I found this drawing in one of my old sketchbooks:



Some details...
*The Spectrum (where I saw my first 2 Stones concerts) and Veterans Stadium are both visible, directly behind the stage... (Veterans Stadium and JFK Stadium are both gone today.)
*Little clusters of balloons are tethered along edge of the stadium...
*2 helicopters flying in the sky, to the right of the Vet...
*In the distance, the skyline with the tiny lettering "Philadelphia" on the left side; on the right side is one of the bridges over the Delaware River (small lettering on the river: "Jersey/Pennsyl"
*The music is "drawn" too... shown as waves wafting out into the crowd (over the "Rolling Stones" lettering...)
*Drawn with pencil and pen.
*Approx. 6" x 9".

Brings back memories... I looked up the set list:

Under My Thumb
When The Whip Comes Down
Neighbours
Just My Imagination
Shattered
Let’s Spend The Night Together
Black Limousine
She’s So Cold
Time Is On My Side
Beast Of Burden
Waiting On A Friend
Let It Bleed
Band introduction
You Can’t Always Get What You Want
Tops
Tumbling Dice
Hang Fire
Let Me Go
Little T & A
Start Me Up
Miss You
Honky Tonk Women
All Down The Line
Brown Sugar
Jumping Jack Flash
Street Fighting Man
ENCORE: Satisfaction




this video on YouTube.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2007-02-21 23:37 by schillid.

In your sketch book, so you did this. Awesome

Very cool!! My first Stones show--one of those things you remember for the rest of your life.

Here's Ronnie's painting "Philadelphia 1981"

Excellent!

I drove up with some friends from North Carolina for that show. I was about 30 feet from the stage. I still remember Keith's solo on Tumblin Dice. Mona was done, also - didn't even know the song at the time. A great day in Philly... ahh, the memories! Tatoo You!!

-



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2006-11-12 19:47 by schillid.

Dude thats awesome. Seriously. I'd like to get that in highrez and frame it. Mad props.

-Drake

I edited my initial post, to include some details... a little more descriptive, I suppose.

My first show too...very fond memories of an incredible day...Mick 35 feet above me in the cherry picker and doused with at least one drop of water from his bucket. :-)

It was a memorable day. As for the Stones' playing... that was another story, I remember. I've heard the Stones play great at shows, and not so great at other shows. Truthfully, the Stones' playing was a bit sloppy that day. I think it was the first concert of their tour... maybe they got tighter. Maybe they were just off that day...

There's sometimes little mistakes, even in the best of shows. But that day, the worst moment came during "Let It Bleed" when Mick stopped the song in the middle and said to Ronnie something like, "No it goes back to C there..." Ronnie: "I thought it was F there...?" Mick: "No, it's C..." They started the song over, I think.

That's the Rolling Stones up there, I thought.

cool,i was there,great show.thorogood,and journey opened if my memory's correct.

john scialfa

That is not an accurate set list. They did Mona and Down the Road Apiece. KR broke his string at the beginning of Down the Road and Woody and the band had to finish without KR. Bloody shame.

That's a great sketch.

For someone who was around then, what was it like seeing them in the 80s, I guess from an 80s perspective or where they were at that point in their creative careers?

Jumpin'JackFrash Wrote:

> For someone who was around then, what was it like
> seeing them in the 80s, I guess from an 80s
> perspective or where they were at that point in
> their creative careers?

See my post a few entries up...
I've seen better stones concerts before ('72 and '69!) and also since (Licks, Bridges, etc.)

But I've been a fan the whole time, regardless

Carnaby Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That is not an accurate set list. They did Mona
> and Down the Road Apiece.

Strange... someone else said on this thread that they did "Mona"...
but the set list that I cut and pasted in my first entry actually matches a list of songs that I wrote by hand (on the next page in the sketch book)

schillid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Carnaby Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > That is not an accurate set list. They did
> Mona
> > and Down the Road Apiece.
>
> Strange... someone else said on this thread that
> they did "Mona"...
> but the set list that I cut and pasted in my first
> entry actually matches a list of songs that I
> wrote by hand (on the next page in the sketch
> book)
Other songs played on the other shows
"Down The Road Apiece" Sep.26 JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, PA etc.
"Mona (I Need You Baby)" Sep.26 JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, PA etc.
"Going To A Go-Go" Nov.3 Freedom Hall Coliseum, Louisville, KY etc.
"Tops" Sep.25 JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, PA etc.
"Street Fighting Man" Sep.25 JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, PA etc.
"Sympathy For The Devil" Sep.14 Morgan's Cove, Worcester, MA

Sorry, it was the second show.

Those early shows in the '81 tour would have to be contenders for the worst the Stones ever played, way worse than the JFK '78 show. Even the Buffalo show on the 27th is a disaster.

The tapes don't lie: Train wrecks all over the place; they couldn't even get the warhorses right. At least they got their act together by when I saw them twice (11/12 and 12/7) later in the tour.

I didn't want to just come right out and say as much... but I remember that they played AWFUL.

I made a nice drawing though.

Lovely drawing, wretched show!

I wrote about some other Stones shows I've seen at [www.iorr.org]

baxlap Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Those early shows in the '81 tour would have to be
> contenders for the worst the Stones ever played,
> way worse than the JFK '78 show. Even the Buffalo
> show on the 27th is a disaster.

That may be true, from a certain angle. But still...especially the Buffalo show is a really really nice listen. The energy and excitement makes up for the mistakes.

i think the philly shows are better ,than hampton,,,81,,,

1 -i¨'s near sound like MSG 72.

I was at the second show, the 26th, a Saturday. This was my first Stones show and it was in front of 90,000 people!

Thorogood opened the show an hour late, at Noon instead of the scheduled 11 a.m. start. Good idea as people were still milling around at Noon trying to find their seats when he took the stage. He and the Delaware Destroyers played a blistering 60 minute set that included hits such as Move It On Over, Who Do You Love, One Bourbon One Scotch and One Beer (the highlight of the show) and finished with Reelin' and Rockin'. Bad to the Bone and the Maverick LP or CD would not be released for a couple of years, but it was this tour that put Thorogood on the national map. He opened most shows.

Journey came on at 1:30 and played for about 70 minutes. Escape was climbing the charts and most of us in the stadium knew their songs. Any Way You Want It and Wheel In the Sky were the highlights. The previous day, Journey had been booed off the stage after being introduced as "America's Number One Band." This day, they were more aptly introduced as "From San Francisco, please welcome Journey". Funny, a few months later a spectacular artist was booed off the stage, I think in LA. His name, Prince. Prince and Journey would be at the forefront of the pop scene only a few short years later and the Stones would be on the backburner.

I have seen 15 Stones shows and although this one will be one of the most memorable because it was my first, it was definitely the worst musically. Although they were soooooo much better on the 26th than the 25th,(the boots will bear this out) they still were not crisp at all.

It was a beautiful sunny 80 degree day in late September, Indian Summer for sure. The Stones seemed to be sucking up the sun or more likely sucking up something else as they didn't take the stage until 4:05 p.m. The curtain closed on the stage around 4 p.m. and Mick could be visible above the security barricades behind the stage as he climbed the steps leading to the stage. You can see this same approach by viewing the first twenty seconds of "Let's Spend the Night Together."

They opened with Under My Thumb with Mick sporting a tank top to go with his orange football sweats and a yellow jacket. The rest has been recorded here or on the circulated boot "Street Fighting Man in Philly". Listening to the boot and my own recollection I would have to say "Shattered" was the early highlight although "Mona" ( a lousy song IMHO) was played well as was "Down the Road Apiece." "Beast of Burden" highlighted the midsection of the show and JJ Flash of course rounded out the warhorses. Unfortunately, they chose not to play Satisfaction and although I don't have a playlist from the band for that show, there did appear to be some confusion backstage as to whether or not they were going to play Satisfaction. The curtain closed following JJ Flash and opened very soon thereafter with Mick doning the full length cape made in the design of the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes as Keith played the opening chords to Street Fighting Man.

They left the stage right at 6 p.m. I guess they had a flight to catch to Buffalo for the next day's show. Disappointing they couldn't stay five more minutes to play Satisfaction, but 26 songs that day is a significantly longer setlist than what they play now, albeit the same length of a show in realtime.

Great day and great experience and for those of you who saw the Stones later on this tour, I guarantee you saw a better show.

yea, great shows...i was there too...they were the days of concerts....
the stones ruled...anyway it was very exciting back then.

Yeah, Mona was not played at the first show the 25th but rather the
second show the 26th. I have never heard a recording of this show (25th) so
I can't comment, though people whose opinion I respect assure me it was awful.

Honestly, the concept of seeing the Rolling Stones Live was so mind-blowing to me and I had such an adrealine rush, they could have forgotten to plug in and I might not have noticed--lol

I will say this--we were really blown away by the length of the show and some of the songs they choose to play, which, prior to that show you could never have anticipated--"Under My Thumb" "Let's Spend The Night Together" "Time Is On My Side" and ESPECIALLY "Satisfaction". Now it may not seem like that big a deal but we were SHOCKED and left there convinced we had seen the greatest concert in RnR history.

I do remember Journey being introduced as "Americas #1 band" and that, was a huge mistake!! It sent me, for one, into a rage--lol It seemed like the most ridiculous thing ever uttered.

And, Thorogood was excellent--kinda already liked him and thought he was a real good choice but that afternoon made me a real big fan of his---he played the crowd perfectly and had a smoking set.

Nice memories.

I was also at that show, it was a beautiful day, very warm, I ate an ice cone to cool off. We got up front by 4pm, I don't recall thinking at the time that they were lousy in any way! Ill have to dig out my diary to check the set list. I know they played alot more songs than they do now! I have pictures, that's another thing I'm going to look at again!

2 days fun & music
nothin but
fun & music





whip cums downnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Great photos!!--gotta admit--I really enjoy this thread. I remember at one point Ronnie picked up a radio and held it up to his ear and Mick said something like "Ronnie's on the radio!"

Other thing I recall is how is what a HUGE deal it was to Philly that the tour opened there--I used to have a copy of the Philadelphia Inquirer (I think that is what it was called) that I literally picked up off the ground as we were walking out and the Stones show took up like the first 6 pages of the paper---very cool. Just seemed like such an event, cause, well it was.......

One final memory---after my group found each other after the show (and we loitered for several hrs playing Tatto You in the parking lot) the first thing my buddy said (actually, he was screaming--lol) to me was "Greatest day of my life!"

Like I said earlier--just one of those "once in a lifetime memories"--very cool.

i was ther,show was awesome.

john scialfa