 The second
stop on the tour in Boston on Fleet Center was Sunday January 12. 2003. For the
audience of approx. 20.000.
Set list:
You Got Me Rockin' - Start Me Up - If You Can't Rock Me - Don't Stop - Monkey
Man - No Expectations - Stray Cat Blues - Sympathy for The Devil - Bitch -
Tumbling Dice - Thru & Thru - Before They Make Me Run - Gimme Shelter - All
Down The Line - Midnight Rambler - Honky Tonk Women - Street Fighting Man
- Satisfaction - It's Only Rock'n' Roll - Like A Rolling Stone - Brown Sugar -
Jumpin Jack Flash.
 Stones return with a little rust, a lot of rock
By Steve Morse, Globe Staff, 1/13/2003
Gone were the media hordes that covered the Rolling Stones when they launched
their tour at the FleetCenter in September. Last night was more of a
business-as-usual show for the Stones, who returned to Boston to satisfy the
popular demand. The demand was heavy - another sold-out crowd - and the music
was blisteringly heavy as well. The band revved up the volume and led an
ecstatic charge that no doubt left many fans with ringing ears as they awoke
today.
The show was more manic and more rushed than the better-balanced September
kickoff. But it was still a transcendent night of rock 'n' roll bearing the
inimitable stamp of the Stones, now celebrating their 40th year of wreaking
havoc on the stage. They displayed some signs of rust after a recent month
layoff for the holidays (''Honky Tonk Women'' had more than a few guitar clams),
but the highs far outweighed any lows.
Mick Jagger and the lads also made just enough changes in the song list to make
it interesting for fans who had attended the September show (Jagger asked how
many people had caught that show and it seemed as if half the crowd raised their
hands). The band opened with a different song (''You Got Me Rocking'') and dug
into a different album for deep-catalog tracks. In September, it was ''Exile on
Main Street.'' This time it was 1969's ''Let It Bleed,'' from which the Stones
performed the rollicking ''Gimme Shelter'' (with backup singer Lisa Fischer
stepping up like an unchained Tina Turner), the moody ''Midnight Rambler,'' and
the explosive ''Monkey Man,'' with Jagger making some wild and kinky monkey
motions as the audience roared approval.
The Stones played as a tight six-piece to start last night's two-hours-plus
show, cranking from ''You Got Me Rocking'' to ''Start Me Up'' (yes, the song
you've heard on the TV ads for Ford), ''If You Can't Rock Me,'' and ''Don't
Stop.'' The high-energy, high-decibel tone was thus set, and further crescendos
were reached on successive classics ''Monkey Man,'' the countryish ''No
Expectations'' (a welcome change of pace), the visceral ''Stray Cat Blues'' (a
highlight of the September Fleet show as well), ''Sympathy for the Devil,''
''Bitch,'' and ''Tumbling Dice.'' That was enough to force anyone to catch his
or her breath.
Jagger took a much-needed break, giving way to Keith Richards's patented two
songs, this time the soul-bending ''Thru and Thru'' (from 1994's ''Voodoo
Lounge'' CD) and ''Before They Make Me Run.'' Then Jagger blazed back for ''Gimme
Shelter'' and a host of other Stones oldies such as ''All Down the Line,''
''Street Fighting Man'' (which the band had opened with at the Fleet in the
fall) and then renditions of ''It's Only Rock 'n' Roll,'' Dylan's ''Like a
Rolling Stone,'' and ''Brown Sugar'' performed on a secondary stage in the
middle of the floor.
The overall verdict was another thumbs up, with special kudos to Charlie Watts's
tireless, in-the-pocket drum work, Richards's renegade-of-funk rhythms, and
Ronnie Wood's fluid slide-guitar solos.
Opener Ryan Adams acquitted himself well, ripping through some Stonesy guitar
tunes (his five-piece band was exemplary) and paying tribute to deceased Clash
singer Joe Strummer in ''To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High).'' Adams
showed that he can be an arena act if he so desires.
 Review
from Boston Herald Reports:
Stones fan would Not Fade Away without a final concert
by Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa
Thursday, January 16, 2003
There are die-hard fans and there are die-hard fans. Then, there's the guy whose
ashes wound up on stage with Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones at the
FleetCenter Sunday night. Let's just say Will McDonough wasn't the only one
who had a big send-off on Causeway Street this week!
From the Truth-Is-Stranger-Than-Fiction File, get this: A woman shows up at the
arena for the Stones show Sunday night. She's carrying a Baggie. Turns out that
in the Baggie is not what you usually bring to a Stones concert in a Baggie.
It's the remains of her late hubby. A HUGE Stones fan.
Seems her dearly departed bought the tickets for the show, then shed this mortal
coil. So his grieving widow brought him to the concert to fulfill his dying wish
- to see Mick & Co. one last time. And just so it wouldn't be all his Love
In Vain she wanted her hubby to have a really good seat.
``She went up to the runway stage and asked one of the security guards if she
could dump her husband's ashes there,'' said FleetCenter spokesguy Jim Delaney.
``The security staff told her that that probably wouldn't be the most
appropriate thing to do.''
Which kind of put the grieving widow between a Rock And A Hard Place. So she
took matters into her own hands.
``About 10 minutes later, there she was tossing the ashes onto the runway,''
Delaney said.
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