It's Only Rock'n Roll
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It's Only Rock'n Roll |
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Stones
NEWS |
Tell Me Forum |
Hackney Diamonds |
Tour 2024 |
Mick Jagger |
Keith Richards |
Charlie Watts |
Ronnie
Wood |
Band 2
Tim Ries |
Live pre/post show comments:
Some readers don’t think a show report is legit if you don’t mention at least one “con” so here ya go: Was hoping for a slightly different setlist. My brother wanted to hear Let’s Spend the Night Together and I thought they’d probably play it. And I’m glad I didn’t know what they sound checked cuz if I had heard about Fool To Cry before the show I would’ve been waiting for it!
Also the song vote seemed to have a presentation glitch and when the screen didn’t come up Mick said something like, “Let’s just play it.” Sound to me was more echoey than some venues but was easy to tune out by listening to the song.
The Stones obviously do what they do well and I’m with those who keep on enjoying every chance we get to hear them live, so every show has been good for me. Highlights last night for me were the opener, a lively Start Me Up. Keith’s set, especially Little T&A which I thought was his strongest performance from the four shows I’ve seen this tour. And if that was my last Midnight Rambler it was great. Mick got pretty animated at the end of the catwalk with it.
One thing about my Lucky Dips is they’ve been consistent! I’ve never gotten Pit during any tour with them and that streak continued with side of stage 300 level. However, since we got there early my brother wanted to walk around and check out the floor area if we could, and even though there were multiple checkpoints we just got in line with everyone and were waved through all the way down. We started talking with some folks who had seats about thirty feet from the catwalk and when we asked about the two empties next to them were told those folks didn’t come, so they became ours for the entire show. Couldn’t have turned out better, and with my brother!
Final note, I extended my stay in LA and don’t have a ticket for Saturday, so if anyone is looking for a 2nd person for their Lucky Dips I’m your guy! It was a great show. A great time. And as Keith likes to say, “It’s good to be anywhere!”
SoFi is not the best venue to descend into and I was happy to find escalators this time instead of 7 ramps down on foot! I thought War & Treaty were pretty good but nothing could beat the words “Ladies and Gentlemen….the Rolling Stones”! This was about show 90 for me and I was blown away at the energy and power of the band, lifting Sofi high up out of its underground!
Loved the Hackney Diamonds’ additions – Angry was full on and well received and Mess it Up was awesome live. Mick continues to defy all human concepts and was often in front of me gesticulating and grinning. The harmonica on Midnight Rambler gave me chills. Also Loved getting three from Keith and his voice sounds strong.
Ronnie was in his usual fun form, throwing pics to his daughters and Devreaux. The whole band seemed to be having a blast. Personal favorites were Gimme Shelter, Midnight Rambler and the sublime Sweet Sounds of Heavan.
After the nightmare of exiting Sofi on the last tour, I made my way back and up during Satisfaction, catching the end from the top of the stadium and I was outside in a second with no waiting or stress. Can’t wait for Saturday to see what we get in the set list for the second show. Thank you, boys, for a couple of hours of a little slice of heaven!
Mick told us that the Stones had been visiting LA for 60 years, the first show in San Bernadino followed by the TAMI show TV appearance. Including this evening they have played 56 gigs in the LA area. He also mentioned recording albums in the area from Aftermath (he hesitantly got the year correct) to Hackney Diamonds. In fact their first sessions at RCA were in 1964, so songs recorded in LA appeared on all but one early UK Stones album.
It’s a long descent into what seems like the bowels of the earth to get to the pitch-level at the Sofi Stadium. The whole venue is sunk deep into the ground to keep safely below the stream of aircraft arriving at LAX. Looking from the floor, the stands appear to be so steep that they could almost be walls surrounding the pitch. Last night they were full of people. I’d expected the sound to be badly impacted, with this wall and the roof, but when I walked towards the back it seemed pretty good everywhere on pitch level at least. A little bass-heavy: Steve and Darryl were well up in the mix.
The audience was really excited and enthusiastic. Band members told me later that the audience was fantastic, and this of course encourages the band to perform even better. It was a night, yet again, of very strong guitar playing from both Ronnie and Keith. Ronnie left behind the small slips in Vancouver, playing great solos in YCAGWYW, Beast of Burden and Rambler. Ronnie was also dancing and jumping around, encouraging the crowd, clearly having a ball.
Keith concentrated so much on his playing that he didn’t move around a lot, staying close to one of his on-stage partners in crime Steve Jordan. His stature however looked so strong and dominating, like we first saw in the 80s. He even corrected Mick on the set order. Mick introduced Beast of Burden, and Keith pointed at the big screen behind them and said “it’s the song vote” with a big grin. Mick decided they should just get on and play it. This heralded a nice duet at the end between Mick and Bernard, with intimate looks and bumps between them as befits a 40-year relationship.
Rumours of star guests did not materialise into reality – well this is a city that creates plenty of illusion. Not that anyone could complain really because the standard of performance was so high, maintaining the standard we’ve seen through most of this tour. Mick was entertaining as only he can, theatrical at times. At the start of Honky Tonk Women he took so long to dramatically remove his long coat worn during Sympathy that he had a quick sprint to reach the microphone to start the first verse. He was also resting his voice during this song, with Bernard picking-up more of the vocal duties seamlessly.
In a change to the setlist the second song, after the now crisp and brief Start Me Up, was You Got Me Rocking. It’s not my favourite, but it’s not the worst. As Keith and Ronnie played close together for much of the song I noticed how sparse the guitar playing was at times, and yet how effective. The open-tuned guitar played by Keith sometimes makes it look easy to handle the riff, and the slide guitar from Ronnie looks effortless. But that’s exactly what makes their guitar partnership so special – it looks simple and easy, but nobody can replicate the sound and creativity.
IORR kept the pace going, with many Chuck Berry licks and Ronnie enthusiastically singing the words to a song created in his house. As he didn’t have a microphone I suppose nobody could hear him. Angry, which everyone around me seemed to know, went well – and the on-screen video (their promo one from last year) featured LA streets and billboards which seemed appropriate. Ronnie received a microphone for this song. Talking about video, this was again really seriously out of synch at one point – like one second – which is inexcusable.
Mick announced that it was time for a romantic song, so for the 8th time this year we heard Wild Horses, featuring more backing vocals from Keith for whom this song clearly has many memories. Following Dice, YCAGWYW completed Act One. Ronnie was playing so well here that I think he got an extended solo, although the looks between Mick and Keith suggested that it was a surprise to them. Tim and Matt move from their usual positions to cover keyboards and French horn respectively on this selection. Multi-instrumentalists, both of them.
The strength of the audience appreciation was clear during the band introductions, with very loud cheers and waves from across the stadium. Ronnie, with his little dancing excursion along the catwalk, and Keith, with a similar although less lively catwalk expedition, got the biggest cheers by far. I do think it’s a pity that nobody introduces Mick. Keith’s three songs, now seemingly a permanent fixture in the set list, went well although he did miss a few words here and there and looked away from the microphone at times.
Sympathy is exciting and dramatic, with loud guitars and backing vocals; piano at the start from Chuck; and twirling from Mick, spreading the long tails on his coat. But for me Act 3 of the 4, post-Keith and pre-encore, is dominated by Rambler and Shelter. Interestingly both songs are off of the same studio album. 1968/9 was a golden songwriting period.
On Rambler Mick’s harmonica was excellent, and Keith and Ronnie’s guitars dominated. I also noticed how Darryl is extending his bass playing without compromising the blues riffs. Those Hellhounds are still on Mick’s tail, courtesy of Mr Johnson.
Shelter, and indeed Sweet Sounds, shows just how important Chanel’s contribution has become. She doesn’t distract from Mick or Keith, or anyone else, but brings a breadth to the performance and confirms both songs as classics on stage as well as on record. She received well deserved accolades after both songs. Sweet Sounds, with the whole band heavily engaged at times, is timeless and priceless. I’m not sure that a guest appearance on this would add to anything but in the media reports.
Again I find that in my memory of three of the Stones biggest hits, Paint It Black, JJF and Satisfaction almost seems routine. A couple of young po-going female members of the crowd were jumping on my feet, and bumping into people during streaming-star Paint It Black. Nearly 50 years after first appearing it is so popular. JJF and Satisfaction drive the end of their respective parts of the show with such power.
Plenty of people were leaving during the encore – the stadium itself, almost subterranean, and the acres of car parks, have a well-deserved reputation for delays after an event. Public transport is not exactly attractive, or accessible, in this area. But even outside I’m told the sound was excellent. This whole area of Los Angeles was entertained. The crowd were fantastically entertained and if there are tickets still on sale I suspect many Angelinos would return on Saturday.
My wife who could not make the trip (I’ll bring her out another time) and knows my love of the band graciously gave her blessing!! So here I am in beautiful Southern California enjoying the beautiful weather, the beaches, the views, early dinner on the Santa Monica pier and then off to SoFi.
30 minute walk to the stadium from our hotel. This is a stunning stadium unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Viewing it on television doesn’t do it justice. Perfect place to see the world’s greatest rock n roll band!!
Maybe it was because it was a mid week show, who knows but the show started promptly at 9pm, catching us slightly off guard. I wasn’t sure how it would sound in this hybrid type of open air/ covered stadium but there were no issues. I guess when they build a multi billion dollar stadium everything gets thought of.
It was a great show. The guitars were loud. Ronnie played with energy and enthusiasm and loud!! Keith was great. Jumpin Jack was one of the best versions I’ve heard over the years. He seemed to start it up quickly. I don’t think Ronnie had even changed guitars yet before Keith hit that famous riff.
Not sure exactly what went on with the song vote. Apparently Beast of Burden won. Mick kinda mumbled something about “we’ll play it anyway”. I might not have heard that correctly. Anyway Beast of Burden is a great song and one of my favourites so I was happy but I know my friend Angie had her hopes set on Out of Time. Who knows, maybe we’ll hear that one “another time” in the near future.
Midnight Rambler was once again played. Thankfully Miss You was out and I didn’t miss it. I know many fans like it but Rambler is hands down a better live song any day of the week and hopefully twice this week in LA.
My friend Dave pointed out the band sounded fresh, not going thru the motions. That’s his third show of the tour after Vegas and Cleveland with one more to go on Saturday night.
I appreciated hearing Sweet Sounds of Heaven. It didn’t get played in Cleveland. Chanel Haynes is fantastic. Speaking of Chanel what more can be said that hasn’t been said already about Gimme Shelter. A show stopper!! Sympathy. An event to behold. Great solo by Keith. Just awesome. What a night! What a band. See you Saturday night in LA!!
The boys bounded onto the stage like uncaged apex predators, and wasted no time asserting their dominance over the submissive humans gathered before them. It’s a low bar at this point, but I thought their version of “Start Me Up” was killer with Keith stridently up in the mix. However a superfan vehemently disagreed with me afterwards.
Suitably energized, the Stones dusted off the faux warhorse “You Got Me Rocking” just 280 miles from where they last played it, which would have been some unfortunate duplication for many fans. Mind you, it got a good reaction - if only in the way that North Korean generals laugh boisterously at their leader’s jokes.
And then we got a highly caffeinated version of “It’s Only Rock’ N Roll,” kicked off by the tiniest of Keef intros. So a mixed bag for an amped-up crowd in the definitive “Stones city.”
“Angry” ably kicked off the Hackney Diamonds selections, generating much gusto in the pit. It’s a shame the Stones chose not to capitalize on the bounteous goodwill and try out some different stuff. You could almost say they messed it up. Speaking of which “Beast of Burden” was the undeclared winner of the fan vote that Mick forgot to mention. Never mind, and it made a nice companion piece with “Wild Horses” for those who like their music “romantical” - a neat Mick neologism. I was relieved that “Fool to Cry” didn’t make it past the soundcheck phase.
“Tumbling Dice” is usually that turning point in the show where you sigh a little because we’re on to the prix fixe menu phase. But at least we have one partial surprise now (if not on Saturday) - “Miss You” or “Midnight Rambler”? And off we got the latter. I’d described the Vancouver version as being a “discount” offering, and I’m happy to report that the SoFi version was the “luxury” option with Mick in more expansive and murderous form on the catwalk. The sole glaring omission is the “and it hurts” sign-off, which I’ve heard just once on this tour. (“Rambler” and fellow Class of ‘69 veteran “Gimme Shelter” remind us how grateful we are that our guys are still around while the band that came up with “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” that same year is long gone.)
The Keith trilogy was generally strong if somewhat marred by his unthinking reliance on the teleprompter. Fortunately he hasn’t got to the stage of absentmindedly uttering the stage directions. His guitar prowess was on show for all to admire, and his voice - when we could hear it - was crystalline. Not sure about the seated areas, but I haven’t noticed anyone in the pit treating this segment as the beer or bathroom break. Keith’s allure is total.
As usual, it’s the warhorses that drag us rapturously towards the finish line. The old-timers in the crowd have to put themselves in the shoes of the thousands of wide-eyed rookies and casuals as the anthemic monsters are pounded out to devastating effect. Mick is the focal point obviously, but everyone is still pulling their weight as the stopwatch approaches the two-hour mark. A special shout-out to “Satisfaction,” where Mick tapped into a spare battery to bring the song to an electrifying conclusion, in the process looking as if he was just getting warmed up.
It was a great performance for all intents and purposes, but I let myself come in with high expectations following extremely gratifying shows in Chicago and Vancouver. An old friend who doesn’t know anything about rock ‘n’ roll just emailed to say her Stones debut “was such fun.” So there’s that, I guess.
As for the “dreaded” SoFi. It’s a disaster waiting to happen. Everyone on the floor is herded through a narrow exit at the rear and then put through a death march up maybe a dozen ramps until we arrive disoriented at a plaza connecting to the Youtube theater. There used to be a stairwell fire exit from the floor, but that’s no longer an option evidently. This can’t possibly be legal. At least I found free parking on Manchester without too much trouble, so the getaway was speedy even after stopping for some $5 Modelos from one of the hundreds of food and drink vendors. They also had great t-shirts for $10.
Photo by Bjørnulf Vik
Photo by Bjørnulf Vik
Photo by Bjørnulf Vik
Photo by Bjørnulf Vik
Photo by Bjørnulf Vik
Photo by Bjørnulf Vik
Photo by Bjørnulf Vik
Photo by Bjørnulf Vik
Photo by Jordan Samata
Photo by Jordan Samata
Photo by Jordan Samata
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 Rama
Photo by Rama
Photo by Rama
Photo by Rama
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Photo by Rama
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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
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