Monday, May 20, 2013

The Rollings Stone: 50 & Counting

On Saturday, May 18th, a friend and I checked off a box on our bucket-list: attend a Rolling Stones concert! The Stones are some of the oldest rockers out there, but they are still going strong after fifty years since they first formed. As part of their ongoing 50 & Counting Tour, these Brits put on an awesome show at the Honda Center ("The Pond") in Anaheim, CA, and there's nothing like seeing their incredible energy and impressive talent in person! The arena took quite awhile to fill up, giving us ample time for people-watching (the audience was also a sight to behold), but once the concert began 50 minutes late, it was a near full house and we were in for a treat with over two hours of solid music.
High-energy Mick Jagger belted on vocals, jammed on harmonica, and strutted on the catwalk around the tongue pit. Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood (member since 1975) both wailed on guitar, and Charlie Watts (also a founding member with Jagger and Richards) rocked out on drums. No wonder these guys are so skinny! Their support musicians were also excellent and a great addition, including two backup singers, keyboardist, bass player, and sax players They performed over 20 hits from throughout their lengthy career, including "Get Off of My Cloud," "Paint It Black," "Gimme Shelter," "Wild Horses," "Honky Tonk Women," "Start Me  Up," "Brown Sugar," and 3-song encore with "You Can't Always Get What You Want," "Jumpin' Jack Flash," and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." One of the top guitarists of all time, Mick Taylor (Stones member from '69-'74), was a featured guest, joining the band on "Midnight Rambler," and Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters (and Nirvana) also made a guest appearance on guitar. With the exception of the massive pot-smoke that enveloped us during the performance, it was a stellar show! Here we are, ready to rock to out! 


The stage incorporating their infamous lips and tongue logo. 

You can see Jagger out front on the catwalk (don't laugh at my faraway seat, but the only way I'd pay the $600 for the good seats is if it included the time machine to see The Stones back in the '60s!). 

And because it wouldn't be the '60s Beat without a performance from back in the day, here's the classic tune The Stones opened the concert with. Written as a reaction to their sudden popularity after the success of "Satisfaction" in 1965, "Get Off of My Cloud" topped the charts in the US and UK in November of 1965. Cultivating their infamous "bad boy" image, the lyrics are defiant and rebellious, a common practice for The Stones around that time. 
 And for the first part of the concert's encore, The Stones performed "You Can't Always Get What You Want," featuring a full choir and French horn player. Written by Jagger and Richards and released in July of 1969, it was named the 100th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine in its 2004 list. The three verses (along with the varied theme in the fourth verse) address the major topics of the 1960s: love, politics, and drugs. Each verse captures the essence of the initial optimism and eventual disillusion, resigning to a practical approach in the chorus. Minus the choral introduction, here's a performance on The David Frost Show in 1969 (live vocals only).
Happy 50th Anniversary to The Rolling Stones, and thank you for a night to remember!

2 comments:

  1. Your blog is AMAZING. Thank you for it! Would you possibly be interested in reviewing a book on growing up in the ‘60s? I’ve discounted my ‘60s coming-of age-novel Ride the Snake (author Kevin Kelly) to FREE on Amazon as a Kindle download for the weekend. Thanks for checking out the madness and possibly reviewing the book!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your blog is AMAZING. Thank you for it! Would you possibly be interested in reviewing a book on growing up in the ‘60s? I’ve discounted my ‘60s coming-of age-novel Ride the Snake (author Kevin Kelly) to FREE on Amazon as a Kindle download for the weekend. Thanks for checking out the madness and possibly reviewing the book!

    ReplyDelete