It's Only Rock'n Roll
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It's Only Rock'n Roll |
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Stones
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The Rolling Stones live at TIAA Bank Field, Jacksonville FL USA, July 19, 2019 - Photo by Hendrik Mulder
Show start : 9:18pm Show end : 11:19pm
Pre-show info and live comments:
Jacksonville show 19-July-2019 live updates
IMPORTANT! Reports and pictures are welcome, but please send them as soon as possible after the show. Updates of these reports pages will mainly be done within 2-4 days after the show has been performed. After that it is on to the next show of the tour, and there will normally not be time for any more updates of older reports pages.
Thanks to Philip Bajo for video links!
Keith had clearly used his weather stick, and the daily thunderstorm arrived in the afternoon, drenching those ultra-keen fans who were queuing to get on the Pit rail. But that storm also dropped the temperature to easier levels, possibly under 80 F! Mick commented that they started late to make it more comfortable for the band and crowd alike – but it was better than they expected. It looked like a full house, with a lot of tickets sold in the last few days apparently. Unfortunately for people who don’t like the heat, the band was on fire again: they really warmed-up the stadium very quickly.
This show had several differences from New Orleans, maybe some because of that show. They started with Street Fighting Man. Keith and Charlie were on stage and starting so fast that we didn’t get to hear Matt C announcing the band. It was a bit of a scramble to get everyone together, maybe due to the early start, and it needed Mick to do his usual nod in that song to Keith from 3 feet away to get everyone synchronised into the verse. It remains an example of the professionalism, experience, and comfort of this band that it was a rocking version even after an unconventional start to the gig. We then got IORR, a strong rocking version, some very neat Berryesque playing from Keith. So the first two songs hadn’t been played since Boston.
Then Ronnie had guitar troubles in Dice, the third in the set. At least one change of guitar, lots of guitar technician fretting (of the worrying kind, not the guitar neck kind), and we could see a very rare example of Ronnie getting annoyed, even angry, on stage. He is usually so cool and easy-going. An interesting demonstration of how for all his fun on stage he is a professional focused on delivering as great show as anyone. He nodded to Keith to play the solo, which would not have been easy on a guitar tuned in open G when you’re trying to play the riffs as well. But again we saw the comradeship and professionalism at work.
The next song was Monkey Man, audience choice, and it sounds so close to the record. Ronnie’s slide; Keith’s riffs, which are not the simplest or most repetitive. Mick said the vote was very close. I’d have preferred Heartbreaker – I must open up some more email accounts to help “influence” the choice in future… YCAGWYW was better than I’ve heard in 4 shows this tour. The French horn wavered less (it’s at grade 4 level now for those music academics who read this) and Ronnie played a blistering solo – some parts sounded like the 81/82 tour version – fast, fluid, perfect. Maybe that guitar issue needed putting behind him in his mind.
Then two more different songs on the small stage. Play with Fire and Sweet Virginia. The audience didn’t seem the know the first well, but certainly lapped-up the second. Keith did a lot of backing vocals and again we had a microphone-sharing episode with Mick in one chorus. So out of the first 7 songs, 5 were different from the last show.
It would be easy to say that the rest of the show followed it’s usual course. It’s funny how time just seems to slip away during the rest of the set. Not through monotony or boredom, but just through absorbing and enjoying those classics. After 7 gigs on this tour, approaching the halfway mark, the band has settled back into a strong groove. Clearly enjoying themselves, confident and strong, putting-on a fantastic performance than stuns the audience.
Honky Tonk Women started a little out of time, Keith charging in again and Chuck L on cowbell and Keith were not in synch. Guess who won? Charlie seemed to find it very amusing, raising his eyebrows towards Ronnie almost with resignation. The song rocked as usual. They moved Shelter from the start of the encore to earlier in the set. At New Orleans the start had been a bit ragged, which you don’t need for the encore, so Brown Sugar replaced it in that slot. That worked very well, with Ronnie playing more guitar up-front than I recall for a long while, almost like the Mick Taylor role in Sugar from 45 years ago.
I think Keith likes to mix up the tempo when he starts songs and Gimme Shelter, like in NOLA, was a bit slower than usual. Mick came over and clapped to accelerate the tempo and Charlie also wound up the pace. Keith responded with some fantastic soloing. Sasha, in Shelter, was really great tonight, powerful and they turned her mic on in good time. It is one of the endearing features of the Stones that it can be a bit loose; they try things out even in front of 50,000 people. It makes them very difficult to imitate and avoids any sterility in the playing. It’s what I, and I think many fans, love. As Keith says the songs evolve every time you play them. It is great to see that happen, so we see the odd snafu or variation, and nobody gets stressed and the song is played brilliantly.
The heat and humidity didn’t seem to affect the band at all, with the usual dose of Jagger movement and a fair amount from Ronnie and Keith. Mick, playfully, almost pushed Darryl over at the end of the bass-solo section of Miss You. Band interaction was very high and very relaxed. Charlie clearly didn’t like the power of one of the on-stage fans as he backed away from it when being introduced. He must have been dripping by the end – his drumming was very long and vigorous at times.
They had an air-conditioner pumping cold air onto the small stage. The band probably needed it out there in the sea of fans. The fans themselves clearly took note of the need to take plenty of fluids to stayed hydrated. Quite a number of fans forgot that it is supposed to be water not beer, and it got fairly lively at times – but almost all good natured, certainly around me in the Pit.
Three songs after the small stage acoustic set stood out, again, for me. Sympathy (power, Keith’s solos, theatre), Slipping Away (just so sweet, all the band deeply involved) and Rambler (tight, really exceptional, I’m trying to work out which blues song they sang in the middle). For those historians, I think the average time since release for tonight’s setlist is 44.5 years. You’d never know – they sound as fresh as if it was 5 years. The younger fans, and there were plenty, were saying as much.
Mick didn’t mention the local Mayor making it Rolling Stones Day, but he did mention playing at the Gator Bowl (1975). Strangely he didn’t mention the 1965 gig at the Coliseum – I wonder why? The stage banter seemed less at this gig. He did a brief cartographers circuit of “nearby” cities in Florida and Georgia to see who was in the audience. Plenty around me travelled-in some way. I think the humidity and heat risked taking its toll on Micks voice so maybe he was being economical last night. Bernard certainly was working hard, and sometimes very subtly. You’d have to look hard to notice this, and as far as the crowd were concerned this was yet another outstanding performance. One to savour for a very long time….
However, the band returns to Florida at the end of August. In theory it should be very slightly cooler weather although as humid and with a higher storm/hurricane risk. Jacksonville showed that the warmth fires up the band and audience. I could easily see some of this audience being tempted to try for tickets. Thanks to the band, all those playing on stage, and all those who make it happen time and time again.
This is a different band and a very, very different show. This is a spectacle that could probably be best described as "The Rolling Stones' Show." It is truly hard to conceive of 4 men in their mid-70s putting on a finer performance of rock and roll for 2 hours, and for that, we must be very thankful. These guys represent the Rolling Stones very, very well.
However, one's expectations for this need to be tempered if one thinks that one will see the band that played the Fox in 1978 or Hampton 1981 or even Turner Field in 2002. They are not that band, and how could they be? They are in their mid-70s and now parts of a much more precisely orchestrated and carefully choreographed performance art - giving all 60,000 of us who paid $2MM or more to see them an evening with the Rolling stones' show.
Charlie was good tonight (Charlie's good every night, right?), Ronnie played his ears off, and it was their chops that held this together more than anything. Keith had some moments during It's Only Rock & Roll, Jumping Jack Flash, and (oddly enough) Sweet Virginia (on vox, too, no doubt!). Finally, Mick was loaded with energy and stage presence in typical Mick. I am impressed. However, Jagger's "modern-day" vocal "affectation" that was first found in Stripped-era versions of Beast of Burden to where words like 'burden" are now BAH-din is now his home-base starting point for all vox. It is this seeming effort on his part to enunciate words so "sharply" (i.e. "market" is now "MAH-kit" in Brown Sugar) that is wholly unnecessary and, to this writer and lifelong fan, very, very, VERY distracting. It is what it is, and for whatever it is - it's part of the Rolling Stones' show. A word on Keith - he's trying sometimes, and those moments can be wonderful when the chords struct match the sound that should be there. However, and here's the part no one likes to say or think about - too many times one looks into his eyes on the big, tall screens, and he's not even there or with a look of knowing why he's there. There are moments where he's fine, but if there was one word I would use to describe Keith Richards last night, and it pains me to my soul to write this, it would be ........ tired. (Thanks, Buddy, we know that you want to do this.)
Oh, let's be very, very clear - there were some wonderful musical moments where the band really took off. Street Fighter was a perfect opener, and the "waterfall" of guitars that opens it meshed perfectly with Jagger's very upbeat and luring vocals. It's Only Rock and Roll was perhaps the best thing of the night and perhaps the single best IORR I have seen in my entire life. If there is a single song from this show that I will pull up and listen to again, it will be that - It's Only Rock & Roll. Other highlights were Monkey Man, Honky Tonk Women, Jumping Jack Flash (good rythm throughout), and Brown Sugar (swapped place with Gimme Shelter in the encore tonight) had its moments.
So, with this being my 11th and final Stones' show and first in nearly 20 years, the question is begged - any regrets about seeing them in the wake of having seen 10 shows that ranged from otherworldly (Aragon Ballroom 2002) to really, really incredible (Gainesville 1994 with Stanley Booth on 5th row) to amazing (Charlotte 1999)? No regrets, but no delusions about seeing the Rolling Stones. This was a fine show with wonderful moments and worth the $250 or whatever the ticket cost. No one in this day and age can pack a tour's worth of stadiums and deliver the Show like these guys. That they are not quite all they used to be 50, 30, or even 20 years ago should not be held against them. After all, you aren't what you used to be 20 years ago either, right?
Thanks to the Rolling Stones! It's been the best of rides, and it's good to see y'all surf into the cosmos in such spectacular fashion!
Have you all heard about the aftershow “try to get a ride” mess? I’m sure you have. Anyway, walked with the crowd through city streets and along the way scores of people were sitting on sidewalks, steps, leaning against buildings etc, all with their phones out hoping eventually the price surging would drop. It was entertaining, and annoying at the same time because I knew I wasn’t getting back to my hotel across the river until late and I was feeling a bit of my age in that heat and hour and thinking “Why am I putting myself through this?” — Silver lining was I ran into friends from the Zip Code tour and had a beer with them until I finally got a ride and got back to my room by 2:30am.
The answer to why I put myself through this is, of course, to see the band that meant so much to me in my youth. I mentioned this in my Chicago review I think, but I’ve known they aren’t that same band for many years, things grow, change etc, but when I finally revisited their live shows in 2015 (it had been since 1981) I was pleasantly surprised. I found it was ok to have my memories and my older records and to also enjoy them as what they had developed into. For example, every single show since I started going again Midnight Rambler gets me cheering out loud as it kicks into it’s finale. The fact that they are still alive and kicking and have figured out what it is they need to do to be able to put on a show as voices, inspirations, bodies, expectations etc change, is inspiring to me. They DO have quite the musical “canon” and I think they could play completely new setlists every night for the rest of this tour, not play the same song twice, and everyone would be satisfied. We all have songs we wish they’d play, and I hear people after each show saying “Man, I wish they’d play such and such” and then in the same breath exclaim how much they enjoyed the show.
I try to keep it positive because what for me may not have been my favorite show is for someone else “The best concert ever!” as evidenced by what I hear others say after every show. So, a few takeaways from Jacksonville: I stopped buying Stones releases after Tattoo You/ Undercover, and never got into their later stuff, however Keith has converted me with Slipping Away. Last night I thought he sounded and played especially well.. The heat worked me over a bit, and I was already tired from the day’s drive, so I zoned out at times and started watching the crowd around me — they were having a blast. There were smiles, dancing, sing alongs, hugs. Hey, maybe I wasn’t having my best show but someone sure as hell was and that strikes me. The Rolling Stones are still delivering the goods long after we all thought they’d have hung it up. Have I mentioned how Midnight Rambler gets me cheering every time ?
So onto Philadelphia if I can figure out logistics. No hotel yet, and I’m starting to feel some road weariness, debt buildup, and don’t have an entourage to help me plan so, after Philly, I’m turning the car back home for some regrouping, and then at least one or two more shows towards the end of tour, because, hey, they really did help me out as a teen. And the first song that hooked me? The Last Time. Haven’t heard it live myself, so Mr. Jagger, Richards, Watts, Woods, one of you please get a wild hair, grab the mike and say (as the Kinks do on that great live album), “F*ck it, we’ll do it!”
We arrived at the Jaguars’ stadium by 6:30PM and walked to the box office. The girl at the stand asked for an ID, she finds my name on the list, pulls out a box with tickets and says, “OK, it is all completely random”. She picks an envelope from the middle of the box and gives it to me. I was not expecting anything, so I didn’t even open it. The girl looks at me and says “Are you going to find out what you got?” I opened the envelope, turned the tickets towards her, and she shouted, “you got the PIT”. Big fist bump with the girl.
We got our cool lucky dip wrist bands and Misty and I headed to line. Once inside the stadium, a second line to get a field wrist band, a beer to celebrate, and then to the field. Maneuvering among the crowd, we followed the sign to PIT 2. We could not believe this and kept on walking with big smiles on our faces. After one last wristband, there we were. First chords of Street Fighting Man and on with an amazing performance.
The ambience was great and the show unforgettable. Great interpretation of Play With Fire and one of my all-time favorites ‘Paint it, black’. There was a time, some years ago, when I thought I had an algorithm to figure out the shows where the stones would play this song. Well, my algorithm was always wrong but this Friday’s night ‘Cause summer’s here and the time is right’.
It started on Thursday. My wife and I flew from Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) to Orlando and drove to Jacksonville. Already on our way we could feel the vibe. Vehicles with Stones stickers, local radio stations talking about the concert... I was pumped! During the check-in we met people who were there for the concert. Then we went to the beach and met some fans there and ended up at Surfer the Bar where more fans gathered. It was a really cool experience.
Jacksonville delivered big time! Everything from the parking lot, the access to the stadium, the crowd and, of course, the concert itself was just awesome.
Thank you God,
Thank you Jacksonville and
Thank you Rolling Stones!!
Photo by Hendrik Mulder
Photo by Hendrik Mulder
Photo by Hendrik Mulder
Photo by Hendrik Mulder
Photo by Hendrik Mulder
Photo by Hendrik Mulder
Photo by Hendrik Mulder
Photo by Hendrik Mulder
Photo by Hendrik Mulder
Photo by Hendrik Mulder
Photo by Bjornulf Vik
Photo by Bjornulf Vik
Photo by Bjornulf Vik
Photo by Bjornulf Vik
Photo by Bjornulf Vik
Photo by Bjornulf Vik
Photo by Bjornulf Vik
Photo by Bjornulf Vik
Photo by Bjornulf Vik
Photo by Bjornulf Vik
Photo by Bjornulf Vik
Photo by Bjornulf Vik
Photo by Bjornulf Vik
Photo by Bjornulf Vik
Photo by Victor Woods
Photo by Victor Woods
Photo by Victor Woods
Photo by Victor Woods
Photo by Victor Woods
Photo by Victor Woods
Photo by Victor Woods
Photo by Victor Woods
Photo by Victor Woods
Photo by Victor Woods
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