TORONTO - Talk about your "big bang" by a big band. The
Rolling Stones performed a rare club show for some 1,000 fans at the
Phoenix Concert Theatre last night, opening their 14-song,
hour-and-20-minute set with Rough Justice, the lead single off their
forthcoming album, A Bigger Bang.
As has become customary for the British rock veterans, who have
been rehearsing at Greenwood College School in Toronto since mid-July,
the group fine-tuned their material with an intimate gig before the
start of a world tour.
In this case, their so-called Rolling Stones On Stage trek begins
Aug. 21 in Boston at Fenway Park. It arrives at the Rogers Centre on
Sept. 26.
Previously, the Stones have rehearsed in our city three times
leading up to world tours, with club performances at Palais Royale in
2002, the Horseshoe in 1997 and RPM (now the Guvernment) in '94.
Last night's club gig, which was rumoured since Monday night and
confirmed 24 hours later, was partially seen as the band's way of
saying "Thank you" to Toronto.
"Thanks everyone for being so welcoming to us," said lead
singer Mick Jagger, 62, whose expressive dance moves dominated his
performance.
But it also helped the group get a feel for an audience again,
which is important since their last live performances -- not counting
a three-song set at Juilliard in New York in May when they announced
their world tour -- was two years ago.
"You're all our guinea pigs," knee-bending guitarist
Keith Richards, 61, joked after more seriously declaring: "It's
good to be back. I can't think of a better place to rehearse."
It's believed anywhere from 150 to 350 tickets went on sale to the
public yesterday morning at the Phoenix box office -- at $10 a pop --
with the remainder going to the band's family and friends, VIPs and
music industry insiders.
Upon entering, fans flashed their wristbands and then presented
tickets with photo ID. Security asked everyone where they got their
tickets, presumably to crack down on scalpers.
The club was split into two areas, with paying ticket-holders on
the lower level and VIPs milling about upstairs, where tables were
roped off.
Jagger, Richards, guitarist Ron Wood, 62, and robust-sounding
drummer Charlie Watts, 64 (who survived a recent bout with throat
cancer), were joined by anywhere from four to nine other musicians (including
a four-man horn section) on the tiny stage, depending on the song.
The Stones kept their big '60s hits to a minimum, instead
concentrating on material from A Bigger Bang, which was represented by
Rough Justice, the bluesy Back Of My Hand, the Richards-sung Infamy,
and Oh No, Not You Again. But cover tunes like The Temptations' Ain't
Too Proud To Beg, Bob Marley's Get Up Stand Up and Otis Redding's Mr.
Pitiful were among the set highlights.
A Bigger Bang, which hits stores on Sept. 6, is the Stones' first
studio album since 1997's Bridges To Babylon and is also the group's
most substantial effort since 1972's Exile On Main Street, with 16 new
songs.
When the Stones did play their classics, they either drastically
reworked them -- 19th Nervous Breakdown became a slower, sleepier
number -- or left them for the end of the night, finishing with the
satisfying trio of Tumblin' Dice, Brown Sugar and Jumpin' Jack Flash.
Opening for the Stones, in what must surely be the gig of their
young careers, was East Coast rock act The Trews.
"Come on, people, you can do better than that! The Stones are
here tonight!" frontman Colin MacDonald implored the audience.
Rounded out by guitarist John-Angus MacDonald, bassist Jack Syperek
and drummer Sean Dalton, the band performed a loud, 25-minute set of
seven boisterous rock tunes.
The Trews previously performed at the Rivoli on Monday night to
promote their sophomore album, Den Of Thieves, due in stores Tuesday.
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