Okay so I got to see The Rolling Stones last night!! Wow amazing..you might say....how lucky....people would give their right arm....well to be honest I wasn't too enthusiastic to go. I saw them about 5-6 years ago on their last 'farewell' tour and to be honest that was enough for me. I am worried that I sound spoilt, but here we are one of the 'greatest bands alive' (not my sentiments) and I wasn't enthusistic to go.....the reason I had a ticket is another story.
You see the thing is, I just don't get it. They are basically a brand rather than a band.....and this is where I want to start being blunt....controversial you might say....but these are my thoughts.
Okay, The Stones....wow they have some amazing songs....songs which I even to this day enjoy playing....songs like Jumpin' Jack Flash, Brown Sugar etc.....amazing rock and roll songs which will and have stood the test of time.....but that was 30 years ago....you have to give this band credit for making a career out of playing the same songs for the last 40 years.....can you name a song from the 80/90's or even an album (okay maybe one or two...but really!)? No because they are all pretty much pants. So back to the old favourites. There is a name for bands who do that .....I should know....it is called 'a covers band', admitedly hard to call them that as they are playing their own songs....but a reasonable analogy I think.
They outlived the Beatles.....a band who...in my opinion....started off as a manufactured boy band....yep...just like Take That and N-sync and all the others....except they had people who could actually play....and they had the genius of Sir George Martin to guide them. But the Beatles, just got better....unlike the Stones, their early stuff pales insignificance to their later work....the experimented, they were ground breaking, the pioneered recording techniques....the Stones? Well they just got better a parodying themselves....the whole Keith Ricards thing....yeah he his funny....he knows it....he playes up to it....! Back to the Beatles.
Okay so they split up....but that is when things got interesting....McCartney....well he peaked with Yesterday....and then went down hill....you could say like the Stones....hasn't really written a good song since the split....sorry Macca....but honestly the Frog Chorus, Mull of Kintyre...JET......(we will leave out the duets with your ex best buddy Jacko!) What happened...you wrote Yesterday...Elenor Rigby...come on already...you f**king wrote Let it be...and then 30 years of crap!
But....Lennon....he just got better....some may say off the wall in some instances....but out of that came Imagine...probably one of the best songs ever written...who know what he would have done....I am guessing push the boundaries into the 80's and then starting falling back on his laurels...guess that is the musician thing to do....the only person I can truly think of who is pushing the boundaries is Peter Gabriel.
(Note there is a fantastic competition on the Reelworld site to remix 'Shock the Monkey', I am hoping that I have enough time to get my entry in!)
So back to The Stones....well they kicked off with Jumpin Jack Flash.....wow that was rocking....punchy, tight ...fantastic.....but sadly...well it just seemed to go down hill from there. They only played about 12 songs....(none of the classics that I like.......okay I know it isn't all about me....but no Angie, Street Fighting man, gimme shelter)...they played 3 bland songs from their new album...at which point all of the stadium sat down after standing up for the opener. They played extended...extended versions of most of the songs....you know like when you see a covers band in a pub and they don't have enough material....so they extended a song with a jam....well that it is okay once or twice....but every song...come on guys.....and then the greatest sin of all...not one....but two Keef songs....which were excuse my language....f*****G s**t. The guy really can't sing...and that isn't my comment, that is the comment from everyone standing around me....and the songs went on....and on....and on.....and on....and on.....zzzzzzzzz. Oh there is Mick again....nope....back to Keef...and on....and on....oh all done...cool....wait for it.....oh they did a Ray Charles cover....so they are a covers band....I can't believe it....why did they do a Ray Charles cover?
Anyhow, musically the rhthym section held the whole thing together, Charlie Watts is a simple but consistent drumer....him and the amazing Daryl Jones on bass really kept it together...Keef was okay, but Ronnie Woods was...well in my eye (as a guitarist) very sloppy....but then again it isn't about the music is it?? It's Rock N' Roll
Neil...guess that is why I find it hard to be in certain types of band...cos for me the music comes first, the sex, drugs and being an arse come afterwards....! Guess that is where I have been going wrong all these yes....need to go to the Johnny Depp school of acting like a pirate!
Okay so Brown Sugar was the closer.....holy cow it was a terrible mess......I was shocked at how sloppy they played it....was barely recognisable (didn't help that the sound was piss poor....but then again that pretty much always happens in stadium venues....that is another story!)...and the projected video for Brown Sugar...was well I found it really tasteless (Neil finding something tasteless....wow that is incredible isn't it!)....but yeah...it was rasict (I know Brown Sugar has obvious Racial implications) and sexist (I can't believe I am saying that....but yeah...it just seemed so tacky to have an a naked black woman gyrating on a cgi Effiel tower, Big Ben....so guys that just isn't Rock N Roll....I am not prudish at all.....In fact the gyrating topless strippers at the Kid Rock show were a highlight...but I don't know....this just seemed so wrong.
So...encore time....we had a very short rendition (wow a short song with no 10 minute jam!!) of Satisfaction...and that was it.....over....wow.....oh hang on.....10 minutes after everyone has pretty much left the stadium....what is that....oh a couple of piss poor fireworks.....Satisfaction....well not really for me....6.5/10
The show...well looks like they have been watching Rammstein ideas, as there were some big fire things going on....but as a whole....well not really the most exciting show I have ever seen....one inflatable thing, a moving stage...ooo...Mick walking up some stairs in a red coat....ooo is he the devil? Nah....4 years time he will get his bus pass like everyone else.
I just feel really ungrateful and probably come across that way, but it really is all hype....isn't it! They just aren't relevant any more.....people have moved on, Satisfaction is a great song and was a song of its time...'and a man comes on the radio, telling me more and more about some usless information...'....that really hit home in its time....and okay perhaps there is some relevance today.....but songs like 'ooh baby lets get it on'....been there done that, got the tee-shirt.....talking of which....£40 ($80!)...for a tee-shirt...oh and it is all about the music....oh come on!
Peace
Neil
