Rolling Stones 2019 U.S. Summer Tour

I'm a much bigger fan of recorded music than live. Seeing The Stones on the Tattoo You tour wasn't exactly life-altering for me. That album alone has given me far more joy than the concert ever did.

 

Stadium shows can be magic. The VET in Philly in 2002 sticks with me. Almost all warhorses, but it didn't matter. They rocked my face off with each one. Biggest surprise: "You Got Me Rockin", which I despise, rocked my world.

Ameliorating factor: they played it at the b-stage at about twice the normal tempo.

Louder? Faster? Count me in!!!

 

That would also be my favorite song on SW. In fact I really only enjoy the second half of that album.

While we will never know 100% of who wrote what (albeit some educated guesses I concur wouldn't be far off) I was mainly speaking about the production values of both Voodoo Lounge and Steel Wheels. If you listen to Keith's solo records they have a very direct approach, guitars front and center, whereas Steel Wheels they are kind of blurred with an 80's kind of slickness to them. That is what I meant when I said VL sounds like a Keith album because it literally does.

About the songwriting Mick writes fantastic songs and I'm not short thrifting him in that department, I just don't like when he tries to get too cutesy and sentimental (Streets of Love, Blinded By Rainbows) or makes an attempt to keep current and play the (not so) cool uncle who can hang with the kids...(Anybody Seen My Babaayyyy)..When he steers himself away from those two pitfalls, backed by the Stones his songs have some flesh on the bone they otherwise wouldn't.

 

There have been a zillion outdoor shows where at least part of it was going on in daylight.
Many outdoor festivals are all day and night events .
Above and beyond the daylight consideration, I just don’t enjoy being in an intimate crowd of like ... 40,000 people . It just seems like an even more obvious cash grab for bands like the Stones than the typical indoor shows where you can get a decent seat without having to take out a mortgage :

It might be an age difference thing between us .
Keep in mind I saw Led Zeppelin, The Who and zillion other bands in a club that may have held 700 or 800 people .
The first time I saw the Stones the place held like 4,000 people.
Sitting out in a football field watching the band members looking like the size of ants on a stage, so I’m reduced to looking at video screens isn’t my idea of a fulfilling concert experience .

I just don’t get much pleasure watching bands outside. It’s the antithesis of a rock and roll experience to me.

If you or others think it’s great , more power to you but it’s not for me.

 

First time for me in '97 they blew my doors off. I wasn't expecting them to and neither was my (at the time) 16 year old cousin and not a fan of the band, even he had to comment on how spectacular it was.

 

European stadium shows seem to still kick off in bright daylight, unlike the US.

The Stones' US stadium shows in 1981 and 1978 were curtain-down by dusk (at least before daylight savings time).

Worked for me.

 

I paid $600+ for a lower-bowl arena seat in Toronto the last time around. My
immediate regret is that I did not pay whatever it took to get into the pit on the
floor.

 

$45 I think (Lucky Dip ticket) is what it cost me to get in the pit.

 

Stadium shows (at least for old bands in the U.S.) have changed -- I blame it on the crowds.

Case in point: I stumbled across this camcorder footage from Steel Wheels and was shocked (shocked!) at how vocal the crowd was, cheering instrumental breaks, etc. Pick any song, they're consistently going nuts. I haven't experienced anything remotely similar in the last 20 years of concert going.



What I really need to do is see the Stones in South America...

 

I see your point on the sound of Voodoo Lounge. However, the second half of Steel Wheels does have three songs that are clearly Keith’s babies - Almost Hear You Sigh (which, reflecting its origin during the Talk Is Cheap sessions, is credited to Jagger-Richards-Jordan - kind of amazing that Steve Jordan managed to do what Brian Jones never did, i.e. crack the Jagger-Richards songwriting monopoly), Can’t Be Seen, and Slipping Away. I think Keith also had a big hand in composing Mixed Emotions. Even though I love all of those songs because I love Keith and what he brings to the Stones, Almost Hear You Sigh and Slipping Away are elevated to another level beyond the high level of Talk Is Cheap by the presence of Jagger.

 

The Don Smith Difference, perhaps?

 

I've seen the Stones in stadiums and some of the shows were great. One of them, however, wasn't so good--it was at Soldier Field in October. Chicago in October...the weather can go either way...and it went the wrong way. Very cold, windy, not many people in the upper bowl of the stadium. It was also after Keith had his tree accident and he was "off" during that time. It wasn't that great of a show, and I love the Stones.

 

Comerica Park in '05 was a great show!

 

Well, first US show since 12/81.....

 

Record shows used to always have a guy selling bootleg concerts on VHS - this looks like the footage you'd see playing on a TV in his booth.

 

An awesome thing while it was going.

In my day, we bought them at $20 a pop and liked it. Now get off my lawn.

 

Any song in the Stones' catalogue credited to Nanker Phelge (Play With Fire, Little By Little, Stoned..etc..) is including Brian Jones in the songwriting credits as it was a pseudonym for the entire band. Wood is also credited with a song or five collectively on Tattoo You (Black Limousine) Undercover (Pretty Beat Up) and Dirty Work (Had It With You, the title track and One Hit).

Taylor got gipped for sure, his sole credit being Ventilator Blues but we know he was a key songwriter (contributor) on other tracks, especially a few on Goat's Head Soup, Moonlight Mile and Time Waits For No One.

 

I was there too. Pure misery. Band looked like they were just trying to survive and I didn't blame them at all.

 

I know Woody got some Stones co-writing credits; I just find it interesting that Jordan, who was never officially in the band, got one. I’m guessing that maybe Keith said to Mick that if Jordan didn’t get his credit, the Stones couldn’t have Almost Hear You Sigh? Keith is the only person with the clout to say that, I would think.

 

Oh, no question. If that song wasn't a Keith solo outtake (How was this even possible??….but anyway) I agree, Jordan's name wouldn't have seen the light of day. I've never understood not giving someone credit for something and I often wonder how the Jagger/Richards "monopoly" began and why it continued. The obvious answer is greed but when you're dealing with millions of dollars cutting another slice out of the pie won't result to living in the car using newspapers as a blanket. I couldn't work that way, but maybe that's why I'm not a millionaire.

 

In the late 90's my wife and I were given a pair of tickets that were sidestage 4 0r 5 rows back, level with the stage. The only 2 things I remember is how old Jagger looked up close in the bright lights, and my wife's comment that he looked like he was doing an aerobics routine all night.
This was not our first Stones rodeo, both of us having seen them many times since the 72 tour. Musically the 1975 and 1978 shows I saw are burned into my memory.

 

I didn’t say they should play stadiums. What I meant to say is they should shake things up completely to the point where people would come to expect something intirely different from a Stones show. They have been doing these kind of stadium gig for years and years and years and years and years and years with virtually no change. Time to shake things up for their own sake. A dick move? Well if you’re an accountant yes. If you’re an musician not so much. I love the Stones and they sound great these days but c’mon! Do something crazy the last couple of years.

 

I saw them in the late 90s too and that was entirely the impression I got watching Jagger. It looked to me as if he was doing a pre-planned keep fit regime that was interrupted by the songs.

 

if they end up at New Orleans Jazz Fest - may try and see them..

 

Ah man, the 1981 tour is a sore spot for me! I was 14 and had only attended 1 concert prior to that year - Kiss in late 1977 - but I started to develop an interest in live music.

The Stones played 3 shows at the local arena, but ticket sales were announced literally in the middle of the night on a Saturday, and I didn't know they existed until I read about the sold-out concerts in Monday's paper.

I literally begged my dad to give me the $50 I needed for a scalped ticket - this was weeks before Christmas and I told him I'd accept that as the entirety of my Xmas presents - but he wouldn't do it, so I missed the show.

Seeing the Stones in 1981 would have been life-altering for me, but it wasn't to be!

Well, there was one positive outcome. I was so jazzed to see a concert - almost any concert - that I got tickets for the Kinks' 1/82 show even though I barely knew anything about them. I'd seen them on TV around that time and thought they sounded good, so I latched onto them so I could go to see someone live.

Thus started my lifelong love for the Kinks! I probably would've eventually embraced them anyway, but that 1982 show gave it a boost!