Did anyone attend any shows from the 1969 tour?
This is one of my favorite stones tours and I would love to hear any stories or recollections you may have.

Cheers, Vudicus

Well, I was in the 9th grade when my neighbor had a extra ticket for the 2nd
show out here in LA (Forum) Everyone was in line waiting for the 1st show to
end. Was suppose to at 11:00, 2nd show didn't start until 01:30.

Some Hippies next to us shared a monster doobie mixed with hash. One of the 1st
times I ever got high (boy did I)

There were (4) acts on the Bill, Trying to remember who went on 1st, BB, Freddy
or Albert King - I think. Terry Reid was suppose to go on 2nd but due to time
was dropped. Ike & Tina Turner I remember - good preformance!

Then the Stones.. Still think this was Jagger at his best. His dancin around,
his comments, everything clicked! Master of the stage. And the band producing
the music that made it all happen. We had been Mick Taylor fans ever since
listening to him on the John Mayall Bluesbreaker albums and were very eager
to see what he added to the Stones sound, he didn't disappoint!!
Bill & Charlie was rock solid holding down the beat..

Taylor & Keith worked so well together. And they played most of the songs we wanted to hear: Stray Cat Blues, Jumping Jack Flash, Midnight Rambler were
highlight's, and I'm Free was well received. The people rushed the stage,
security just let it happen, don't remember any girls going after Mick too much,
people were just into the music. near the end Jagger made this comment:

You people don't sleep around here do you, guess we'll play all night!!!

My last impression was pulling up to my house with the sun coming up around 06:00 in the morning. The show lasted until a little after 05:00. 1st time
I had been up all night. A impression I'll never forget!!

MLC

Afternoon show - day after Thanksgiving - Mad Sq Garden. No Tina Tuner. Terry Reid and BB King instead.

Unbelievable show!

I was twelve in 1969, when I saw the Stones perform live for the first time, in Philadelphia at the Spectrum. My mom and my friend's mom took us and our brothers! Our entourage was comprised of the two moms and six boys. We ranged in age from ten to sixteen. And at the time, I thought that we must have been an odd looking group. What's funny is that we probably looked like a lot of people you see at a Stones concert nowadays.

We had tickets for the matinee show, scheduled for 4:00 on a Tuesday afternoon. In those days, in was not uncommon for a band to schedule two shows in the same day, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Unfortunately, at the last minute they cancelled the afternoom show. On the day of the show, we were dejected. But the (rock) stars were smiling upon us.

The day of the show, a cousin of mine (RIP) went to the Spectrum, hoping to buy a ticket. A few hours before the show, we got a call from my cousin outside the Spectrum. He had found this guy with dozens of tickets to that night's show. He even got the ticket guy to talk to us on the (pay)phone.

Ticket Guy tells us that he is sympathetic to the plight of people who had purchased tickets to the cancelled show, and he is willing to swap tickets from the cancelled afternoon show for tickets to the sold out evening show. He'd redeem the cancelled tickets later at the box office for face value, he explained.

He promised to save eight tickets for us. Imagine this nowadays. We piled frantically into the car, and drove to the Spectrum, 45 minutes away. We were going to see the Rolling Stones after all! We found our cousin, who introduced us to the generous ticket seller. He was surrounded by many people, all eagerly buying tickets. Not surprisingly, he had raised his price a bit since we had spoken to him. He was now asking for $10 for the tickets. Imagine that. For us, however, Ticket Guy kept his word, exchanging the tickets at face value: just $7.50. Imagine any of this nowadays!

It was an amazing concert... the first of many stones concerts I've been to.

(Nov. 25, 1969)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2007-07-26 18:55 by schillid.

For those who were there and who are interested Ethan Russell, who has taken some of my favrorite Stones photos, is asking for recollections from those who saw the Stones in 1969 for an up coming photo book he's doing. Should be great! Check it out at [www.ethanrussell.com]

Shillid, Aslecs, do you have any memories of shows themselves? Please share them if you do!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2007-07-26 18:59 by ChrisM.

The Forum, Inglewood, Nov. 8, 2nd show. I sat on the floor, a touch right of center, a little over halfway back. There were four acts, B.B., Ike & Tina and Terry Reid for TWO shows that night. It was a mess. 15,000 going in, then 15,000 trying to leave with another 15,000 waiting to get in. Who knows how many other people were there without tickets? You get the picture. B.B. and Ike & Tina were great, especially Tina. Then we waited. And waited. The announcement that Terry Reid was not going to play was met with relief.

I remember the excitement in the air, a vague sense of danger and plain curiousity of what this was going to be like. I had never seen them before. To this day I have met only a couple of people who had seen them before '69. I knew the reputation. I knew the TV appearances. I knew the records and the powerhouse singles. I knew BJ was dead and gone. I did not know MT other than he graduated from the Mayall school of lead guitarists. I knew BB was an extraordinary album. How would it come across live? What were they going to play?


The Stones hit the stage around 2:00 p.m. To this day I much prefer a simple entrance. Then I saw Jagger with the black outfit, cape, Uncle Sam top hat. After that I have few recollections: The show was sexy. I had the feeling the band was holding back. It was a more restrained show than I expected. The recognition of those opening chords of JJF. The riffs of MR and the realization that the song was not yet over. The Chuck Berry stuff. The acoustic blues. I knew even then that they were bringing back home to America. That they were making a statement that they can play it, that they were the inheritors of that music. I enjoyed the pick up of the pace with Under My Thumb. There were new songs that I did not know. The show closed with a rush and it seemed too short.

I was enthralled with Keith's playing, his vision how the songs should be played, their structure, their essential rhtyms, the rhythm seemed to come out of his body and through his guitar. It looked easy, sounded simple and felt spot on. Taylor I did not quite get. I thought his leads odd.

It was not the most exciting show I ever saw, but it was one of the best. I loved and admired it. It made a STATEMENT. I felt even then that I saw something historic.

Some 28+ years later I was astounded to be listening to that show again. I have never listened to anything as closely in my life. My heart was speeded up. It was all there. Jagger apologizing for the late hour. Some sort of push and shove in front of the stage early on that I could hear but could not see at the time. Keith DID play great that night. I believe that that performance of SFTD is the best of the pre-Taylor solo versions. And Taylor's playing WAS a bit odd. His LIV solo was still evolving.

There are a couple fine recordings of this show. Strong, classic performance by Keith. I dobt if he played any better. I recommend it. I find the '69 tour fascinating. You can listen to the evolution of the band, its changing dynamics as it played from west coast to east. A band growing into its prime right before your ears.

... my girlfriend worked in the right office at universal studios, she pulls off two free row 4, smack in the center 2nd show tickets at the forum.... and the right drugs ..... it was the worst show ive ever been too...........

you must have been asleep

Jees soundcheck, what kind of drugs were those??

MLC

Wonderful description pmk...
I loved Keith's rhythm playing too
I loved Taylor's playing, including leads too.

I have 2:00 a.m. as a marker in my head, but MCDDTLC is probably correct that the whole second show started around 1:30 a.m. or so. That makes more sense. Cool that you were there too. I enjoy your posts. I had just graduated from Inglewood Hi at the time. Great for me that the band played there. I lived only a couple of miles away.

One other impression I had about Keith's playing: It was so simple looking, so effortless that it almost looked like randon strumming until I realized how he was driving the song, how what he was playing fit into the song's structure, how one thing was a variation of another, the uncanny rhythms on and off the beat. It was wonderful, very confident, very assured.

I express much criticism of the band on this board and elsewhere, but I hope people realize where I'm coming from. This concert and the one I saw in the same building in '72 and '73 made a big impression on me and has given me many fond memories. Thank Goodness so many shows are preserved on boots!

....... that was humor folks...

You guys should tell this to Ethan Russell for posterity!

Well, as far as I remember I was seven at that time and I was playing in a garden in lower Bavaria - Germany - with friend football and I think we were listing to CCR or Roxy Music.

I've told this story before, but I'll do it again.

I was 19 at the time. We decided to wait all night in line at the LA Froum to get tickets. We arrived at about 7 or 8 PM and were the 6th in line at one of several ticket windows. By the time they opened them up the next morning, the lines snaked all the way around the Forum and beyond. I purchased 16 tickets, left center, not far above the floor seats. Great seats. On the night of the show (we were at the first show), we all had such a sense of anticipation. THey hadn't played in LA for over 3 years. In fact, I had seen them at their last LA performance, at the Hollywood Bowl in '66. The essence of that show is captured on the "Got Live if you Want It" album. But who knew what they would be like 3 years later?

I believe Terry Reid opened, then BB King, the Ike and Tina, who put on an incredible performance. I mean, "River Deep. Mountain High" live? Come on . . .

Finally, we hear Mick say, "Hey . ." and out they came, Mick wearing the red, white, and blue top hat, with the black outfit and the cape. Then the opening riff to JJF. From that point on I was mezmerized. They had obviously grown a great deal musically from the jtime I had last seen them. No more screaming girls, just unparalleled rock and roll. THeir music was powerful, raw, deep, blusey. I had seen just about every popular group in and around LA by that time, and it became apparent that night that they were in a class by themselves. I had heard a live bootleg of "Midnight Rambler" not long before the show, and I was hoping they would play it. (Back then, some FM stations would play unofficial bootlegs from time to time). That song blew us all away. (By the way, going to see the Stones and sitting with 15 of your closest friends is an unforgettable experience!).

All too soon the show ended, and as we exited the Forum, we walked past thousands in line for the second show. The only bad part of the evening is that when my girlfriend and I got back to the car, we saw that someone had broken in to it and had ripped off her stereo and my leather fringe jacket!!

A couple of years ago I came across a bootleg copy of that show, called LA Queenie. It is a bad recording, but in listening to it, I remembered some of the comments Mick made during the show, and heard once again a couple of the flaws in the show (the harp mic feeding back at the beginning of MR, and Charlie being off tempo at the beginning of SFM).

What a sweet memory.

I think half of the board was at these 1969 Inglewood Forum shows - impressive

Keep the stories coming!

I do not mean to hog up this thread, but I keep thinking about that night...

The guy next to me lit one up and shared it with me and my date. He was from Downers Grove, IL. The name of the place brings a smile to your face, but I knew it very well. Before we took that trip down Rte. 66 to LA we lived in IL. I had Aunts, an Uncle, Gramps and cousins who lived in Downers Grove. What are the odds on that?

I'm trying to sort out my impressions at the time from what I've subsequently learned and come to think. But I distinctly remember being impressed by the feeling that the band did not come to the audience, but required the audience to come to the band. I can elaborate, but most will know what I mean. Again, it requires confidence, an amount of patience and restraint, a commitment to the music and a certain clear vision of what the band is about. It was an impressive and non-patronizing performance.

Yeah, it's cool a number of us were there that night.

I was six in 1969 wish I could have seen them live back then.

drummer_dude

.... hey, it was so good that people drove in tin-can VWs from many states

around to attend altamont on a dimes notice...

It was my first serious rock concert - was just a kid, right before my teens (had seen the Lovin' Spoonful and Cowsills at Disneyland already - Tomorrowland stage lol - moves up and down. Modern staging for modern times - haha). LA FORUM, Nov. 8th, 1969. Terry Reid played first (he was ALMOST the singer for ZEPPELIN but said NO to Page - good move dude. Terry who? Robert, oh yeah Robert Plant, of course !!! - man, that was ONE BAD DECISION, the kind were you eventually raise that pistol to the side of your head a few years later and...... CLICK it goes) BB KING was good, IKE and TINA TURNER were a bit better, very nasty for this youngster but that was OK, a boy has to learn all this stuff sooner or later and Tina had some of the sexiest legs on the planet.....

I was such a youngster that Jagger's whole outfit REALLY threw me - was this a pro or anti American statement with the hat? Vietnam was sizzling, Beatles were singing about Revolution...hmmm. The American flag top hat, scarves, LEO shirt, WTF was this? It was just too weird back then. Of course now I love that outfit - It's classic. The songs sounded so different live, I didn't exactly "get it" - they didn't sound THAT different on Ed Sullivan (didn't know that Mick was the only one performing/singing live - the rest of the band faking it to the studio backing track on Ed's shows, at least the later ones) So this was a REAL show.

My friend's dad who brought us fell asleep and we worked our way closer to the stage (he feel asleep - I mean, it wasn't even very loud) Highlights for me were: JJ FLASH - of course/SYMPATHY/STRAY CAT - as raw and nasty as it's suppose to be.... PRODIGAL SON - nice and simple, 1 voice, 1 guitar - Beautiful/UNDER MY THUMB/MIDNIGHT RAMBLER (the centerpiece of the show - has never been done as good after 1969 when we really BELIEVED Jagger was "the hit and run, raper, in anger" I think Jagger believed it too - slapping the floor over and over with that giant belt, screaming like a mad man - he was INTO IT !!... holy sh*t, what did this all mean?) LIVE WITH ME/QUEENIE/SATISFACTION/HONKY TONK/STREET FIGHTING MAN - almost all new songs at the time, pure rock and roll.

Jagger started the second show with "We would have brought our tooth brushes if we had known" yeah, well, 2 shows in one night.... things get backed up....... 90 minutes later we stumbled out into the early morning sun rise haze of Los Angeles.... we'd just seen and heard something that would change all of us forever - it was way beyond AMAZING....

(LET IT BLEED came out a month later and was played to death everywhere by our little gang - the neighbours could eat sh*t if they didn't like it. This was OUR band and their brilliant new album...so PLAY IT LOUD)

I was 16 back in 1969 and this was the first time I was able to get to see the Stones. I lived in the Chicago area and for me it was very exciting to be going. I bought the 4 tickets via mail order for the evening show. I think they were like $6.50 each. We had seats in the mezzanine 1/3 back on the right side of the stage. It was at the International Amphitheater, usually home to livestock exhibitions and occasional political conventions. Located in the heart of the Chicago Stockyards district the area still smelled bad, I mean really bad after decades of livestock slaughter that had actually been shut down quite a few years before. The stench lingered. I was pissed off on the drive down. I had the family station wagon with 3 other friends and a terrible headache. Loud music wasn't going to help much, but heh it was the Stones and I wouldn't have missed it for anything. Freezing cold out that night too.

Our seats were fine with a good view of the stage. Terry Reid opened. Lots of reefer being passed around and a few hits helped my headache. Reid was well received and then it was Chuck Berry. Chuck really lit the place up. He knew he had it going and the fans were up out of their seats dancing to Chucks hit parade we all knew and loved. He played a long set and he wouldn't leave the stage. I thought he was just digging it and wanted to play more, but I heard later he was just waiting for the money to show up. What a great act to prime us for the boys. After a long wait the house lights went down and out came Mick with the Sam hat, drum rolls from Charlie and then the rest of the band plugged in. I got goose bumps when they kicked into Flash. Carol next was killer. No one could play Chuck like Keith. What a sound! I still remember thinking how awesome Charlie and Bill sounded together. Never heard anything like it before or since. It was unique the way they laid that big bottom sound down. MT and Keith were right in sync. I didn't know much of Mick Taylor except for what I had read. Man he looked like my age! I still believe Jagger was at his best on this tour.

The whole setlist was wonderful for me, but I thought the coolest parts of the show were the first two numbers, SFTD live version smoked, the sit down Prodigal Son and Love in Vain with Mick and Keith alone. MIdnight Rambler came out of nowhere. It was a completely new song for us as LIB had not been released yet. Stunning, magical. Jagger was just incredible. He owned the building. Queenie was a show stopper with Keith solos and Stew hammering away. It just so good you didn't want the song to end. These Berry covers were killer and the crowd loved it. Finishing of course with Satisfaction and then a full tilt SFM, the place was stunned by what they had seen and heard. This show exceeded all expectations. Having loved them for years on records, this was the shit to be able to see em play. I was buzzing for days after the show, and it rates as one of the best concerts I have ever attended to this day. Having read about it in the local underground press The Seed, buying "Liver than You'll Ever Be" a month later as a bootleg brought back some wonderful memories. I wish more video of this tour would become available as it remains my sentimental favorite. tour.

<The show lasted until a little after 05:00>

Great story, MCDDTLC! A three and a half hour show!!! Did they play some other songs as well, that they normally didn't do on this tour??

Sounds like a fantastic experience.

DP

DP, the show lasted that long because of 3 opening acts (Terry Reid, BB King, Ike and Tina Turner) The Stones only played for about 70 - 75 minutes (14-16 song set list - depending if GIMME SHELTER was played - that one wasn't very common) What was the set list? Let me give it a shot:

JJ FLASH
CAROL
SYMPATHY
STRAY CAT BLUES
PRODIGAL SON
YOU GOTTA MOVE
LOVE IN VAIN
I'M FREE
UNDER MY THUMB
MIDNIGHT RAMBLER
LIVE WITH ME
(GIMME SHELTER)
LITTLE QUEENIE
SATISFACTION
HONKY TONK
STREET FIGHTING

No Encores, never in 1969, Jagger would let you know SFM was the last song. Did I get the set list right? I think "I'm Free" came and went a lot too....

Wow, cool set list !!!

Hello!

Thanks for all your contributions to this thread, as I've stated before
I also think this was their best, especially the second leg from
Detroit onwards!
Myself I could not be there, I was 18 years old, still going to school in
Mülheim/Ruhr Germany, and this was six months before my final high school
examination, no way you could skip school and fly over to the States for
a weekend to catch the Stones back then!
Worse still, that summer we were on a class outing in London for 10 days,
and we had to go back on July 3rd, two days before the Hyde Park concert!!!
While we were on the ferry,on he radio we heard the sad news of Brian's death.
To DaveG: lookout for "Welcome To the Breakfast Show" bootleg, which is of
better quality than "LA Queenie"!
To all the others: please look over your shelf and under your sofa and
produce the soundboard tapes from 69 you've been hiding all these years,
and share them with us!!!

Falrly accurate set list. I believe You Got to Move and Under My thumb were omitted the first show due to time issues. Check out Rocks off setlists. I do not know how accurate they are.

Thanks, Rank Stranger. I'd like to get a copy of "Welcome to the Breakfast Show" CD. Though the "LA Queenie" CD quality is bad, it is significant to me because I was at that particular show. I remember following the performance of "Prodigal Son", Mick said, "I think I got a crick in my neck . .". I, for some reason, never forgot that. Then, in hearing the Queenie CD, there it is, just as I remembered it.

I also believe that "Under My Thumb" and "You Gotta Move" were only performed at the second show.

Yeah, I'd use my memory but better than trying to be super accurate from almost 40 years back I do have a tape of the late show given to me a few years after by a High School friend who I NOW believe was a big bootlegger (he also had an excellent Stereo audience recording - used a Niagra reel to reel - of the Zep "BLUEBERRY HILL" show (Stereo meaning he was on the right side, very close floor seats with a friend who was more on the left side with close floor seats and they both had microphones so one guy obviously strung the wire down the row of seats, I don't know EXACTLY how they did it but it sounded GREAT. Like an idiot I wanted to save tape so I mixed the right/left with a reverse splitter back down to Mono and only used one channel on my reel to reel. It was a very long show and he also had CSN and Y live at the Forum so I wanted to get that too. Problem was I didn't have enough blank tape so did the same thing with that one. What a F*cking idiot I was - had I know how great this stuff was....) The Stones show he had on reel to reel at 7 1/2 speed and I copied it at 3 and 3/4 speed - it lost a lot of quality - like I said, what an idiot. So they DID do a longer second show and since I was kinda spaced out at the Forum cause, still being a youngster, I wasn't used to being up all night The tape helps me remember a lot. I did think they played THUMB at the first show but very possible it was the second show I'm thinking of. I don't remember YGTM at all at the first show. Maybe they didn't do it till the second show, very possible.....Anyway, my review is kind of a melding of both shows, that's the best my memory can do at this point - lol

As some of you brilliant guys have mentioned, those LA Forum shows are unbeatable.

We waited with such enjoyable anticipation for that delayed second show. We would have waited an entire week.

These shows and some other gigs on the 1970 European tour spoiled me forever.

The Stade de France this year was my first stadium gig..I went for the audience as much as the band.


Vudicus, you might want to hear from others about the 1972 tour with Stevie Wonder opening. That was one of the Stones' favorite tours.