The familar scene: the Stones gearing up to hit the road again, this time for their "A Bigger Bang Tour," an 18-month sojourn across the planet which launches in Boston on Sunday and has already sold out 98% of available tickets.
The press collectively marvels at
a) how remarkably OLD these guys are — Charlie Watts 64 and recently recovered from throat cancer, Keith Richards 62, Mick Jagger 61, Ron Wood 58 — and cites late night talk show jokes (Leno - "The We're Grateful We're Not Dead Tour," Letterman - "They're part of the Living Will-Palooza Tour"),
b) the amount of money they have made touring (a gross of $1.125 billion since 1989, $751 million via 12 million tickets sold in the '90s, more than any other act),
c) and discusses with Jagger and Richards why they still do it, why people still come to see them in such staggering numbers, and speculate on whether THIS IS THE LAST STONES TOUR.
Thus far, the answer has always been "no."
Here are a few quotes from Edna Gundersen's interview for USA Today:
Richards - "I remember a sense of doom when our first record got in the top 20. It was conventional wisdom at the time that it would all be over in two years."
- "We're on the cutting edge. Nobody's been here before, and it's kind of an adventure. They wonder why we're still here. Well, why not? We're a great band. We love to play. If there's that many people who love to hear us, what's the beef? I intend to get a lot older and a lot more wrinkled. So sharpen your pen."
- "There's this perception that Mick and I are always fighting," he says. "Most of it is very smooth sailing. Every time we stumble across the odd spat, everyone hears about it."
- "The audience is our gas tank. You can feel lousy, it can be 102 degrees, but get on that stage and you're cured. It's adrenaline, endorphins and pheromones. It's one of the biggest lifts in life."
Not quite as poetic or as stunning as Jagger's famous "Sometimes I like being on stage better, sometimes I like sex better" from 30-odd years ago, but hey, the guy IS 62.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Eric Olsen
would love to hear a report from the Boston show tomorrow
2 - Lisa McKay
Eric, is there any news about how the shows are selling? Having been a Stones fan forever, I would have gone either to Boston or Hartford, but the ticket prices are astronomical. I just meandered over to Ticketmaster and was able to pick a pair of really decent floor seats for the princely sum of $400 apiece, so I'm guessing that folks are aiming for the nosebleed seats first. Their boomer fanbase is supposedly awash in disposable income, but $800 for a pair of tickets is ridiculous.
3 - Eric Olsen
they say 98% sold out before the tour even begins - I agree the prices are absurd, Lisa, but I guess they are getting it!
4 - ptaylor
when are the band touring the UK?
5 - Peter
When are the band touring Spain?
6 - Chris
I saw the Ottawa show last night and it was on par with those from previous tours. The band`s energy has not diminished whatsoever - in fact they seem more energetic than they did in the late 1980s. The opening riff of "Start Me Up" still moves me, and Jagger appeared in a bright royal blue suit, wagging his finger at the audience, rooster-strutting around, with Keith grinning from ear to ear, cranking out that familiar refrain.
Musically, all the songs were performed well, even though there was the odd mistake. Two hours on the button for the performance time.
The only downer of this show was the horrible mix. At times Jagger lost the audio on his mike, and on another occasion all we could hear was Wood`s guitar even though Keith had the solo.
The t-shirt stand was the low point (and I realize its not a big deal). All the credit card machines were down, only cash sales, and the T-shirts were for the most part garbage, with Mounties and Moose and all that Canadian crap stuck beside a tongue. Totally Ottawa. Totally Canadian. Totally amateurish. No wonder it looked like the band wanted to clear out after the encore.
Jagger told us at the beginning of the show that the last time the Stones played in Ottawa it was 1965 and they played at the YMCA! The more things change, the more they stay the same.
7 - Eric Olsen
thanks for the report Chris! Sounds as much like early-tour bugs as anything specific to Ottawa - other than the t-shirts, I guess
8 - Bigus
I also was at the Ottawa show on Sunday. My main complaint, I suppose, would have to be the setlist. Unlike Chris, I'm not particularly fond of Start Me Up and a lot of the material from that period. Would have been cool to hear them open with Let's Spend the Night Together. Also I would have preferred to hear something like Gimme Shelter or Monkey Man over, say, Beast of Burden or Tumbling Dice. But really, why complain? It was the Stones and it was a great big show.
As Chris mentioned, it looked like the band wanted to clear out after the show, but I don't think that was the case at all. Basically, I'm guessing they stuck to their set list, nothing added, nothing taken away. The reason it may have looked that way was that there seemed to be a pyrotechnic glitch at the end of the show with some fireworks going off almost a minute after the band had left the stage that I think were meant to have gone off as they were leaving.
In any case, it looks like the band were in no hurry to leave Ottawa as the spent the next day in town filming a video for one of their current tunes and, rumour has it, the next day after that (ie. today) golfing somewhere in town before heading off for tomorrow night's show in Detroit.
9 - Jim
If you are thinking of going to the Moncton show, Ebay is loaded with tickets selling well under face value.
10 - Eric Olsen
thanks for the report Bigus, and the information Jim!
We really appreciate hearing show reports and encourage any and all - thanks!
11 - Chris
Thanks for the comments Bigus and Jim.
Bigus is right about the set list - it could have been better, and the tunes he mentions are my favorites. I recall the first time I saw the Stones in 81 they opened with Under My Thumb, followed by Let`s Spend the Night Together. My angst about the show is just the way Ottawa handled it. I just think it could have been better, but they don`t have much experience on this score. But it was good to see the Stones in the market and chasing little white balls around later. Good also to hear that lots of tix for the NB show are for sale.
12 - x
There are people selling their Moncton Rolling Stones tickets for $50 - $75 a piece (and can't get them sold!), so dont be going to ticketmaster if you're planning on heading to the show last minute! Just ask around....
13 - Jim Hurcomb
Hi guys. It's my first blog, so I hope I don't break any rules. I host a free-form radio show in Ottawa called "Middle-Aged Bald Guys Talking Rock and Roll". It goes from 7-9 P.M. sundays and can be heard on the net at "cfra.com". We'll be playing cuts from the new album tonight and hear some audio clips of Mick and Keith talking about the tour that were recorded for last week's Detroit Free Press news article. We're also featuring music from the first two Queen albums, I think their best work, and Neil Young's "After the Goldrush". Seems the band had a great time in Ottawa, shooting the video in a club called Zaphod Bebblebrox, after the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" character and hanging around for two days. The only downer for me was the way the FM Rock stations played the Stones to death for a month before the show. Yeah, we get it! They're coming to town. Why spoil it by banging us over the head 24/7? Well, now that they're gone they can get back to their regular style... overplaying AC/DC and Pink FLoyd!
14 - Vern Halen
Heard bits of the new album - it might really be the best Stones' album in many, many years. We should all be so lucky to be wrinkled and 60, and still have people throw money at us to hear us play.
15 - Chris
I picked up the CD the other day and it is good. Not sure what to compare it to (in terms of previous Stones recordings) but perhaps a little better than Bridges. I am just wondering why the Band refuses to delve deeper into some of the very interesting styles and rhythms that you can detect throughout the recordings. Apart from the obvious "Back of My Hand," (which was done superbly at the Ottawa show), the African rhythm at the end of "Laugh, I nearly Cried" deserves a song in itself.
16 - Jim
Are there opening acts for all the Bigger Bang concerts? If so, and the shows start at 8 P.M., what time do the Stones come on?
17 - Vicki
Buyer Beware: Ticket Brokers may not be trusted. We missed the Madison Square Garden show last night after the tickets we received from a 'normally' reputable ticket broker sent us phony tickets. At the final gate, our tickets were scanned and we were denied entry. 'Go to booth 2' Okay, in line we were told by the supervisor that our tickets had already been used and we were turned away with no receipt, no date or time stamp to show we tried to get in, nothing. We decided to buy something in the lobby to at least show we were there and then drowned our dashed hopes around the corner all on credit card for dating purposes.
A very frustrating evening has turned into a nightmare of phone calls. You have been warned.
V
18 - mike
just got back from NJ show, WOW!!!
My first Stones concert and it was great. Sorry Vicki, that really sucks. The same thing happened to a friend of mine a few years ago at MSG.
I got lucky and sat in sec.110 for $80.00, normal price was $162.00.
And saw the same seats from asshole brokers going for around $300-500.
I found my ticks. on craigslist.
This guy bought too many tickets for his staff and just wanted to sell them to people, not brokers! Real nice guy.
Incredible lights, pyro. sound , stage design , everything.
Its also really nice to see parents bringing their kids to the concert, probably their first and a night they will never forget, either will I. All 80,000 ppl. saw rock n roll history tonite!!
Mike
19 - Lisa
Mike I totally agree with you. I saw the Giants Stadium show as well and as a seasoned veteran of Stones' shows, this was by far, the best show I've seen since Voodoo Lounge in the early nineties. They were raw and edgy, and that cover of Ray Charles brought the house down. Lisa Fisher rocks!
20 - Steve Wall
I saw my first ever 'Stones' concert at The Pepsi in Albany, NY last night... On the day of the show I picked up a ticket at the box office for $60.00 (Luck of the Irish)... The show was "awesome", since I was powerless over there choice of songs I enjoyed all that they played... Mick mentioned his love for the Capital District area (Saratoga, Schenectady & Troy), he somehow remembered playing in Albany 40 years ago at the Palace Theater. Maybe brain cells do regenerate, or perhaps he found sobriety??? But freedom comes at a cost, it works for me...
21 - Johnny
Somebody mentioned the Stones were better this time than ever before, you have to understand they may have been drugged, boozed and sexed beyond their means In their younger years but they have NEVER EVER lost that aire of professionalism, THAT Is why they are still popular today...they are quite simply SERIOUS fun.
22 - Ricardo Rivera
I went to the Washington D.C. show on the night of October 3rd. I concurr with comment 6 by Chris to the fact that the mix is horrible. I find this to be the case at all three Stones concerts I have been to. I went to the early 80s concert at the Houston Astrodome, the later or late 80s in Los Angeles Coliseum and now this current one at the MCI Center.
Possibly the problem is that the amplification is so high that the acoustics get all messed up. There is a semblance to the general pattern of the song, but all the detail is lost. I could see Ron Wood doing his riffs and he obviously could hear himself judging from his head bobbing and his facial expressions, but I couldn't hear a note of what he was doing. Similarly with Keith Richards' guitar, even the lead of Sympathy for the Devil was not discernible. You knew there was a lead going on but couldn't know the detail of it. So I don't get it when guys go crazy and say it was awesome.
I was on the floor, at the $403/ticket section, so it couldn't be that I was suffering the nosebleed section acoustics.
There was one brief portion of the concert where they roll a portion of the main stage to the other end of the arena, where it couples with two other stage portions that are already positioned there, making a secondary stage. We were seated right next to it so the Event Staff let us get right up to the railing. I was so close I could see Mick's dental work inside his mouth. It was great to see the guys up close and see how they enjoy themselves. This was the only portion of the concert where I could clearly hear Keith's guitar, because his Fender Twins were smack dab in front of me, before the arena amplification. It was really interesting to hear him play up-close, the real thing right there.
Of this tour I gotta say, the guys are so focused but at the same time so relaxed. They are obviously energized by the crowd's response. I concurr with the comment above that they have not slowed down a bit. I wish I could be like Mick when I hit 62, that would be a gigantic accomplishment.
As for the audience, it's a huge contrast to the early 80s. At that time, I guess the Stones were chick magnets. But not now. It was mostly old geezers and old women, mostly 50 and up. The young chicks were the daughters of the old ones, I don't think any of them came on their own.
BTW, my brother paid for the tickets. He bought two for himself and his wife but she didn't want to go, so I took her place. I guess that makes me more impartial, since I don't have to make my investment more enjoyable? What do they call that? validation? reaffirmation?
Anyway, it was great to see the guys sitll performing with so much gusto. In contrast to another comment, my favorite performance was Beast of Burden, perhaps because the guitar is clean I could hear Keith's tasteful riffs. The worst were Brown Sugar and It's Only Rock'n Roll. I didn't know what song was playing until Mick started singing the melody. That's how awful the acoustic was.
23 - Joey Czarnecki
Everyone, I went to the Hershey, PA concert October 1st, and it was my first concert, and I'm telling you, it will be the best concert i will ever go to. They are amazing, and dont forget in their 60's! They will never be a bad band what ever they do. I would go to any of their concerts if I could, but i dont know if I can, I might be going to the one in Philadelphia on October 10th. I would love to do that and my Uncle may get me tickets for box seats!
24 - Eric Olsen
not a bad first concert Joey, congrats - you're starting at the top, if the long-toothed phase of the top!
Great report Ricardo, thanks! I am very surprised to hear abou bad sound - wit hall their professionalism you would think they would have that worked out by now. Did you try different spots in the venue? Maybe it was better and worse depending.
Teh last time I saw them was Steel Wheels in '89 and the sound was just about perfect
25 - Brian
Hello all,
I was wondering if anyone has the playlist from the Hershey PA concert. Was there and loved it.
Cheers