This is a question to long-time fans: What was your initial reaction to the 1989 tour?
As it has been my first Stones concert experience, i loved it! But now that I am "wiser" and have heard a lot of recordings from the seventies and 81, I kind of envy you long term followers for having been able to see the band in more "unpolished" fashion, with less backing musicians etc...

So what did you think back in 89? What did you think about MJ's yuppie stage outfit? And what about those keyboard sounds being so prominent in the mix?

I heard the Atlantic City broadcast and thought they were sober, crisp and amazing!

"i want cookie!"

(i was 3)

Nijmegen-Paris-Belgrade-Bucharest

Awesome...didn't think I would see the day...was very bleak in the mid 80's.
I saw 3 shows at Shea Stadium.

However, the beginning of the corporate sounding Stones.

Hated Jagger's short haircut...everyone else was in fine form.

PECMAN

I was 21.

First sign of life from the Stones since I became a fan 1982.

"Great, they are back! I gotta see them!"
"But compared to the 81 boots...something has changed...!"

I hated the 89 tour, I have seen every tour from 81 to present and I can't for the life of me understand why so many people love this tour, it was pure warhorses, with keyboards and horns turmed way up and Guitars turned lower in the mix then they ever had been or would be after it, If any of the stones tours can be considered 'vegas' this was the one. Luckily they were much improved on later tours

Ket Wrote:
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Guitars turned lower in the mix

maybe that's why people loved it?

Nijmegen-Paris-Belgrade-Bucharest

Bill Wyman's last tour

@#$%&' ROCKED!

It was really great to see them back then, I still remember Bill standing there...moving nothing but his eyes and fingers.

Ive said before that I don't listen to 89 stuff that much, but a couple of good live songs from 89:

Undercover
Mixed Emotions
Terrifying....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-05-09 01:56 by ryanpow.

Pure warhorses? 2000 Light Years From Home, One Hit To The Body, Little Red Rooster, Blinded By Love, Can't Be Seen, Play With Fire, Terrifying, Undercover, Bitch, etc.

Setlist was pretty decent if you ask me. And I liked Keith playing with the Musicman guitar very much. SFTD, and Bitch was outstanding on that one.

One thing I didn't like was the fake syth sound on that tour. Remember the 'harmonica' in Miss You?

Ronnie and Keith were good, Bill was there, okay much too much syth and back-up,agreed, but the quality of playing was rather good I think.

Don't include One Hit (To The Body), Play With Fire, Terrifying & Blinded By Love as something that was standard in setlist. Blinded By Love was played twice, I think, for Christ's sake.

I like the the tour because it marked their return but the boots now are boring. No variety. Pretty much pure warhorses, sorry to break it to you. The mix of songs is much better now.

seemed perfect at the time.........i still have fond memories.


IORR............but I like it!

it was the best news i could get, could not believe it was happening at last, and the tour rocked,i was at opening nite in philly , what a show and what an amazing setlist, mick was terrific and the band was smokin hot

Ket Wrote:
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> I hated the 89 tour, I have seen every tour from
> 81 to present and I can't for the life of me
> understand why so many people love this tour, it
> was pure warhorses,

no it wasnt. It regularly featured about 5 songs off the new album, plus several old songs that had never been played before or had not been played in decades.

Not my fave tour by any stretch of the imagination, but after a 7 year wait and a period of a few years when we had all given up on them every playing again, at the time this tour was too good to be true.

I wasn't too excited about that tour, I thought Steel Wheels was a lame album.
Subsequently, I had the worst seats I've ever had at any Stones show because I didn't even try.
The stage was ugly, Guns and Roses and Living Colour opened, and the sound was tinny and sterile.
Horrible seats + lame album + shitty opening acts = a bad experience.

It was the complete opposite of my first Stones show in '81.

amazing for me - i had been waiting since '81 to see them (all sold out in chicago so i had hoped for the next tour in a couple of years)...

hearing tumbling dice for the first time live blew me away. also, i got in a fight with a security guard about having to sit down in my seat! i refused.

I was about 15 years old when the Flashpoint CD came out and I just loved the sound of it back then (right when I started getting into the Stones). I remember really liking the version of "Sad, Sad, Sad," among other tracks, of course.

I saw three shows. Two at Alpine Valley and the other at Busch Stadium. Apart from the Matt Clifford influence I liked the quality of the music and the setlists were pretty good too. I thought Keith and Ronnie were playing great then. I still think the band misses Bills bass in the mix, and lets not forget Stew. The band always rocked when Stew sat in.They had to!

someone wrote it was full of warhorses...please look at the setlists again.
You are mistaken.
Preppy outfits? what?
Stage was amazing, sound was great, at some shows, I saw 7 on this tour, the keyboards/Matt C was too high but the band was awesome. Love 'Flashpoint' to this day, but the Atlantic City and 7th of July boots capture it all.

i can't imagine seeing them at alpine - that place seems pretty small to me - i used to see the dead there and other bands in the 80s. took acid and mushrooms there for the first times (and last, with the latter). did you have a seat or were on the lawn?

preppy is a funny way to describe it - i think more colorful, maybe with bad hair for mick. too short.

jjflash73 Wrote:
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> someone wrote it was full of warhorses...please
> look at the setlists again.
> You are mistaken.

Ok....Let's look at the typical set for Steel Wheels, the US leg. Notice I said typical.

Start Me Up - warhorse
Bitch - underplayed gem at THAT time
Sad Sad Sad - new song
Undercover - I give it the nod of a new song
Harlem Shuffle - see above
Tumbling Dice- warhorse
Miss You- warhorse
Ruby Tuesday - underplayed gem
Play With Fire - underplayed, to this day, gem
Dead Flowers - underplayed gem at THAT time, though I still haven't heard it
Rock And A Hard Place - new
Mixed Emotions - new
Honky Tonk Women - warhorse
Midnight Rambler - warhorse
You Can't Always Get What You Want - warhorse
Little Red Rooster - nice
Before They Make Me Run - not a warhorse at that time
Happy - warhorse
Paint It Black - nice at the time although I don't care for these versions This has avoid warhorse status, in my mind, as they don't always play it.
2000 Light Years From Home - wow, a gem towards the end of the show, wouldn't see that now
Syampthy - warhorse
Gimme Shelter - warhorse
IORR - warhorse
Brown Sugar - warhorse
Satisfaction - warhorse
JJF - warhorse

By the time they got to Europe we lost Bitch after the first few shows, and lost Undercover. What did we get? Another warhorse - Street Fighting Man. The show was full of warhorses but, since we got longer shows, it wasn't as noticeable.

It was a great show! The boots all sound a lot different from the "true" live experience. Yes, from those boots it seems like the guitars are not up in the mix, but I can tell you from the two shows I saw in Wisconsin Keith and Ron were well up front with their playing in the mix. And they played a long show, with a lot of great songs they hadn't done in years! Ruby Tuesday, Paint it Black, Midnight Rambler...and a lot of songs they never had done live! 2000 Light Years From Home knocked me off my feet! I was shocked they pulled this one out! And did it great justice. One Hit to the Body, Harlem Shuffle, and a lot off of Steel Wheels that they have never done since. Great show and tour. The start of the boys becoming a true touring band.

ForeverFAH Wrote:
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> jjflash73 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > someone wrote it was full of warhorses...please
> > look at the setlists again.
> > You are mistaken.
>
> Ok....Let's look at the typical set for Steel
> Wheels, the US leg. Notice I said typical.
>
> Start Me Up - warhorse
> Bitch - underplayed gem at THAT time
> Sad Sad Sad - new song
> Undercover - I give it the nod of a new song
> Harlem Shuffle - see above
> Tumbling Dice- warhorse
> Miss You- warhorse
> Ruby Tuesday - underplayed gem
> Play With Fire - underplayed, to this day, gem
> Dead Flowers - underplayed gem at THAT time,
> though I still haven't heard it
> Rock And A Hard Place - new
> Mixed Emotions - new
> Honky Tonk Women - warhorse
> Midnight Rambler - warhorse
> You Can't Always Get What You Want - warhorse
> Little Red Rooster - nice
> Before They Make Me Run - not a warhorse at that
> time
> Happy - warhorse
> Paint It Black - nice at the time although I don't
> care for these versions This has avoid warhorse
> status, in my mind, as they don't always play it.
> 2000 Light Years From Home - wow, a gem towards
> the end of the show, wouldn't see that now
> Syampthy - warhorse
> Gimme Shelter - warhorse
> IORR - warhorse
> Brown Sugar - warhorse
> Satisfaction - warhorse
> JJF - warhorse
>
> By the time they got to Europe we lost Bitch after
> the first few shows, and lost Undercover. What
> did we get? Another warhorse - Street Fighting
> Man. The show was full of warhorses but, since we
> got longer shows, it wasn't as noticeable.


A lot of songs you consider warhorses were not at that time. Especially considering their last tour was in '81! Miss you was only played on two tours by the Steel Wheels tour, so if Before they Make Me Run wasn't a warhorse, neither could Miss You be one. Also songs like Gimmie Shelter, Midnight Rambler, and Sympathy weren't performed since '75/76. I think the whole concept of war horses became more relevent in the 90's and 2000's where they were touring on a more regular basis.

Queenie asked:"i can't imagine seeing them at alpine - that place seems pretty small to me - i used to see the dead there and other bands in the 80s. took acid and mushrooms there for the first times (and last, with the latter). did you have a seat or were on the lawn?"


I had lawn space for both shows. First show was kind of rainy and the crowd loose. I seem to recall they played One Hit. Great opening riffs from Keith and than Charlie coming in strong. The second concert was packed completely full and more intense(too many drunks...). They for sure oversold the place. Friends and myself had to throw people off our turf. We had the wives to protect. It was crazy as we were down low right behind the seating area. Sound was good for both shows IMHO. Guitars up in the mix which for me is essential to a good Stones concert. Took me an hour to get out of the *&^%$#**& parking lot, everyone asleep but me. Fun shows though, but the drive back was tough after that second night. Stevie Ray is probably still walking around out there wondering what happened.

Yeah Alpine was incredible! You are right on the money memory wise. The first night was raining and I was on the lawn for the first half of the show then snuck down close to the stage. The parking lot was a sea of mud. We were camping close to the show. The second night was a perfect night, the rain finally stopped and yeah it was more crowded and intenes. My buddy was dragged out by security for continually being busted close to the stage.

whitem8 Wrote:
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> A lot of songs you consider warhorses were not at
> that time. Especially considering their last tour
> was in '81! Miss you was only played on two tours
> by the Steel Wheels tour, so if Before they Make
> Me Run wasn't a warhorse, neither could Miss You
> be one. Also songs like Gimmie Shelter, Midnight
> Rambler, and Sympathy weren't performed since
> '75/76. I think the whole concept of war horses
> became more relevent in the 90's and 2000's where
> they were touring on a more regular basis.


I agree. "War horse" is open to interpretation anyhow. I think by the time of the Steel Wheels tour, only a few songs ("Jumping Jack Flash, Honky Tonk Women", "Brown Sugar", "Satisfaction", etc...) could have been considered "war horses".

But anywayz, about the tour.......I liked it. It's ( at least one of) my favorite "modern era" tours to listen to. I don't see why people knock it the way they do and claim that other tours, 10 or 15 years later are much better. It seems a gradual decline to me.

>> if Before they Make Me Run wasn't a warhorse, neither could Miss You be one. <<

well, but the Stones had never played BTMMR in concert at all before 89.
i agree with the general dissent, though; and SMU is another one that wasn't a "warhorse" in 89.

I was kinda happy but still I didnt like their hairstyles, clothing and there was that whole comeback thing. Something missing. It wasnt the same band, I felt. Loved the IMAX film but then I saw the Barcelona concert and couldnt believe how Keith had changed for the worse (his voice, his stage act etc on Happy). And the sound on those guitars, all plastic. Made me buy the LSTNT video and enjoy every second of Little T&A, She's so cold and YCAGWYW.