1973 had Brussels, 2006 has the Beacon Theater. That how I'm sure many of the lucky fans who scored tickets for both Beacon shows felt after tonight. The band sounded focused. There were great, magic and I'm sure soon-to-be legendary, moments. Some versions of songs we all heard hundreds if not thousands of times, were re-energized and put back to life.

One can only always be amazed by the depth of the Stones' repertoire: I'm Free, such a classic, hadn't been played since 1969, yet they played it with such an amazing energy and freshness you'd thought they've played it their whole life. Or Some Girls, where Mick showed how modern this song still sounds -- even though the racy lyrics were (in part) censored. Too bad he didn't play the harmonica on it. Or Far Away Eyes. She was Hot. As Tears go By. All classics, from different decades, yet with a distinctive Stones' feel.


Champagne and Reefers, a fantastic blues played marvelously on both nights with Buddy Guy was one of the highlights. Funny to see that Buddy Guy changed from the sweatpants during the opening act to the suit/hat combo when playing with the Stones, sort of paying tribute to the Mississipi blues' worshippers that Keith and Mick were when they started. The layers of guitars topped with Mick's screaming harmonica was a sweet wink to the Stones' early beginning, when they were covering bluesmen material. But after tonight, to paraphrase Jon Landau, I saw the future of the Rolling Stones, and it's called the Blues.

I loved the fact that the Stones were by themselves on a few songs (e.g. Jumping Jack Flash or Shattered), only joined by Chuck on the piano. No background vocals, no horns, just bare bones Stones, like their rocking concert at Juilliard.
Keith doing some background vocals was also a refreshing, moving highlight of the night. He did some at last Giants' stadium concert, but it seemed like he made an extra effort tonight to participate more in the singing. That's something that, to me, was missing the past few years: Keith and Mick doing harmonies together. Well, they did it yesterday, sharing a mic, like 20, 30 years ago. Was that for Marty's movie or for the fans, we'll never know, but that was really moving.

Keith's part was another peak of the night, with the now traditional You got the Silver, with Ronnie on the acoustic guitar, and -- surprise! -- Connection, which drew the crowd nuts. The crowd by the way was screaming all night long. Standing in the lower balcony, you could see and feel the warmth of fans of all ages. Despite the apparent mishandling of the sale of the tickets, there were still 100% of fans (among which E Street Band's Steve Van Zandt smiling and appreciative or Benicio del Toro) in the audience, feeding the Stones with enthousiasm and energy.

The guests did their job properly. Beautiful version of Loving Cup, with a very respectful (maybe too much?) Jack White, with special kudos to Chuck on the piano. As for Christina Aguilera, I have to say I was a little puzzled at first when I saw her arriving on Sunday night. "The Stones, with Christina Aguilera?" Well, the girl has a fantastic voice and the version rocked. The surprise was gone on Wednesday, but the song still rocked. Aguilera was less playful than Sunday but I guess more focused and so were Keith and Ronnie to deliver one of the grooviest versions of this Let it Bleed favorite.

Ronnie, let's talk about him. He has been perfect during the past few concerts in New York and raised him game again. His solo on Start Me Up (yes, the warhorse!) was just fantastic. His interaction with Keith was a pleasure to hear and watch all night long. Their intertwined dirty licks on Shattered, All Down the Line or Some Girls made me feel like I was at the Garden in 1972. I never thought I'd say something like that, but the Beacon concerts were in my opinion as good as any of the Stones' live production from the 1972-1975 period, with mean guitars, a smoking rythm section were Darryll and Charlie complement each other like sulfur and fire and Mick's voice maturing just like a good old French wine. As for Charlie, well, he was himself, i.e., perfect from start to finish, with 2 amazing performances on Tumbling Dice and All Down the Line (fan-tas-tic beat breaks!). The Stones don't need to hide behind layers of horns, keyboard or background vocalists and they showed it yesterday.

The finale, with Satisfaction, just proved the point again. How many times have we heard that song? Yet, they managed to play it with Chuck Berry-esques accents and fantastic complicity between Ron, Keith, Mick and Charlie.

The Stones have nothing else to prove. They could stay in their respective mansions and sip cocktails all day long. Yet, after 40+ years, they're willing to take new risk and try new things. It doesn't always works (e.g., first versions of Sway), there sometimes are obstacles down the road (e.g., Coconut trees, sore throats), but when it all comes together, when the sparkle is here, you end up with a legendary night in an intimate venue, surrounded with friends.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-11-02 18:17 by micwer.

Thanks, micwer - I second your review. All v. well said.

I can't believe I have to wait one year to see any of this shit!

incidentally, Jagger's never played the harp on SG - Sugar Blue handled it in the studio and Mick never touched the harp during the song in '99....

great reading. Heres hoping they got enough of a kick out of this kind of show that they'll do several more of them.

Gazza Wrote:
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> great reading. Heres hoping they got enough of a
> kick out of this kind of show that they'll do
> several more of them.


Amen.

Gazza Wrote:
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> great reading. Heres hoping they got enough of a
> kick out of this kind of show that they'll do
> several more of them.

me too, but I don't think $o....

As a New York City boy living mostly in Europe...and having been invited to the canceled AC concert [kudos and thanks to Blackdog] which was a no-go...my heart is filled with sadness and gladness.

On the one hand I'm sad I was not there to see this amazing show.

On the other hand I'm glad it happened. I'm happy for all the die-hards that WERE able to attend. My soul was there...unfortunately my body was still across the Atlantic.

I must add that several well-connected friends attended the first show and recounted that while the music was good, Jagger's voice was less than stellar and the 'fans' were rather artificial, aloof, and self-regarding. Not a good audience. A big mistake...to hire models and café society mavens to spice up the crowd.

I guess this last show showed Mr. Cohl, Mr. Scorsese and Mr. Jagger that no outside help is needed when you're talking about Stones fans!

Thanks for the review.

I will say that watching (and I tried to avoid it) the "fake fans" in the front rows was a little "unsettling" Sunday night. They were being coached on practically everything...can't imagine any of them even recognized most of the setlist....

micwer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >
> I loved the fact that the Stones were by
> themselves on a few songs (e.g. Jumping Jack Flash
> or Shattered), only joined by Chuck on the piano.
> No background vocals, no horns, just bare bones
> Stones, like their rocking concert at Juilliard.
> Keith doing some background vocals was also a
> refreshing, moving highlight of the night. He did
> some at last Giants' stadium concert, but it
> seemed like he made an extra effort tonight to
> participate more in the singing. That's something
> that, to me, was missing the past few years: Keith
> and Mick doing harmonies together. Well, they did
> it yesterday, sharing a mic, like 20, 30 years
> ago. Was that for Marty's movie or for the fans,
> we'll never know, but that was really moving.
>
> .



SHIT!!! I wish I were there, not for a lack of trying, live @62&1stAve.

The extra back ground vocals work great for songs like Tumbling Dice, but I always missed the raunchy vocals of the Stones as a guitar band, not the Vegas big-band sound you know, like the horns on T&A and SFTD years back.

Let's hope they do more of this!

Sounds like an awesome show. I hope they incorporate some of those songs into the regular setlist. Of course, there's only seven shows left on this leg of the tour. It would be great if they kept playing some of those songs and somebody taped one of the remaning concerts so we wouldn't have to wait a whole year to hear them.

Too bad they didn't do these shows at the start of this leg so they could have been playing this stuff all along!

Im sure they will screw up the sound for the DVD? They always do, Im hoping for a bootleg to get the real concert?

I was one of the "fake fans" in the front rows last night...I put it in quotes because I am a real fan. Were'nt all of the extras Shoobidoobians? I know I was. Yes, they did stick beautiful girls right on the stage, but i'm sick and tired of all this bitterness about hiring extras...you could have been in on the deal too.

No, they weren't all Shidoobees. And come on - it seems the criteria for being in on that "deal" were age and looks, so that counts out a fair few (like me, for a start!), so not everyone could have been in on it at all.

BSORocks Wrote:
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> Were'nt all of the extras
> Shoobidoobians?

No, the first three rows were hired models. I have no problem with them putting young, good looking people up front, but it would be nice if they were all real fans such as yourself.

Great review. I was at Beacon 1 and your review made me wish I was back there still.

They've got nothing to prove and they proved it.

StonesTod Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I will say that watching (and I tried to avoid it)
> the "fake fans" in the front rows was a little
> "unsettling" Sunday night. They were being
> coached on practically everything...can't imagine
> any of them even recognized most of the
> setlist....


yep....nothin like the front row spontaneous interaction between the band and the "fans"

The first row models seemed to be having a good time though. And so were Keith and Ronnie looking at them.

micwer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The first row models seemed to be having a good
> time though. And so were Keith and Ronnie looking
> at them.


if they had warts.......they'd be in the nose-bleed section

Did they release any tickets last night at the beacon window I hope some people were lucky enough if they waited.

Leonard Keringer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> micwer Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The first row models seemed to be having a good
> > time though. And so were Keith and Ronnie
> looking
> > at them.
>
>
> if they had warts.......they'd be in the
> nose-bleed section

I resent that! I doubt that either me or my buddy will make the final cut, but there were cameras behind the stage facing upward toward us in the lower balcony. and, for good measure I wore a rather "loud" white hat, while my buddy had a flashing pendant in his, so we'd be easy to spot, warts and all!

............for good measure I wore a rather "loud" white hat, while my buddy had a flashing pendant in his, so we'd be easy to spot, warts and all.............

and I can hear Scorsese screaming........CUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!

What a fantastic review....thanks so much for giving us all such great details and such a positive buzz! There has been too much negetivity lately about life's randomness, and too much blamming....this was just pure Stones music and you really captured the moment.
I am so envious and would have loved to see that show!!!
I can't wait for the DVD!

> I can't wait for the DVD!

Me too, I want to see if it's going as great (or better?) as being there.

BSORocks Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was one of the "fake fans" in the front rows
> last night...I put it in quotes because I am a
> real fan. Were'nt all of the extras
> Shoobidoobians? I know I was. Yes, they did
> stick beautiful girls right on the stage, but i'm
> sick and tired of all this bitterness about hiring
> extras...you could have been in on the deal too.

the shidoobians were lucky and i'm glad for you and the rest - i tried to be "in on the deal" but heard nothing back...same with a lot of us...the teens were more than the first 3 rows - they were all i saw (from 2nd row loge)

Great review, thanks for writing it. Man, I wish they would release the two Beacon shows in its entirity.