Gotta Love The Stones
Saw the World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band last night. My good buddy Andy hooked me up with tickets for this second NY stand. I'd seen the Stones on my birthday back in September and couldn't believe how excellent it was, so I was excited to see the boys again last night.
And what can one say about the inimitable, ineffable, insouciant youth that is that old dog, Mick Jagger? His prodigious energy, which pops onto stage almost before he does, seems an other-worldly gift, an alien presence in his lined old face. But his energy only grows throughout the set. His seemingly limitless bag of tricks -- the moves, the head shakes, the hand gestures -- are entertaining, amusing, exhilarating. If it weren't so ridiculous, you'd say that that young man has ants in his pants. He'd pass for an extremely energetic 28-year-old. Amazing.
The orchestration was fantastic too. A 13-piece band can sound bloated -- it's usually just too many voices for a rock and roll band. And the great 60s bands have particularly run into this problem -- as minds, ears, and fingers wither the temptation has been to bury musical sins under a mountain of hired youthful exuberance.
The Stones, however, pull of a very very tight sound, and always use the extra musical firepower to emphasize or underscore the talents of the main foursome rather than blur or obscure their errors. The female vocalist was utterly moving and her way-way-out "Gimme Shelter" gave me goose bumps that have lasted to this minute.
A couple Stones songs that I never particularly loved came alive for me for the first time. "Midnight Rambler" and "Honky Tonk Woman" which always seemed liked Shouts rather than Songs, were electric. I've always thought the studio recordings sounded over-worked and muddy, but last night they were clear, bright, strong anthems. And in a live setting, the unbelievable guitarwork of Keith Richards has so much more presence. Truly beautiful.
The old timeless standards - "Sympathy for the Devil", "Satisfaction", "You Can't Always Get What You Want" -- were superb beyond the capability of my words to encapsulate. You just gotta go see them. It is a life experience.
And speaking of life experiences, it is joyous to watch these real masters at their craft. The Stones are obviously head-over-heels in love with what they do. And to see these 60+ year old rockers, infused with the energy of what they do, thrills to the core. For a guy whose life's work revolves around shepherding people through their careers, watching the Stones sing for love, certainly not money, reminds us all that the first and highest pursuit in one's work should be to love what you do.
And when you do that, the viewer, the audience, the world, applauds.
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Interesting to note that unlike their last pass through these parts, this leg of the Stones tour seems woefully under-hyped. Not a single person that I mentioned it to knew that the Stones were in town. I'd guess that perhaps 5% of the seats last night were unfilled, so if you've always wanted to see the Stones, saunter over to Craig and try you luck.
