the right wing and did some standard solobars right there. Meanwhile Mick wanted to call it quits but realised Keith was still gone: it kept going. Keith decided on a third solo and headed back for the center. So I had the impression the song lasted longer than usual.

And I thought: "Something hit him on the head on his (rather rare) trip down those steps that pissed him of. To show this he touched his head and returned. This made him decide to be a rebel and determine the song's lenght." But it might have been just my imagination...

Oh, he did backing vocals on Ruby Tuesday I think. Good, because he's given up on HTW. Can't remember if he also did BU on Let's spend the night together. I'm thinking he did, but then again I may be confused because I just watched the dvd of the same name.

All in all
Very pleased with the sound and the distinction of the guitars this time. Very pleased with the performance of especially Midnight Rambler, ONNYA and Streets of Love. The latter they've turned into a great singalong with a perfect buildup. I noticed Jagger giving an extra pause before his last falsetto chorus, to allow people to start it first. That's the way to work them! And very pleased the farts behind me at least allowed me to stand up for Satisfaction... because after some dancing during Rough Justice I wisely decided on sitting down again.