The first of three shows in Melbourne, with an entusiastic 14000 people
audience.
After an eventful week of pro-drugs chatter and tasteless
restaurant encounters, the Rolling Stones got back to business last night.
Thankfully, that business - the art of rock `n' roll - is a concern the Stones
have either sparked, influenced or dominated in their 40-year lifespan.
Their performance at a filled Rod Laver Arena was a reminder of this.
The premise of 40 Licks always promised greatness: classics and
obscurities in surrounds comparatively smaller than stadium shows of the past.
Consequently, their opening shot, Start Me Up, cranked into action by
a certified Keith Richards riff, preceded a Deeper Cuts set borrowing heavily
from Exile On Main Street and Sticky Fingers.
Already, the difference between 40 Licks and the slick, but distant
1995 Voodoo Lounge tour was obvious. Last night, the Rolling Stones
played with a vitality and urgency that had little to do with the special
effects around them, but rather the spirit of the material inside them.
Up close and personal, frontman Mick Jagger's leering vocal and unrepentant
strut - rag doll, cat-like manoeuvring with a hint of Chicken Tonight - was as
potent as ever.
Wiry, angular, and still pulling the best poses in rock, Richards, 59, played
guitar hero to the core. His raw signature blasts over Satisfaction and Jumping
Jack Flash remain defining moments.
Drummer Charlie Watts, 61, and bassist Darryl Jones, the band's so-called
engine room, nailed their parts, especially across the muscular and insistent Bitch
and Sympathy for the Devil.
The real treat, however, is guitarist Ronnie Wood's re-emergence as a force
in the Rolling Stones. Fit, fresh and revitalised after treatment for alcohol
abuse, Wood traded riffs with Richards while keeping his own identity,
particularly on the standout Can't You Hear Me Knocking?. Jagger, 59, is
said to have told Wood to get sober or he would not survive the tour.
Wood, 55, has re-surfaced as a subtle but effective scene-stealer.
A so-called b-stage, a secondary pod connected to the main stage by a
catwalk, provided a back-to-basics forum where the Stones aimed to revisit the
feel of the 1960s club shows.
Here, to the delight of front-row fans, all within easy reach of their heroes,
the songs When the Whip Comes Down and Brown Sugar were performed
with style.
40 Licks is a tall order delivered as the world's greatest rock and
roll band should deliver it: faultlessly.
The Rolling Stones will perform again at Rod Laver Arena tomorrow and on
Saturday.
Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
