My cousin Spiros and the Stones...
Date: June 10, 2007 04:49
Just spoke to my cousin, Spiros, over the phone. Spiros does visit Holland these days. He saw the Stones in Nijmegen. His voice sounded absolutely explicit. "Man, they were @#$%& great. Excellent concert".
My cousin loves rock music, but he isn't a Stones fan. He just does respect them. Spiros is an amateur guitarist. Alvin Lee and Richie Blackmore are his biggest "gods". I asked him "what about Keith and Ronnie in Nijmegen?". He answered "sometimes they were just decent, sometimes they were playing very well. The result was good because each of them knows other's play very well. Mick and Charlie, almost perfect. The whole gig, great".
After having heard Spiro's short "review" (OK, just a few comments), i'm reading again our discusions, here. I haven't personal opinion about the concert, of course. I wasn't there. But i never have seen a bad Stones gig. Never. Even the weakest of them, were just good. At worst. Am i an inwardly partial guy as a fan since 1973? Maybe. But i see that people around me, relatives and friends, after having seen the Stones are drawing much more possitive conclusions about the band than many hardcore fans do. Don't take me wrong, i don't deslike different opinions, just am looking for an explanation.
I think many of us are analyzing (by the microscope, sometimes) every moment of every band's member, especially the guitarists, in a way that was unthinkable in the so called "golden years". Hey, just try to judge in this "modern" spirit Hampton 1981, which is one of the best- if not THE best- Stones gigs ever: you' ll find flaws! Keith misses something on the intros of Under My Thumb and Little T&A, etc. Yes, even Hampton had blemishes, not only an average Stones concert during 70s or early sixties.
Maybe this thread is useless, i don't know. But i want to thank people like my cousin Spiros. I feel that i have to do it. They affirm that my ears are still working well. Maybe they' re not fans, but they appreciate many band's virtues much more than some hardcore fans do. When i read horrible, groundless things here ("the Stones aren't good musically anymore"), when i see fans fulminating against the Stones because of their ...clothes (what a great way to judge artists!), when i feel like a prisoner in a kingdom of "all time" negativity (sometimes i feel so), people like Spiros do confirm the existence of differnet world, out there.
Thank you my cousin!