"The Rolling Stones" Thread

[twonabomber]

Am I? Want to make a bet Jagger will be needing a walker by the time their next rip-off tour stars? Ron Wood already looks like he has one foot in the coffin.

I'd hope that Jagger decides to quit when he can't run around any more. Don't end up like Phil Collins, sitting the whole show. Collins sounded bad that last tour too.

But doubtless this new tour will sell out football stadiums wherever it goes. Thus, I suppose I shouldn't mock the band too much...clearly whatever 'it' is, the band still have it if they're still packing them in like sardines at $500 a pop.

$500 total got me into the last three Stones shows I've been to, maybe four. The $40 Lucky Dip tickets I got for the Columbus '15 show helped.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

I saw them on stage once in Paris in June 1990 on the Urban Jungle Tour, great show, but didn't feel like seeing them again in '95 (didn't like Voodoo Lounge much), in '98 (didn't like Bridges to Babylon at all) nor in 2006 or '07 (Bigger Bang had two good tunes out of 16, the rest sounded like a bad Jagger solo album). In 2005-06 or 07 they sounded good on stage, even played Can't you hear me knockin' and Monkey Man (better than in 1995).
This time the new album doesn't even sound like the Stones, and they have got so old... Why wait 18 fuckin' years before releasing anything new? At their age this isn't reasonable.

And we are so far from this...

[Nitro Express]

I was at the show in Tempe Arizona. It was great. Sun Devil stadium.

[Terry]

I tend to look at the 1981 tour as the sort of bridge between prior tours which could at times be a bit rough and ragged (and, as a result, would generate both magic moments and cringe-worthy performances) and the Stones touring model of today, which is more streamlined, well-rehearsed and professionally approached.

I suppose for me the difference between 1981 and today is that with Tattoo You the band had by then recorded everything they were going to that was meaningful to me on the creative front. When I saw them in 1989, that was a great show, the only low point being early on in the set where they did a few of their post-Tattoo You tunes back-to-back. What the fuck were those tunes...I think it was one off of Steel Wheels, then Undercover and then...Harlem Shuffle, I think. And they did a couple other tunes off Steel Wheels at about mid-point in the show. None of which stood up to their earlier material and you could feel the audience sort of lull a bit. Of course, back then rock bands were expected to tour behind a new album to avoid the nostalgia tag, so I suppose the Stones felt obliged to make a new album and perform some tunes off it to demonstrate they weren't on a nostalgia trip...or maybe the band wanted to make a new album and didn't want to admit it had become a nostalgia trip, or maybe the band didn't care because they were the 800lb gorilla that does whatever it wants. Anyway, the point being the illustration of the snarky adage that nobody was there to see and hear the band play their new songs.

Obvious difference between 1989 and today being that back then the band hadn't toured for a decade and back then it appeared that the Steel Wheels tour could conceivably be the last one, that the band had made nice and were making a last, concerted effort to go out on top rather than fizzle out after a near-decade of activity that included little to no live appearances and a couple of studio albums - Undercover and Dirty Work - that were, by and large, met with a tepid response from rock fans. Another obvious difference being that in 1989 the age of the band back then didn't make it all appear...more than slightly ridiculous that they were touring.

Now, how excited can one get over an aged sybarite and a couple of decrepit former junkies prancing around? Looking at Jagger reminds me these days of the latter years of Hugh Hefner though, in fairness, what else are 'the Stones' gonna do these days other than what they are? Seemingly it's all they want to do and all their audiences want them to do, so they're by all appearances giving the people what they want, which is more of the same.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

In 1982, my then 32-year-old uncle would already call them the "Crumbling" Stones... In retrospect, maybe they were at their peak, as far as playing live.

I have all their albums on CD and a fair dozen on vinyle, but I won't buy the last one.

I still like them a lot, and it hurts to see them in the shape they are in, but, hey, that's life, that's how it goes when you reach that age.
Mick Jageer is the one who doesn't look so bad. He's still in an amazingly good state, though definitely not the same as 40 years ago.

I remember I paid 190 French francs in 1990 to see them in Paris, which is about 12 euros... With inflation let's say it was 30 euros,
a ridiculous price compared to the fortunes they sell their goddamn tickets now.

[FORD]

Somehow this popped up online recently. It's not on any previous boots from the Sticky Fingers era that I know of. Keef's original demo.....

[FORD]

Clip from their recent performance in NYC. Since it's pro-shot, hopefully the rest will show up eventually....

[Kristy]

Is Ron Wood having a stroke? Looks like he's seriously having a stroke. He should get checked out.

[Kristy]

The limey and the terminal stupid.

I've heard better interviews standing outside hospital morgues. I really have.

[FORD]

Well... at least one full song from the live gig, so far....

[Kristy]

Wow. What wonders Geritol can do these days.

[Kristy]

Keith Richards plays Justin Bieber

Fallon loves Bieber dick or what?

[Von Halen]

Well... at least one full song from the live gig, so far....

Wow. Just fucking wow. I am blown away by how good that sounds live.

Maybe I will go see them with you Twona!

[twonabomber]

I've been walking around all week singing the McCartney bass line to Bite My Head Off.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Did you manage to bite it off eventually?