I prefer the '75 and '78 versions.
My favorite being Anaheim, July 23rd version.
I like it when Jagger laid out a bit before singing.

on 2007 at Copenhagen

Nothing beats the Stripped single from one of the '95 club concerts. It's the ultimate by far. It also rocked like hell in Brno last year.

JumpingKentFlash

Quote
kinoliksmith
on 2007 at Copenhagen

No way. lol

I always liked the one from Wembley Sept 8 1973. Early show. And Knebworth 76 was pretty cool too. Was at both those shows.

What about Wembley 1990?

It's a great version with the big band arrangement at a time when they weren't just going through the motions.

<<I realy like the solos Mick Taylor did on that song. My favorite is from the '72 tour rehearsals in Montreaux.>>

When the band plays TD I at Montreux Taylor flubs it completely and the song stumbles to a halt. When TD II is played Taylor plays that nice, sweet lead that is SO assured, SO confident. He knows exactly where he's going.

My theory is that TD I is a setup for TD II, that the "flub" is intentional, you know, it's a "live rehearsal." You never hear Taylor get lost like that. Just part of the band's image projection.

I'm not sure what year it's from but IMO this is the quintesential Tumbling Dice version.

I've been going through some '72-'73 shows looking for what I think of as the Springsteenian riff that taylor plays sometimes on the big buildup to the end, and er I can't seem to find him doing it. He started in '72 played a wonderfully sparkly arpeggio behind keith's repetition of the main riff, but then I thought by the end of the tour had started joining the piano in playing these light chords that are just over the edge of melodramatic/cheesy. "You got to roll me."... da da PLINK! da da PLINK! "You got to roll me."... da da PLINK! da da PLINK!

You can hear Nicky playing these chords on the Ft. Worth show, and I thought taylor started going along with them within a month or so... but just listening to Brussels, I found he doesn't do it there. Maybe he did it for a while and went back to the original part, which as nice as the other is lame. It may sound like a small thing, but it's a grand point in the show that if pushed, turns into a Vegas moment. Actually, maybe I should blame Nicky for it rather than taylor then, since taylor appears to have been following him, and his parts in the studio could certainly be over the top.

id rank live td versions this way:
1. 1973 tour
2. 1972 tour
3. 1978-82 tours
4. 1975-76 tours

<<My favorite being Anaheim, July 23rd version>>

Yeah tomk, great version. Anaheim July 24 is not bad either...think my vote goes to the Chicago '78 version.

I always thought the 72 versions dragged a little but then the KBFH version from 73 rocks. I like 75 but it seems like Jagger forgets the words to every song!!

1975 is horrible....the cancer's first tour with them. All down hill from there. 1973 is untouchable........

The 1972-1973 tours saw TD in fine form. I liked the 1978 tour best for the rocking versions they came up with. Gazza is right on with the Handsome Girls version that I also believe was from the Detroit show. The band just cooks on that one.

The 1973 versions are sublime, and arguably the nearest thing to a perfect Rolling Stones song.

1978 cleveland

Interesting, but the maiden voyage year that we first heard Tumbling Dice in '72, from my opinion, that version actually slowed down the set. I recently heard Tumbling Dice from the Hampton, 81 Virginia show and I thought that version rocked! Rather than detract, Tumbling Dice has been one of the few songs that's benefited from the horns and background singers that has been such a staple at Stones shows since 1989...

Quote
cc
I actually prefer the way keith hears the song and could do without the taylor addition... in '73 he goes into a grandiose chord riff at the end of the song (the "you got to roll me" refrain) that is very un-Stoneslike, more like something Springsteen's band would do. In fact there may be a particular Springsteen tune it reminds me of.

so my favorite is '72--when mick's singing on this number is magnificent.

The codas to Tumblin' Dice and Backstreets by Springsteen remind me of each other.

Quote
polythene sam

Quote
cc
I actually prefer the way keith hears the song and could do without the taylor addition... in '73 he goes into a grandiose chord riff at the end of the song (the "you got to roll me" refrain) that is very un-Stoneslike, more like something Springsteen's band would do. In fact there may be a particular Springsteen tune it reminds me of.

The codas to Tumblin' Dice and Backstreets by Springsteen remind me of each other.

yes--thank you!! that's it. Now, I wouldn't say "Backstreets" is a bad song, but that kind of drama is not my thing, nor the Stones'... imo. The "Tumblin' Dice" studio cut, and the way it's played at the beginning of the '72 tour, have a much more rollicking coda.