The 18.000 people got no warm up at
this place.
Start Me Up - It's Only Rock'n'Roll - She's So Cold - Tumbling Dice - Oh No,
Not You Again - Rain Fall Down - Dead Flowers - Bitch - Night Time - Intros -
Slipping Away - Infamy - Miss You - Rough Justice - Get Off Of My Cloud - Honky
Tonk Women - Sympathy For The Devil - Brown Sugar - Satisfaction - You Can't
Always Get What You Want (encore) - Jumping Jack Flash (encore)
"Absolutely shameless," said Sir Michael Philip Jagger, 62, as he
donned a white cowboy hat between songs at Thursday's sold out Rolling Stones
concert in Houston's Toyota Center.
Well, duh. We all knew that, man.
Shamelessness has always been the Stones' strong suit and its Achilles's Heel.
What else could make them England's public enemy number one in the '60s? What
else could drive them as corporate-sponsored men of wealth and taste from the
'80s to now, touring every few years to fans of all ages?
But frankly, the show wasn't all that shameless. Playing on a mercifully
prop-and-gadget-free stage, Jagger, the indestructible guitarist Keith Richards,
metronome-for-life drummer Charlie Watts, solo-savvy Ron Wood, long-term
hired-gun bassist Daryl Jones and a tasteful club of horns, keys and backup
singers pounded through a sharp set of hits that everyone loves and new songs
nobody cares about. It was professional in the best possible way.
That's not faint praise. Jagger, wraith-thin and gigolo-athletic, sounds
terrific, belting and dancing like the ur-frontman he is. The band found its
feet with the opening "Start Me Up," "It's Only Rock 'n'
Roll" and "She's So Cold." Wood, with his steely leads, and
Richards, with his cool-shrug rhythms and occasional solos, still look happy to
be on stage.
As the band kicked into gear on "Tumbling Dice," you remembered why
they can do this forever: They always fall back on craft since they wrote some
of the best rock songs of all time.
That said, the tunes from this year's album "A Bigger Bang" are not
among the best, and the crowd, thrilled at everything else, was polite enough to
feign interest in "Oh No, Not You Again," "Rain Fall Down,"
"Rough Justice" and Richards' rambling vocal turn on "Infamy"
and "Slipping Away."
They meant well breaking out Ray Charles' "Night Time Is The Right
Time," pretending to be the R&B acts they worshipped. There were a few
surprises in the familiar songs. "Bitch" smoked and swayed, while
"Dead Flowers" — easily the highlight for Stones nerds — got some
back-up vocal rasp from Keef. The band gathered on a movable B-stage for a short
set in the middle of the arena, looking for all the world like a bar band (or a
Stones cover band) playing for pennies. "Miss You" throbbed, "Get
Off Of My Cloud" clanged and "Honky Tonk Women" still has the
greatest cow bell of all time. (I was pulling for "Rocks Off," but
nevermind.)
The lunge toward the finish line was all hits. "Brown Sugar" tasted
so good, while the juggling polyrhythms on "Sympathy For The Devil"
elicited a chorus on "Whoo-hoos!" and plenty of grinding. "Satisfaction"
gave everyone just that, "You Can't Always Get What You Want" felt
oddly moving, a valediction from men who had survived hanging out with Mr. Jimmy
and lived to conquer the planet. And "Jumping Jack Flash" still
features one of the greatest riffs in six-string history.
Sadly, opening act Los Lonely Boys canceled at the last minute. An incredibly
obnoxious, jokey announcer said guitarist Henry Garza wasn't feeling well, but
that the Stones would still go on at the scheduled time. This elicited boos, and
lots of bored sitting around, but by the time the full Stones band took its
curtain call — after 100 minutes of rock — it was doubtful anyone in the
crowd remembered their earlier crankiness. In 2005, you may not get everything
what you want from Stones, Inc., but you get what you need.
Toyota
Center, Houston, TX