 America
Airlines Arena, Miami, FL
on Monday, October 17th. 2005. At the 20.000 seated arena Josh Stone
were warm-up.
Set list:
Start Me Up - You Got Me Rocking - She's So Cold - Tumbling Dice - Oh No, Not
You Again - Ruby Tuesday - Rain Fall Down - Midnight Rambler - Night Time -
Intros - The Worst - Infamy - Miss You - Rough Justice - Get Off Of My Cloud -
Honky Tonk Women - Sympathy For The Devil - It's Only Rock'n'Roll - Jumping Jack
Flash - Satisfaction - You Can't Always Get What You Want - Brown Sugar.
Reviews:
Stones deliver a firecrackin', incredible show
by h. coven, the Herald
The Rolling Stones lasting 20, 30 years -- what a stupid idea that would be.
Nobody lasts that long.
-- Lester Bangs, Creem, Dec. 1973.
Well, Lester, you didn't last another decade after that shortsighted, patently
ageist remark, and, for that matter, neither did your esteemed rock magazine.
Don't miss you much, either, but man, we would really miss the Rolling Stones if
the guys hung it up after delivering an explosive, aggressive show like Monday's
at Miami's sold-out AmericanAirlines Arena.
The Stones, now 43 years on (sorry, Mr. Bangs) are on their A Bigger Bang tour,
named for their current CD, a creatively rejuvenating effort. The CD isn't the
only thing that sounded revitalized. Sure, the Stones can always be counted on
to deliver a flashy good time on stage. The Forty Licks tour two years ago, and
the '90s mega-tours, all amazed in many respects.
But on A Bigger Bang tour, the Stones played with a renewed sense of purpose.
Singer Mick Jagger, drummer Charlie Watts and guitarists Keith Richards and Ron
Wood know what has been written about them -- too old, too wrinkled, too passé
-- and answered the charges by rocking harder, meaner and rawer.
Midnight Rambler, with Jagger on mouth harp, seemed as fierce as it did on Get
Yer Ya-Ya's Out! when these guys first performed it in their 20s.
STRANGE TRAIT
It's a strange trait, peculiar to the rock press, but no film critic with half a
brain would have suggested that Steven Spielberg retire after making Jaws and
yet noted rock scribe Bangs wasn't alone when he dismissed the Stones
prematurely.
The Stones might well have said Monday night: This is what we can do in our 60s.
Top it, kids.
The set list touched on the obvious -- perhaps too obvious with Start Me Up
opening, but avoided becoming a strictly oldies set by roaring through some
lesser-played numbers such as She's So Cold, which found Jagger temporarily at a
loss for words; a Ray Charles tribute (Night Time Is) The Right Time; and a
sampling of the new CD, with highlights including the rude kiss-off Oh No, Not
You Again, the funky Rain Fall Down, which recalls the disco-era classic Miss
You, and the raucous Rough Justice which the Stones performed on a makeshift
stage in the back of the arena.
DOING THEIR PARTS
True, the Stones today, owing perhaps to over-familiarity, take on the
appearance of a museum piece. Each member has his assigned part and sticks to
it. The indefatigable Jagger, ditching clothes every few songs, plays his
leading-role status to the hilt; Richards, raggedy, looking like an extra in a
Pirates of the Caribbean flick, interlocked with Wood to unleash guitar licks
that still slice meat off the bone.
Richards got his turn at the mike, too, offering the new dance-rocker Infamy in
his endearingly rocky voice, but for all his great or near-great songs he could
have chosen -- Before They Make Me Run, Little T&A, This Place Is Empty, to
suggest a few -- selecting the banal The Worst was, well, precisely that. His
rakish charm saved it, though. ''It's good to be here -- it's good to be
anywhere,'' he cracked.
The set could also have extended beyond two hours, given ticket prices. One plea:
ditch opening act Joss Stone -- if anyone needs to listen to overbearing,
overwrought fake soul singing watch American Idol free.
Miami Heat star Shaquille O'Neal may have been in the house, according to
Jagger, but if anyone could make him seem small it was the still mighty Rolling
Stones.
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