Even after all these years, it's only rock 'n' roll. And yet, there is a bit
of rocket science involved in constructing the ultimate set list for the Rolling
Stones 40th Anniversary tour -- a list that gives the casual fans the hits they
came to hear while throwing in enough obscurities (or songs that weren't on
"40 Licks," at least) to keep the real fans coming back for more.
And while they could have used another song or two (or even four) from any
album leading up to "Beggars Banquet," last night's set at the Mellon
Arena struck a pretty decent balance between the songs that everybody knows and
the obscurities while keeping the number of songs that no one really needs to
hear again to a refreshing minimum.
Keith Richards hit the stage first, slashing his way through the intro to
"Street Fighting Man" with a look that said he knew he had you at
"Hello" -- a great way to open a show, especially if you're a band
that's got at least another couple hundred classic tracks to draw on. But the
show got better as the band began to loosen up and get into the music themselves.
Even Mick Jagger, whose movements seemed overly mannered at first, was dancing
like a guy who felt it -- and how could anyone not feel it with Charlie Watts
practically daring certain portions of your body not to shake it? -- by the time
he got "Midnight Rambler." Of course, by then, the show had a life of
its own on the strength of such well-chosen treasures as "Monkey Man,"
"Live With Me," a surprisingly intimate "Angie" and the
boozy, bluesy swagger of the title track to "Let It Bleed."
The set drew heavily on "Let It Bleed" and other midperiod classics,
including both "Exile on Main Street" and their finest hour, "Beggars
Banquet." And those songs are exactly the sort of material the band excels
at, even after all these years. Now if only Keith and Mick could be persuaded to
crank out an album or two of new songs in the spirit that so moves them as
performers. Not that "Don't Stop" didn't sound good. It just wasn't
"Gimme Shelter," an obvious highlight for obvious reasons, from the
staying power of the song itself to a blistering solo from Richards and the sex
appeal of super-vixen Lisa Fisher belting out the chorus.
Joining Fisher in the Stones support group were a number of familiar faces --
sax man Bobby Keys, keyboardist Chuck Leavell and former Beach Boy Blondie
Chaplin, who, like ex-Face Ronnie Wood, looked every bit as cool as any member
of the Strokes.
Other highlights ranged from the band stretching out on an epic performance
of "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" to "Tumbling Dice,"
"Happy" and "Honky Tonk Women." And if Jagger seemed a bit
like he was back at work on "Satisfaction," the rest of the band put
it out with a youthful abandon that made it feel like something they'd just
whipped up at rehearsal, especially Woodie and Keith, whose fire-breathing solo
was enough to make you hope he plays until his fingers fall off, long after his
kids have forgotten the Vines.
Fans can't say they got 'no
satisfaction':
Regis Behe, Tribune Review, Jan. 11:
Lawrence Miller was a teenager the first time the Rolling Stones came to
Pittsburgh and played at West View Park's Danceland in 1964.
"I'm not going to lie and tell you that I saw them," said Miller,
53, of Bloomfield. "I was in the (amusement) park but didn't get in to see
them."
Miller, though, was part of the sellout crowd Friday night at Mellon Arena
that came to pay homage to one of rock ’n’ roll's longest-running acts. And
no one thought they were too old or past their prime.
"I saw them at Pac Bell Park (in San Francisco) last year," said
Miller, who attended last night's show with his daughter, Melanie Miller, 22.
"They put on a great show."
Before the concert, scalpers were asking $300 for tickets in Section D.
"No way I was going to pay that price," said Jim Miller of Erie —
no relation to Melanie and Lawrence Miller — who decided Thursday night to
drive to Pittsburgh with a friend.
Miller, who said he is in his late 30s, paid face value — $150 — for his
seat in the same section at the Uptown arena.
"They are still relevant," he said of the Rolling Stones. "They
are still worth the price of admission."
Others also came from out of town to see the concert.
Robin Gatrell, 44, and Susan Corso, 45, both of Columbus, Ohio, had seen the
show last month in Columbus but drove here yesterday morning to catch the
Pittsburgh concert.
"No!" they both yelled when asked if the Stones were too old to be
playing rock music.In the arena's concourses, vendors were hawking T-shirts for $45 to $50,
flashing-tongue buttons for $10 and hooded sweatshirts for $70. Too much? Apparently not.
Lines were three deep at the booths, and the queues for the automatic-teller
machines were the longest in the arena.
For some audience members, last night was their first opportunity to see the
legendary band.
Jim Stevenson, 40, and his fiancee, Dana Cardelli, 42, both of Greensburg,
Westmoreland County, were attending their first Stones show.
"We never had a chance to see them before," said Stevenson, who got
tickets when a family member decided not to attend the concert.
The couple, who will be married in April, said they had no doubts the band
would deliver a great show. "Look at Mick (Jagger)," Stevenson said. "He's 60 (actually
59), and look at the way he moves. He still has it. They still sound good at
this age."
Fan club members SweetVA, Blue Lena & Jaggrfn1 at the Pittsburgh Hard Rock
Cafe
Pittsburgh Review by Jaggrfn1 (Alexandria,VA):
Pittsburgh, PA was one ROCKIN' town this past weekend.
Stones AND the Steelers game! LOOK OUT! The Mellon Arena was an excellent venue.
Was on 13th row, Ronnie's side. Gave out stickers to all around me and
conned them into making way for me to get to the B-stage, which they did. Nicest
people I've been around at a concert so far. It was the first time I'd heard
Angie and I felt it was the best version of Midnight Rambler I've heard. Was
behind
Charlie and Chuck at the B-stage. Got some good shots of Mick but he
refused to take my gold scarf :-) Good setlist even though I did miss 'Sympathy'!
We walked to the venue in a blizzard (no exaggeration) with a wind chill
factor of MINUS FIVE degrees, it was snowing SO hard, you could barely see
anything, security was quick as everyone was rushing to get inside the
venue. Tickets were NOT checked on the floor at all (unusual).
The pre and post parties were great, met many new fans and the Ramada Plaza
Suites loved us. Great place to stay! After touring the Andy Warhol Museum
on Saturday, Sweet VA and I ventured over to the Renaissance Hotel for
some cocktails with Blue
Lena and Elizabeth, met Blondie for the first time, what a super nice guy,
watched the loading of the Stones Luggage (3 hours, by the way) into the
truck, (for a 2 night stay). Watched all the band members leave individually
through the lobby with several other folks. (Charlie, Ronnie and Keith
were all a tad shorter than I expected) . Blue Lena and Keith had a close
encounter of the BEST kind when he thanked her
for the scarf during the show and gave her a big smooch, it was so neat!
Unfortunately they snuck Mick out a side entrance...........drats!
Being at the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner during a Stealers game was quite an
experience also, crazed fans. Blue Lena was sweet enough to drive us to
her home to view her Keith Shrine - unbelievable, the man would be so
proud! And Pittsburgh lit up at night is just awesome.
All in all a fabulous Stones weekend and on to Chicago!
Stones
get their 'licks' in at Arena show
Go ahead. Make jokes about intravenous drips on the mike stands and AARP
discounts on concert tickets. Make plenty of references to "Steel
Wheelchairs." And don't forget the one about them playing Mellon Arena only
because the dinosaur hall at The Carnegie already had been booked for a Boy
Scout field trip.
Go on. Laugh it up. It's OK; the Rolling Stones are laughing, too.
But not at the geriatric jokes that have dogged them for at least a decade,
and certainly not with them.
No, Mick Jagger (59), Keith Richards (59), Charlie Watts (62), and Ron Wood
(the youngster at 55) are laughing because, 40 years and counting into their
reign as rock's most royal of extended families, they're still having too darn
much fun not to.
They couldn't care less about the naysayers who enjoy pointing out that the
Stones haven't produced a blockbuster hit album in two decades. Or that it took
a compilation of their mostly 1960s and '70s-era hits, "Forty Licks,"
to get them back onto the charts. Or that Richards likely has guitar picks that
are older than his youngest fans.
It's still only rock 'n' roll, but obviously they like it. Love it, even. Yes
they do.
And, just as obviously, so do the sellout crowds that continue to overflow
arenas and amphitheaters wherever they appear on their current "Lick
It" tour.
That included a jam-packed Mellon Arena Friday night, when the Stones made
only their second appearance following a five-week holiday hiatus, yet still
managed a flawless, 21-song performance on two stages.
Not that one would have been insufficient. The Steelers have played in
stadiums smaller than the Stones' main stage, a sprawling, opulently lit
platform with a second-story loft to its rear - the better for Jagger to writhe
for the customers in the limited-view seating behind and to the sides - and four
giant television screens above, one to chronicle every move by each of the
band's remaining principals.
It was the grandeur of the setting that allowed the Stones to make one of the
slickest entrances on the tour circuit - a swirl of spotlights suddenly focusing
into one blinding beam as the pre-show music swells to a dramatic crescendo,
followed by a fade to blue-tinged black at the opening notes of "Street
Fighting Man."
When the stage lights popped back on, there was Richards seemingly all alone
front and center, dipping into a chord, smiling and looking more 19 -from the
seats in the back, at least - than 59.
Then, from out of nowhere came Jagger, all hips and elbows and big,
smoke-flavored and whiskey-bruised voice, high-stepping the audience into an
emotional frenzy with his trademark wiggle as Wood and Watts and the band's
nine-person backing ensemble assumed their positions.
They maintained that energy level through "Start Me Up" before
downshifting into a more workmanlike - but rarely more mellow - groove by the
evening's third song, "If You Can't Rock Me."
Having proved early on that they can still move, the Stones spent much of the
rest of the night demonstrating that they can still play. And although they used
the current single from "Forty Licks," the Journey-like power-pop
piece "Don't Stop," to help make that point, they drove it home with a
generous portion of "Let It Bleed," the studio masterpiece that is
arguably the Rolling Stones' finest album.
Selections included "Monkey Man," "Live With Me," "Midnight
Rambler," and the tongue-in-cheek western swing of the title track.
But "Gimme Shelter" was the crown jewel of "Let It Bleed"
back in 1969 - and, not surprisingly, of Friday's show, as well. A rare hybrid
of late '60s psychedelia and traditional gospel, "Shelter" was a
perfect showcase for Richards' and Woods' blistering guitar chops and Lisa
Fisher's vocals, both solo and in duet with Jagger.
And speaking of rare, the Stones have taken the wrapper off the heretofore
almost-never-played "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" for the "Licks"
tour, and Friday's version gave "Shelter" a serious run for the money
as best of show.
That was mostly because the Stones still carry some impressive backup in the
persons of pianist Chuck Leavell and especially saxophonist Bobby Keys, who took
"Knocking" to the upper echelons of jazz before Jagger's bluesy harp
brought it right back to the barroom.
Richards took a two-song solo turn in the spotlight - "Hello,
Pittsburgh; I told you I would be back" - with "Slipping Away"
and "Happy." But, as usual, Jagger handled the vocals on the rest of
the hits featured in the setlist.
They included "Angie," "Tumbling Dice," "You Got Me
Rockin,'" "Honky Tonk Woman," and, of course, "(I Can't Get
No) Satisfaction."
Then it was off to the "second" stage at the other end of the arena
for the encore, a smaller and more intimate setting that harkened back to the
band's small-club roots.
And so did their song selection for the segment - "It's Only Rock and
Roll" and "Brown Sugar" sandwiched around their only cover of the
evening, appropriately Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone."
They finished with a second encore on the big stage, pumping the energy right
back to where it was at the start with "Jumpin' Jack Flash."
Yes, it was a gas.
Daily News Editor Dave Fennessy
Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh
Rolling Stones
fans get some satisfaction