Grrrrrrr!
----Intro: Sympathy For The Devil
01. I Wanna Be Your Man
02. Get Of Off My Cloud
03. It's All Over Now
04. Paint It Black
05. Gimme Shelter (with Mary J. Blige)
06. Wild Horses
07. All Down The Line
08. Going Down (with Jeff Beck)
09. Out Of Control
10. One More Shot
11. Doom And Gloom
12. It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It) (with Bill Wyman)
13. Honky Tonk Woman (with Bill Wyman)
----Band Introductions
14. Before They Make Me Run
15. Happy
16. Midnight Rambler (with Mick Taylor)
17. Miss You
18. Start Me Up
19. Tumbling Dice
20. Brown Sugar
21. Sympathy For The Devil
----- Encores
22. You Can't Always Get what You Want (with full choir)
23. Jumpin' Jack Flash
Well, there it is. Last night's set list from the Rolling Stones first show of their 50th Anniversary Tour.
With the exception of "I Wanna Be Your Man," and of course, the addition of Bill and Mick, what about this "special" set list is so special? Maybe it's the brass balls addition of "Out Of Control," a song from "Bridges To Babylon," or Mary J. Blige, the most overrated and inept R&B singer to ever fool the masses taking Merry Clayton's role in "Gimme Shelter?" What I see here is one of the most standard set lists of the Stones' last 10 tours.
I think about the hype and of course, the exorbitant ticket prices---for the hell of it, I tried for a single at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and pulled the very last section on the floor, about 150 yards away (probably smarter than sitting close enough to see Keith), all the way to the right for a grand total of $831---and it just gets my knickers all tangled. Is this truly the best Mick & Keith can offer on the last go around?
I won't begrudge the boys for playing both new songs from the new ripoff hits collection. That makes sense. But considering the depth of this band's material and the fact that they have always thrown no less than 5 nuggets into each tour, this set seems very pat to me.
Is it me? Am I just a cynical crank? Am I jaded? Please say no.
CAN YOU RECALL YOUR OWN PERSONAL "WORST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK" CONCERT EXPERIENCE?
Lollapaloser - Perry sticks it to me every year. Because it's always insufferably hot in Grant Park in August, I shell out several hundred bucks for a "VIP ticket". This gets me to the sole shaded area, well off to one side, where I've allegedly paid for the rights to a folding chair (first come first served) and a great view. Alas, they are oversold, so there are rarely seats. And the seats are so far from the stage that you cannot really see anything except a sideview of the Jumbotron. And because L-paloser is a multistage extravaganza, there is continual sound bleeding through from other performers. To top it off, this summer Saturday headliner was the Chili Peppers.
ReplyDeleteI haven't gone out of my way to see any live music since Johnny Cash at the Ritz in 1989.
ReplyDeleteAt some point I realized going out to shows was mostly a drag, and I'd rather spend my money elsewhere.
Without a doubt for me it was the"Street Legal" tour of 1978 where dylan was channelling his inner Neil Diamond down to the jump suit.
ReplyDeleteI never, ever need to hear "Jumping Jack Flash", "Brown Sugar" Or "Start Me Up" ever, ever again. Ever. For a band with the largest back catalogue in rock and roll this is extremely disappointing. How many times can we watch these guys tour and play these same exact songs, then put out a live album of these same songs, and NOT feel ripped off?
ReplyDeleteAs much as I love them, I think the Stones have been my most disappointing concert experience for those exact reasons. Having seen them a few times it's hard to not feel like each show is completely interchangeable with any other show.
I'm not gonna bother with the new tour.
I agree Chris - I would like some of those Stones warhorses if they rearranged them a bit (like when The Who did "Won't Get Fooled Again" acoustically on a recent tour) or held them out as something special.
DeleteThat being said, I saw them in 1997 and at that time I thought they completely rocked - one of my favorite "big" shows ever.
As for shows I've paid a lot for and been disappointed, probably the closest recently was The Who for $100 here recently in the ATL. It just wasn't that great.
In the past though, generally when I've paid triple digits for a show (Paul McCartney, Simon & Garfunkel, and a few others) it has actually been worth it. No horror stories to report.
Sorry your Stones experience wasn't great, Sal - I would have loved to hear "Midnight Rambler" with Mick Taylor though, and Wild Horses as well. How did Taylor sound?
- A Walk In The Woods
I was talked into going to see Boston sometime in the mid 80's. Sounded like the record was playing, note for note. I ended up falling asleep during the show (no drink or drug involved either), just a very boring show.
ReplyDeleteI think you will know what I mean when I say and to paraphrase Joe Pesci...."you talking to me"
ReplyDeleteor to paraphrase Claude Rains in Casablanca...."Gambling in Casablanca I'm shocked"
or to paraphrase me...."a money grubbing oldies act ripping off their aging fan base....I'm shocked"
On the other hand what would be kinda of cool even to my jaded eyes would be doing what seems like (or at least last year was) touring complete albums. Who wouldn't want to see Satanic Majesties performed live. Or maybe Let It Bleed or Beggars Banquet. How about a double bill of Between the Buttons and Aftermath (the english lp's) with the singles left off for the encores.
I have sworn off going to anything at a House of Blues, regardless of who is playing, after being swallowed by a sea of frat boys at an Old 97's show.
ReplyDelete@WITW
ReplyDeleteOh I wasn't in London and I had no intention of paying $831 for the upcoming Brooklyn show.
My point was...it certainly doesn't seem all that special with the same tired set lists.
Doves. Saw them several times, and they always sounded just like the CD. The CDs were great, mind you, but the appeal of a live show is to see what the artist will do differently. I cannot for the life of me understand people who rave about a show: "It sounded just like the CD!"
ReplyDeleteAmerica in 1980. the sound was great, but I could have stayed home and listened to their greatest hits album. Virtually no difference, except the light show. I have their more recent live album, and I must say it's very good. a lot more stage banter and some differences in the arrangements. Not to say they weren't good, or didn't play well...just boring.
ReplyDeleteI don't need to see this show. One look at the set list is all it takes. Mix "Love You Live" with thirty five years of "Life", and there it is: One more shot of Gloom And Doom.
ReplyDeleteThis might be heresy (seeing as how SO MANY apparently sane folks like what Bob has done in the last few years, both on record & in concert), but, shit, say the mighty BD 2 years ago and it was the biggest ripoff ever. Not only did the sound suck (so much for modern sound reinforcement techniques), but the setlist was sooooo fucking predictable that it made me wonder if it was Bob's last tour to cash in...
ReplyDeleteREM on the Green tour at Madison Square Garden. I was in my mid-20s, but felt like Methuselah because I was surrounded by high-school kids. The handful of times I had seen the band before were in college-town environs, and much more suitable to the kind of band they were. (A particularly memorable show was the Bucknell Field House on a pre-Fables of the Recon mini-tour -- essentially a high-school gym, which found many of us hanging out with Stipe in a graveyard on campus after the show.)
ReplyDeleteThe couple next to me were necking in a way that looked like both had read an instruction manual before taking the NJ Transit train into Penn Station. A fight broke out when one dude in a letterman's jacket got, like, pissed when another dude looked a little too long at his girlfriend. They both called each other dicks very loudly and postured for a few minutes, then went home. Surely the most depressing concert experienece of my life, realizing a band I loved was moving in a direction I didn't like ... and that shitheads like this were buying their albums.
Close runner up was seeing The Replacements open up for Elvis Costello at MSG. Seemed like a dream pairing to me at the time, two of my favorites, what a night this was going to be. Well ... Costello's fans clearly didn't have a clue who The Replacements were, which shocked me. Nor did they care. The band played a perfunctory, passionless 40-minute set and got off the stage. Elvis came on, and he was in his fat hippie mode at the time, think this was the Mighty Like a Rose tour, and, man, did he look weird. It was a strange night.
As I write this, The Rod Stewart Christmas Special is on PBS. This is like watching someone you once cared about very deeply but fell out with shit their pants in public. You don't wish them well, but you don't wish this sort of hell on them either. What happened to this guy ...
Round 2, Pink Floyd circa 75 or 76. I honestly can't see the entertainment value of a note-for-note replication of Dark Side (including backing female vocalist & saxophone "soloist")... dammit if I wanted to hear the record I would have saved myself $20 (seems unreal, doesn't it??) and stayed home and put on the vinyl!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSal, you've brought up very interesting questions re: the Stones both here and on the Woodblog... it's kinda tough for a fella like myself who (when confronted with the Beatles-Stones question in the 60s) jumped into the Stones camp. Nothing that I like in the latter discography has the imprint of the new guy (Woody), heck there isn't much of anything that Ron has contributed that has a distinctive sonic (totally unlike those first few Rod and Faces albums). As far as setlists go, it has been rightly said above that the Rolling Stones back catalogue contains innumerable GREAT rock & roll songs that EVERYONE remembers... why oh why oh why would the greatest rock n roll band in the world settle for pandering to whatever audience they find nowadays? The mind boggles...
ReplyDelete@William
ReplyDeleteI think I saw The Replacements open for three different acts over the course of a year at MSG. The Costello show you mentioned, which I remember being as lousy as you say, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, where Paul & Tommy basically told the crowd to fuck off after every song because they "hated the big time," and one other. (Neil Young? Is that even possible?)
As I think back to other Mats shows, earlier and in smaller venues, I don't recall anything much better. Like some mention, the note for note creation of a record is hardly a good live experience. But sometimes, seeing a band as ramashackle as the Mats is just as bad. Insulting, really.
Another thing I find fascinating is how many people just LOVE how the Stones sound. Glowing reviews! The clips are horrible. Jagger may move like himself, but he sounds horrible.
So let's see---$800 tickets, a rotten setlist, and an old shitty band. Is it me?
Look, the Replacements should have disbanded once Paul let out his inner Gordon Lightfoot and Bob Stinson was given the boot. During the Twin Tone period they were zero-fucks-given gods to an underground that also gave zero fucks. Once aboveground, I think they hated themselves - they felt nothing for their new audience (at their last small club show in Columbus OH, when the buzz brought in the goths and new wavers for the first time, Paul grumbled into the mic, "What are all these peope doing in our club?"), but at the same time Paul and Tommy wanted so bad to be rock n roll lifers. I only went to see one large show from the Slim Dunlap period and that was enough. It was a rote exercise.
ReplyDeleteThe Police. Saw them back in the 80s during the Ghost in the Machine Tour and again on their reunion tour. And let's add Sting to the mix. I think I've seen him twice solo. Add it up and I was bored to tears.
ReplyDeletedont recall exactly what ticket prices were in old days, but i can say for certain one of the most disappointing shows i ever saw was way back in 70's when i resided in San Francisco and managed to see a few shows here and there at enormous venue called Cow Palace ! you can imagine my excitement to get tix for George and Ravi on tour!! Well lo and behold my favorite Beatle had NO voice left !! He was so hoarse you could barely make out the songs !! Was lucky to see Live Rust there also in 70's(difficult to remember off hand exact years !! I am certain that you could also throw in a Van Morrison show or two when it comes to no bang for buck,as i remember more than once where Van probably wished he wasn't there at all!!
ReplyDeleteSaw Van the Man in Vancouver, man, mid-70s, he had the rep as being a bit of a stiff in live performance... came out with a 4-pc group (including the phenomenal Ralph Wash on gtr)... and proceeded to suck, big time!! For 3 songs... then Van woke up & that show is firmly rated in my top-10 all time concerts. Just goes to show ya...
Delete"Don't Tell A Soul" ruined the Replacements for me.
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for Slim Dunlap. He joined a dead band.
But, this is the perfect opportunity to share this great tune by him that sounds exactly what the Stones with Ronnie should've sounded like.
I wish the Stones started their set with this.
http://alanwalkerart.com/audio/not_yet_aint_no_fair.mp3
I hate to say this but when I think of wasted money it was Roy Orbison. Saw him on the west side pier. we sat in the first row. He didn't move the whole time and his renditions were note for note from his records. He was famous for that, of course, so we should have known, but still.
ReplyDeletethe opening act was the bangles. Susanna Hoffs was wearing a very very short skirt. the stage was raised, so our money didn't entirely go to waste.
Re: Replacments. Never saw them with Bob, wasn't even aware of them until Let It Be hit. First show I saw was right as Pleased to Meet Me came out, one of Slim’s first shows. Small club in Pittsburgh – they were great, and about as drunk as I’ve ever seen a band. Whatever unpredictability they lost with Bob, Slim made up for it with a good feel for what the band wanted to do. (His two solo albums from the 90s are good and worth tracking down.) I suspect I would have been one of those fans who got into the falling-down drunk/80% 70s covers nights ... seemed to capture the spirit fo the times.
ReplyDeleteNext two times were Beacon Theater in NYC, with Johnny Thunders opening both times. First of those was one of the best shows I’ve seen. Band came out in matching blue mechanic overalls and tore it up. Did a cover of “Gimme Shelter” that sounded as hard and nasty as the Stones in their prime. Second time was OK, but didn’t blow my doors off. Third time was the regrettable MSG show with Costello.
Couldn’t bring myself to see Paul solo, as these seemed more like religious ceremonies with fanatics than rock shows. Picked up the Color Me Obsessed doc last week … not quite grasping the “middle-aged guy pining for 19-year-old self” vibe so many of the participants put out. That was the one band that perfectly matched where I was in my life, in real time, MY band (which is how all their fans felt about them), which is why I don’t feel anywhere as near as close to them now as I did then.
Worst bang for the buck for me was Eric Clapton, on a tour he did in the late 80s with Mark Knopfler in his band. I expected all kinds of great guitar interplay between the two; unfortuntately Eric didn't open his eyes the entire show and Mark performed (maybe) behind some riser or curtain or something. He literally was not a presence on stage.
ReplyDelete@ William...
ReplyDeleteI saw REM play Maple Leaf Gardens on that tour and again a month later at The Barrowlands in Glasgow - one of the great rock venues - Two very different experiences but equally enjoyable. I might have felt different about the MLG show if I hadn't seen them in the smaller venue. But then, the crowd in Toronto seemed to be much better behaved.
For me the worst was U2 in the Ex in Toronto on the Joshua Tree tour. Our seats were pretty much in the back row and even the ants were complaining that they looked like ants. Sound abysmal and a second or two behind the video screens. Never wanted to see them again.
It would have to be Elvis Presley in 1976 the summer before the dirt nap of 1977. We had to pay bootleg ticket prices from someone in Buffalo, NY for the show in Rochester, NY. We paid $60 per ticket about 1/4 back on the side of the hockey arena known as The War Memorial in Rochester (now Blue Cross Arena).
ReplyDeleteIt was the first time Elvis had ever played in Rochester, so every aging boomer who could afford it came to the show, all the bald former greasers or doo-wops from town, they were all besides them selves.
First we sat through 40 minutes of THE WORST COMIC I have ever seen. Don't recall the name. 15 minutes later The Sweet Inspirations came out and did another 40 minute set of soft soul oldies. Then another break, this time 30 minutes.
Then Elvis 'hit' the stage. The expected flashbulb frenzy wouldn't stop and Elvis preened and posed for 10 minutes easy. When he started to sing I realized we couldn't hear him and we were at most 100 feet away. Then I looked at the PA, which was smaller than my own system, just a couple of two 12" speaker cabinets on each side of the stage! (I had just seen the aborted Steve Stills & Neil Young tour the previous month when they 'flew' the 10 speakers per side up above the stage and it was fantastic.) It was a TOTALLY inadequate PA for the size of the hall. Why they cheaped out so bad I could never understand. Later I heard from those sitting on the floor they couldn't hear him after the first 50 rows of 150. I did hear him a couple of times, single notes as he leaned into the mike a few times. But most of the time he was busy wiping his neck with these 'official' Elvis scarves and dangling them to the audience who were besides themselves fighting for a cloth impregnated with some of Elvis' DNA. I think I heard him sing about 40 notes total. He did 35 minutes and left the building. What a rip off! I was off him for the next year until he died. The only GOOD thing about the Elvis segment was James Burton on guitar. He was the only reason it wasn't a total loss and I had seen him before two times with Emmylou Harris.
BTW, I saw Roy Orbison on his last tour. Yeah, he didn't move much but he had a crackerjack band and STILL sang in the original key on every song. MAG-nificent...so was Carl Perkins (we opened up for him once) and Ricky Nelson 6 months before he died was AMAZING. Each of them blew away Elvis.
I saw Roy Orbison at the Beacon Theatre and loved it. A week later he was dead. Considering finally seeing Dave Matthews.
ReplyDeleteAre you considering this move in hopes that Dave Matthews will follow Roy a week later?
DeleteIron and Wine in Tallahassee a few years ago was the most "meh" concert experience I've had in recent years. Songs played so note-perfect you may as well have been listening to the CDs. Sam Beam with absolutely zero stage presence. Never spoke to introduce himself or a song, nothing between songs, never introduced anyone from what by the end of the show had grown into a large ensemble. I expected a little more personality, especially since Sam got his MFA here. The crowd left the venue just sort of shrugging...
ReplyDeleteDon't do it Sal. Unless Hootie And The Blowfish are opening.
ReplyDeleteWorst concert for me is easy: The Cure, 1986, at (then) Irvine Meadows. (I was 19 -- so shoot me!) There was no opening band (most shows were two or three bands at the time). The sound was god-awful - the worst I heard before or since -- and we were next to the soundboard. About half-way through, the punks and goths on the lawn and in the back started lighting stuff on fire (firework things, trash, etc.) and throwing it into the crowd in front of them. After a little less than an hour, the Cure packed it in, no encore. Crowd got unruly, then really bitchy on the way out. The walk out was down a downhill path, and when people got crazy, I got picked up and tossed over the side, down an embankment, and into a concrete drain. Broke my glasses, tore up my knee bad, had to have my friend drive us home since I couldn't see and my knee was bleeding all over the passenger seat, and then waited the mandatory 2 hours to get out of the parking lot through the one exit. Still have the scar, though!
ReplyDeleteI saw the Who, not long after those fans got crushed to death. The vibe was awful, lots of high school drunks and stoners. Then some asshole threw a cherry bomb which thundered through the arena. I stayed but couldn't enjoy the show. I pretty much have sworn off arena shows. I have made exceptions for Bob Dylan and Neil Young with mixed results. I go to a blues fest every summer and am treated like an adult, get to actually talk with the artists, fans are mellow, beer and food prices reasonableetc. Rock fans are generally treated like crap, and rock fans at hockey arenas are treated like criminals. Some of them should be.
ReplyDeleteThis is an easy one for me: Sly & the Family Stone at Grant Park. He'd cancelled a show last minute in Chicago, so announced he would make up for it with a free show at Grant Park. About 45 minutes or an hour after the show was supposed to have started, with no sign of Sly, some of the "everyday people" began throwing bricks and bottles towards the stage. People up front started throwing things back. I retreated towards the other side of the park, where squad cars were lined up, Mayor Daley having envisioned there might be trouble -- in those days, the police were there to "preserve disorder." Soon bottles and bricks were flying towards the squad cars. My friends and I headed further away across the park. From a nearby hill we watched police wadi in with billy clubs and tear gas. With each burst of tear gas, people would start running across the park towards where we were, but about halfway across would slow and turn to go back. When the crowd finally kept coming, we got out of Dodge --'cause, as Sly would say, "There's a riot goin' on."
ReplyDeleteThe worst show I ever saw was Supertramp, supporting "Crime Of The Century" in 1974 or 5. Dull, dull, dull. Exactly like the album, but even limper.
ReplyDeleteHere's a topic: What was worse, Bill Wyman leaving or Ronnie Joining?
ReplyDeletei have written many effusive things about bob dylan on sal's sites, so it is only fair to say that two of the more disappointing shows i have seen were bob shows. one was the saved tour and i sort of made that disappointing by refusing to acknowledge he was actually going to just stay in gospel character. it wasn't bad, but it wasn't where i wanted to be.
ReplyDeletethe other was a bob show about seven years ago. band was fine. bob was clearly fucking around. not recasting his songs; fucking around. this was made clear, thought i was pretty sure, when he closed the main set with cold iron bound and charlie patton, both of which he did marvelously. then he started butchering the first encore, so we left, long after we should have, but with the proof we needed that he is utterly impossible.
he also, one of the times i saw him, put on the second greatest show i have ever attended. bruce in 78 being the best
the toughest show i ever sat through was rick springfield, my friend had promised to take his little sister and he asked me to go along. he bought the ticket, the gas, and the booze and all i had to do was drink and ride. not good. but fascinating in its way. until that show i kind of thought that the screaming on things like beatles at the hollywood bowl might be a studio trick. oh no. quite real.
For me, my biggest disappointing show has to be Big Audio Dynamite. I consider their 1st lp one of the best lps of the 80s. I was not aware the band had gone thru personnel changes and turned into BAD II and Don Letts was no longer in the band. Gone were the audio samples and every song had the same dance beat. Have forgotten e
ReplyDeletewhat this trend was called but included Happpy Mondays and the Farm that opened the show. And it was on my birthday! Mick Jones is forgiven now with the great new Wallfowers song he takes over.
The absolute worst was a triple-bill-Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush(who were actually good!), Foreigner(their first tour), and Ted Fucking Nugent.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, the venue was changed to a smaller concert hall, which proved to be disastrous due to Mr. Fucking Nugent. Apparently adjusting his PA equipment for a much smaller hall was too great a task. The sound was SO FUCKING LOUD that my ears started bleeding toward the middle of his first song. I sat with my hands over my ears for the rest of the show, but the damage had been done. My ears rang for a week afterward and to this day I suffer mild tinnitus. So yes, I fucking hated Ted Fucking Nugent long before it was cool.
As for Foreigner, I suppose it being their first tour was a good excuse, but they just did not play cohesively. Maybe the didn't rehearse enough before the tour, but they were off-tempo and out of time with one another for the entire set.
Yes In The Round was just a snoozer. I literally fell asleep.
The best was Led Zeppelin, my very first concert experience at 17. It was in May of'77, just a couple months before Plant's son died and the remainder of the tour was cancelled. I've read Sal's posts of his disappointment with the same tour, but the show I saw was terrific.
The new '02 Arena show just released is pretty damn good, too, for a bunch of old farts.