Never really 'got' the 81/82 tours like so many here do to be honest. Guitars were too tinny, Jaggers shouting style isn't a favourite either.

"Do we all wish for 1981"

Fluck no, I was 10 and in the midst of think Adam and the Ants ruled!

Oh come on - 1981 was terrific
Jagger wasn't at his peak, but Ronnie, Keith and Bill were delivering the stuff

loved the 81 tour...but then again, it was my first time seeing them...Buffalo and then Pontiac....i had nothing to judge them to previous shows...but the chart has pointed up ever since....

1981 is the good example of destroyed rock'n'roll we like. The band could sound fantastic and horrible during the same show (Phoenix listen the boot satisfaction guarranted). 1989 is great but very different. Much more professional ("back in business and 45 years old, let me show what we can still do").

The guitars interacting was realin 81. Charlie is clear, Bill very listenable (today the bass is drowned, I cannot hear it). However it is a mess sometimes and a cacophony (just my imagination shortened for the Still life LP). But it is rock'n'roll !! brutal energy is the expression when I think about 81 tour.
I think it was not a very well rehearsed and prepared tour. And Mick and Keith was angry at each other I think (Hampton : Keith shouting on 'time is on my side' instead of singing and Mick scowling at him is an example) resulting in an approximate work. But I like it...

but but but Keith's vocals on Time Is On My Side are freakin *amazing!*
that astonishing melodic howl from that full-grown extra-strength natural-born rock & roller
who's up there showin us all how rich and beautiful that piece of music is - can't get enough!

with sssoul Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> but but but Keith's vocals on Time Is On My Side
> are freakin *amazing!*
> that astonishing melodic howl from that full-grown
> extra-strength natural-born rock & roller
> who's up there showin us all how rich and
> beautiful that piece of music is - can't get
> enough!


Damn right, sistah sssoul. Keith's forays into those little stints of backing vocalist have become far too sporadic post-1982 for my liking. Likewise the sight of both of them sharing the same mic.

Christ, they even released that Hampton version as a single, didnt they? They were obviously happy enough with it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-09-17 19:20 by Gazza.

toomuchforme Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 1981 is the good example of destroyed rock'n'roll
> we like. The band could sound fantastic and
> horrible during the same show (Phoenix listen the
> boot satisfaction guarranted). 1989 is great but
> very different. Much more professional ("back in
> business and 45 years old, let me show what we can
> still do").
>
> The guitars interacting was realin 81. Charlie is
> clear, Bill very listenable (today the bass is
> drowned, I cannot hear it). However it is a mess
> sometimes and a cacophony (just my imagination
> shortened for the Still life LP). But it is
> rock'n'roll !! brutal energy is the expression
> when I think about 81 tour.
> I think it was not a very well rehearsed and
> prepared tour. And Mick and Keith was angry at
> each other I think (Hampton : Keith shouting on
> 'time is on my side' instead of singing and Mick
> scowling at him is an example) resulting in an
> approximate work. But I like it...

A very good summary, toomuchforme.

I was disappointed with the 81 tour at the time primarily because i didn't enjoy Mick's vocals and the band seemed a little too lean and stripped down. However, the tour has grown on me after listening to the later tours and realising the 81 tour, for whatever may be its faults, was the last time the Stones played in a raw and spontaneous way. The later tours would be far more polished and to a point far more cautious.

Ragged, erratic, coked-up, but oh boy when they nailed it!

Just on "Hampton '81":

"Under My Thumb"
"Just My Imagination"
"Time Is On My Side"
"Honky Tonk"
"Can't Always Get..."
"Brown Sugar"

and the kicker, the surprise dusted-off, never-played gem:

"Let It Bleed" (hasn't been topped since)

Oh, HELL yeah!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-09-17 19:34 by Rev. Robert W..

The sound was not so great but I think Jaggers Phsyical stage presence on the 81 tour was the best he ever did. He covered alot of ground with intensity on every song.

The sound was not so great but I think Jaggers Phsyical stage presence on the 81 tour was the best he ever did. He covered alot of ground with intensity on every song.

Guys, download some of the boots from 1981 and listen to She's so cold, JJS (is Syracuse the one with the extra long Keith/Ronnie - and Mac - chorus?), Little T&A, YCAGWYW etc etc. And listen to Bill...wow

Ok 1989 and the following tour had more attractive setlits but about the essential rolling stones sound around guitars, I can tell 1981-1982 was very superior. If you look how keith works his guitar. He didn't need a lot of keybord or horns section to fill the space. Now he needs that and ronnie do the guitar work. In the 1976 tour, keith and his guitar are only one. Look at paris when he played the @#$%& solo with his eyes closed. He feels his solo at his time. Now he needs to watch where puting his fingers on the guitar neck. Keith is always my guitar hero but now he is old and used by his way of life.
Anyway, after 1982, the setlists were more attractive but....the circus was on the road. Qui aime bien, chatie bien!

81-82 is my favorite tour musically, hands down. Saw them in 78 and 76, they impressed me more in 81/82. By the time I saw them in 89 my first thoughts were, is this the Stones or a big Pink Floyd production, still good but nowhere near what they brought to the stage in 81/82.

J-J-Flash Wrote:
By the time I saw them in 89 my first
> thoughts were, is this the Stones or a big Pink
> Floyd production, still good but nowhere near what
> they brought to the stage in 81/82.

Yup.

D'oh! I long for 1972. THERE WERE NO BAD SHOWS IN '72!

Just one veteran fan's opinion, but I rank the tours that I have seen this way:

1. 1989 - OK, the first of the "Vegas-style" shows, but I don't think the band ever sounded better (Birmingham and Atlanta for this one)

2. 1975 - Tour of the Americas, my first Stones show, just killer (Greensboro)

3. 1997 - Bridges to Babylon, show in Atlanta was first rate

4. 2005 & 2006 - ABB (Atlanta both times), just glad to see the boys still had it in 'em.

5. 1994 - Voodoo Lounge (Birmingham and Atlanta, again). Great show, but I just thought it was down a few notches from the 89 tour

6. 1978 - OK, it was a good show (and a "good" Rolling Stones show beats the heck out of Foghat, right?), but I rank it at the bottom of the tours I've seen (Greensboro again). Some great moments, some moments when it seem like they were just phoning it in.

Tour I missed that still haunts me to this day? 1972. Sure wish I'd been there, but, hey, I've seen my favorite band nine times, and that's pretty good.

Tour I'm glad I missed? 1981. Good moments, but just too ragged for me.

What 1981-82 means to me is that it was the last time they toured as a relatively small unit with only two keyboards and one sax as back up. Since then they have toured with a large ensemble of backing musicians which to me dilutes their sound. I much prefer them as a stripped down band with at the most keyboards and a few horns as additonal instrumentation. They showed they could still play as a 5 piece at the Juliard Press conference. Ah well, I can dream I suppose...

that juliard performance should prove to the boys that they can do it just like that, 5 piece rock n roll, why not they dont need the money, just go on a 5 piece club tour, that would be insaine

The 81 Tour was great for me! It was my second Stones Tour and I was hyped up for it too! I scored 20 tickets to the Saturday Orlando show and with 20 friends we road tripped down to Orlando, Florida from Savannah. I traded one of the Saturday tickets to one of my friends for a Sunday ticket and stayed over for the second show and caught a Gray Hound Bus back home on Monday. Great crowd energy. Van Halen opened for both these shows which made them at that time the opening band for all 3 of my Stones concerts. My first show was the 78 New Orleans Superdome Show. I have great memories of those 2 1981 shows!
Fred Hardin
Pleased to meet you........

.... i have never regretted passing on that nortorious 81 joke,, in my locale,

it was the LA colliseum,,, 90 thousand drunk tailgaters to navigate thru would

have been way too much for me,, throw in jagger speeding around kinetically in

some psuedo football uniform garb, and im over the edge ..... no wonder

richards wrote, you dont move me anymore'',, they were so on t0P of it, they

couldnt wait to deliver 'dirty work' in '83, which bomded for good reason,

cause it sucked so bad.

Listen, we need to put the 1981 tour in some kind of historical perspective. The last time the Stones toured in 1978, think of who their contempories were and how they were still touring and/or recording - the Who, Led Zeppelin,Ex-Beatles, etc. By 1981, Keith Moon, John Bonham, and John Lennon had all died.
The Who, Led Zeppelin and the Beatles had no hope of any kind of rejuvenation in the coming years - principle and irreplaceble members were dead, gone, finished....
Who comes along relatively intact with a drunken bravado? ...the 1981 Stones! With a hit record and stripped down show...and the American rock fans devoured it....truly the last time they seemed to be on the usual "make a few albums and then tour every three years" cycle...kind of a comfort thing...and for only $12.50! a ticket...I thought the '81 tour was the end of an era...and I was right...

HelterSkelter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 81 Tour ? With the silly VERY 80's stage and those
> God awful football outfits Mick wore ? It's like
> the "HAPPY FACE LOLLIPOP" tour, all bright colors
> and NO dark edge what-so-ever, No GIMME SHELTER,
> No SYMPATHY, No PAINT IT BLACK, No MIDNIGHT
> RAMBLER... needed a couple more EMOTIONAL RESCUE
> songs (Maybe SUMMER ROMANCE, DOWN IN THE HOLE,
> SEND HER TO ME and DANCE pt. 1) and a few less
> SOME GIRLS songs (still played 1/2 of the album -
> great album but was covered nicely on the 78 tour
> - all but 2 songs).
>
> The 1969 tour was tops and then the entire 70's
> string of shows were great. Stones were still the
> Stones and Mick wasn't doing a parody of himself
> yet. 69 was great because it was JUST THE BAND
> (with Ian Stewart) and as real and raw as they
> ever were - in fact, they were LIVEr than you'll
> ever be - lol...... So yeah, we all wish for 1981
> to go away... Except for Micks very short haircut,
> STEEL WHEELS was much better, a much better set
> list for starters.....

David700 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> man that '81 show was kinda dissappointing playing
> "Black Limo" boring....89 was fantastic! lots of
> surprises from all over their career including
> "One Hit" which they dropped after toronto,
> "UnderCover" "Harlen Shuffle" "Time Is On My Side"
> and the biggest treat of that tour "2,000 light
> years..'
> d

Gotta go with spodlumt. It was my first Stones tour, I've seen shows from every tour since & it's still my favorite. Btw, count me as one who thinks '89 was the worst.

700, check out the almost all different 1989 set list then get back to me.... The 1989 setlist was TOTALLY well balanced, covering EVERY decade nicely......

Thumb, you probably also like to walk into movies about 45 minutes late. The Stones started around 63 and really super peaked from 1968 to 1973 so, bad news, you kinda missed the very best part, sorry dude.......(1975 to 1979 was still a very high point, just not as high as before. After that it turned into the "Corporate Stones" unfortunately - still good but, well you can't repeat the golden age....)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2007-09-18 07:04 by HelterSkelter.

Ya can't help when you're born. I woulda liked to have seen '60's & '70's shows. I got the records & know what your sayin'. That's just all I got. Besides, if I'd seen those shows just think how old I'd be now.

I wouldn't have minded seeing them in the early days, though. True 69-73 marked their peak but i think the mid sixties Stones would have been fabulous with Brian. The sound was less sophisticated, for sure and it may have been hard to have heard through all the screams but i think those shows would have been infinitely preferable to the Stones 80's,90's and beyond experience.
The 78 tour was really the last of the old Stones when they truly displayed the old raw swagger which made them so brilliant at the outset. Jagger's vocals were still really raw and vital with a real hard edge - those tours since have had their moments but they've never quite grabbed me in the same way.81 wasn't great to my ears because the Stones had by then lost their mystique and the sound had been stripped down to the basics. Jagger's gruff vocals didn't help either. However the guitar interplay did have a certain spontaneity which was forever lost when the Stones reconveined at the end of the 80's.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-09-18 09:46 by Edward Twining.

Amen Edward although I love the 81 tour it is a toungue in cheek tour. But they played so well. The danger was gone however. Last real glimpse of magic was 1977 for me. But, that said, check out the double door gig from 1997. It's not Mocambo 1977, which for me really is the last of the greatest gigs, but it it good and Keith isnt jumpin around. And they have had their moments since but yes, it's a family show or really a show where we can watch the members who no longer are part of their own myth. Keith really lived that hard life and in understand he can't keep it up forever but everytime one gets a glimpse of that real Keith behind the "laughing videos" like in the song Thief in the night, he's great. They used to be brutal and quite honest in the 70s and partly the 80s but from 1989 it's a business - stick with the plan diplomacy. It's so obvious they have nothing in common with the "legend". And how could they.