 The grand opening of the Forty Licks
Tour 2002/03 was held in Fleet Center in Boston on September 3rd. 2002.
Set list:
Street Figting Man - If You Can’t Rock Me - It’s Only Rock-n-Roll - Don’t
Stop - Stray Cat Blues - Wild Horses - Loving Cup - Rocks Off
- Rip This Joint - Tumbling Dice - Slipping Away - Happy
- Love Train - Undercover - Can't You Hear Me Knocking - Honky Tonk Woman
- Satisfaction - Mannish Boy -
Neighbours - Brown Sugar - Sympathy For The Devil - Jumpin' Jack Flash
 Review from Blue Lena
Rocks Off In
Boston
Opening night
is always special, and even if the Stones themselves weren't nervous I found
that I was! After all, we had counted down to this day since May 7th when the
tour was officially announced. And finally
it was here, opening night of the 40th anniversary Licks Tour with the Rolling
Stones at the
Fleet
Center
in
Boston
.
The evening
began for me at
4:30pm
as my
husband and I met my friends John & Gerty from
Holland
, as well as my
friend Natsuhiko Shimanouchi from
Japan
in the lobby of
the Omni Parker House Hotel. We all took the "T" to Sullivan's Tap
House on
Friend Street
at
5pm
, across from the
Fleet
Center
. The Stones buzz
was definitely in the air and all of Boston seemed to notice it. Radio stations
were playing Stones all day long, they were giving away Stones t-shirts and
Stones posters and even last minute tickets. Fans were shocked to find out that
even the
Fleet
Center
box office still
had tickets for sale on opening night. So much for the panic several months ago.
Sullivan's Tap
began to fill up with fan after fan as Stones music blared through the
speakers. Most US states and several countries were represented...
Canada
,
Japan
,
Holland
,
Iceland
to name a few.
Fans who hadn't seen each other since the '97 tour or '99 tour were hugging and
sharing in their excitement of what was to come. Even an old codger at the bar
engaged fans in arguments about the greed of the Stones and how they have gotten
so far away from their blues roots...we turned a deaf ear.
 The
Pretenders were due to open the show at
7pm
, although from
the looks of Sullivan's Tap, it didn't seem as if many Stones fans were eager to
get over to the Fleet to see them. I left the bar around
7:10
and wandered over
to the Fleet. The Pretenders had just come on, so I caught 2 songs (knowing
I’d see them open several more shows in the weeks to come). I perused the new
Hospitality area, then proceeded down to the merchandise stand where it was
shear buying mayhem. Fans were dropping $200 and more on the new Forty Licks,
t-shirts, hats, jackets, stickers, posters,etc. There was a special t-shirt for
the
Boston
shows which on
the back read "One if by land, two if by sea, three by the Stones" and
proceeded to list the
Boston
dates. There was
also a special small poster for opening night.
The
Stones were due on at
8:15pm
, so I headed to
my seat around
8:10
, however the boys
were fashionably late. I was thrilled with my section A, 11th row seating
location, and was 5 seats in from the catwalk which was cool. The hardest part
was waiting for the lights to go down, but boy when they did, the crowd erupted!
The band pounced on stage to Street Fighting
Man, what a killer choice for an opener. The stage was bare, but a
video screen encompassed the background, and showed various images during the
evening. Many folks were on the cell phone to friends who couldn't attend, just
to let them hear the opening number (including me). Next up was If You Can't Rock Me, which I really got into, seeing as how
I have never heard that one live. The new tune Don’t Stop came early in the set and seems as if it will be a live
crowd pleaser. All the boys wore understated clothing, as I guess they were
saving the flashy stuff for the bigger stadium shows. My next breathtaking
moment came when they launched into Stray
Cat Blues and then of course the Exile segment of which Loving
Cup was the highlight. I had been waiting to hear Rocks
Off and Rip This Joint again since
’94, and of course Wild Horses was
another treat I hadn’t heard live since ’94. Mick got a tad lost during Rip This Joint and looked relieved to get through it, and a bit
winded after those 2 fast numbers.
Keith’s set? Well, what can I say, I mean I live for this part of the show
right? I was impressed with the sound of Keith’s voice, he was smooth and
dead-on during the lovely ballad Slipping
Away and his traditional rocking self on
Happy. The skull scarf was flying from my row during those numbers!
The
huge surprise of the night was Love Train,
I mean I knew they had rehearsed it, but I never ever imagined it would be
played live. It was. And from the crowd’s reaction, it worked. Kinda like a
Vegas act segment. Undercover was
never a favorite song of mine, album track or live version, so if there was a
least favorite, that was probably it.
Can’t You Hear Me Knocking was killer, and Ronnie just wailed away with
his solos, proving that Mick Taylor was not really needed tonight to carry it
off (as some fans suggested). I waited in anticipation of seeing Charlie stand
up, knowing that when he did the B-stage segment would take place…I was
surprised that it came so late in the show. But, when it did happen, the boys
passed literally a few feet before me, slapping hands as they made their way
through the appreciative crowd. We were immediately delighted to hear Mannish
Boy, then Neighbors…a couple
other tunes that I had waited years to hear live, before closing out the B-stage
with Brown Sugar and fooling everyone
by taking the back way out & re-appearing on the main stage for the closing
numbers. Red paper circles fell from the sky and the band encored with Jumping
Jack Flash, and proceeded to do a final bow with the entire stage band,
never returning for a final bow with just the four Stones. When the house lights
came up, I knew I had certainly had my expectations exceeded on opening night
2002!
Blue
Lena
’s next report will come
from
Comiskey
Park
and the Aragon Ballroom in
Chicago
next week.
Review (from AP):
By BOB SALSBERG, Associated Press Writer
BOSTON - The Rolling Stones launched a 25-city tour Tuesday night with
"Street Fightin' Man" as their first song as if making a statement
that after 40 years they're still in fighting shape.
Newly knighted Mick Jagger, grizzled guitarist Keith Richards and the rest of
the band have billed their "Licks" tour, as their most elaborate stage
show ever, with eye-popping special effects.
"There's nothing so exciting as starting an American tour and there is
nothing so exciting ... as starting here in Boston," the 59-year-old Jagger
told the concertgoers packed into the FleetCenter.
It's the hottest ticket in rock; industry analysts expect it to be the year's
top-grossing tour. Most tickets — some selling for up to dlrs 350 — were
snapped up for the 40-show tour shortly after they went on sale. The band will
not only play arenas and stadiums, but cozy concert halls as well.
Tour director Michael Cohl said that like the "Voodoo Lounge" and
"Bridges to Babylon" tours of the 1990s, the stadium shows will be
heavy on Stones staples such as "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Honky Tonk
Woman," and "Brown Sugar."
By contrast, the arena shows — like the one in Boston — will include a
large collection of less familiar songs culled from the band's 40-year history.
Tuesday night, the Stones followed their opening number with "If You
Can't Rock Me" and "It's Only Rock 'N' Roll," during which
Jagger, dressed in tight black pants, shed his blue jacket to reveal a white
T-shirt underneath.
During the fourth song, Jagger played guitar on "Don't Stop," one
of four new numbers from the Stones' forthcoming album "Forty Licks."
The collection of their greatest hits will be released in October.
Two hours before the Stones took the stage, crowds of mostly middle-aged fans
— some wearing shirts with the Stones' famous lips and tongue emblem —
waited for the doors to open.
Steve Mulcahey, 50, a police dispatcher from Warwick, Rhode Island, said the
Stones were worth the wait.
Why? "The music and the fact that they can still perform it live onstage,"
he said, and "the electricity in the air."
This was his 17th Stones concert and Mulcahey planned to attend three others
on the current tour.
"I've got the tattoo on my butt. I'm all set," Mulcahey said of the
Stones emblem.
While the number 40 might be a theme of the band's tour, the Stones would
clearly like to stay clear of discussing another number: 60. That's the age
Jagger and Richards will be by the end of next year. The third original member
of the band, drummer Charlie Watts, is already 61.
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