 The next stop on the tour is
Chicago, the United Center.
Set list:
Street Fighting Man - It's Only Rock'n' Roll - If You Can't Rock Me - Don't Stop
- All Down the Line -
Stray Cat Blues - Far Away Eyes - Shattered - When The Whip Comes Down -
Tumbling Dice - The Worst - Happy - Can't Turn You Loose - Miss You - Can't You
Hear Me Knockin Honky Tonk Women -
Satisfaction - Mannish Boy - You Got Me Rocking Brown Sugar - Sympathy for the
Devil - Jumping Jack Flash
Review "It's only rock 'n'
roll, but Chicago likes it"
September 11, 2002
By Annie Sweeney, ChicagoSun Times
Who says you can't always get what you want?
More than 20,000 fans from all over the country got tickets to see the
Rolling Stones on Tuesday night at the United Center, the first of three Chicago
shows by the legendary rock 'n' roll band.
Chuck and Teresa Thompson came to West Madison Street from Atlanta,
Ga.--their first visit to Chicago.
It's his 10th Stones concert and her ninth.
"I say they can't get better, but every time I see them, they are better,"
said Chuck Thompson, 47, as he waited in the drizzling rain a few hours before
the show.
He first saw the Stones in 1978 in Atlanta when tickets were selling for $10.
Tickets for Tuesday's concert and a Sept. 13 show at Comiskey Park were a bit
pricier, ranging from $50 to $350. And tickets to a Sept. 16 Stones show at the
4,500-seat Aragon Ballroom went for a flat $50 plus service charges but have
been bid up to more than $800 on eBay, the Internet auction service.
"I wish they would lower their ticket prices," said Bryan Hughes,
43, of Chicago. But he added, "The only way they're going to come out is
for the big money."
 Musically,
Hughes hoped the Stones would avoid newer music in favor of their old standards.
"Nobody comes to hear their new music," he said. "They should
play all the old music--the hits."
But Kevin Matter, 20, of Lincoln Park said he likes the newer tunes, as well.
He got to like the Stones through his mom. "They're really great in concert.
They rock out all over the stage."
The cost of tickets was not an issue for Debbie Miller, 48, of Danville, who
was waiting at the United Center to see if any last-minute seats would be
released for the sold-out show.
"I spend a fortune on concerts now," Miller said. "I couldn't
when I was younger."
She said she spent all her money on seeing such bands as the Who, ACDC,
Aerosmith and Paul McCartney. Recently, she's also seen Pink and Lenny Kravitz.
But the Stones remain her favorite. "I told my husband if I'm ever in a
coma and he plays the Rolling Stones and I don't wake up, then pull the plug."
Contributing: Art Golab
photos are from Fleet Center so far - as soon as we have Chicago gig photos
we add them.
Another review from SunTimes in Chicago:
Rockin' us like no one else
September 12, 2002
by Jeff Johnson staff reporter
' So much of our inspiration came from the Stones," joked Chrissie
Hynde of the Pretenders, who opened for the Rolling Stones Tuesday night at the
United Center. "Our clothes, our haircuts, our drug habits ..."
And the music. And on that score, the onetime bad boys are at their mannish
best as they approach or reach their 60th birthdays, as confirmed by their
two-hour-and-15-minute tour de force Tuesday. If the "Voodoo Lounge"
and "Bridges to Babylon" tours that preceded it were gray, faceless
monoliths, the current "Licks" tour is a Technicolor explosion of
sound.
At one time the Stones seemed the worst possible candidates to endure on a
superstar level for 40 years. Did they pull a fast one with their celebrated
burnout personas, leading a generation of would-be street fighting men down the
path to self-destruction as they secretly ate health food, practiced yoga and
worked out?
No, the leathery Ron Wood and his positively sandpaper-faced guitar mate
Keith Richards, while still impossibly lean and taut, are the poster boys for
hard living.
The impishly endearing Mick Jagger, however, is singing so well at age 59
that you'd suspect he's been granted some sort of satanic request. As he
sprinted across the stage, preening and pointing to the faithful, there were no
thoughts that he was doing well for his age, only that he's at the peak of his
powers. The dedicated follower of fashion may make more wardrobe changes during
a show than Cher, but he has the remarkable ability of convincing 16,000 people
in a jam-packed stadium that he is singing directly to each of them.
Charlie Watts, the elder statesman at 61, is steady as he goes, drumming with
a calculated ferocity that keeps the musical circus running with pinpoint
precision. He gets a considerable hand from Chicagoan Darryl Jones on bass, who
is still relegated to junior member status after several tours, along with
keyboardist-backing vocalist Chuck Leavell and saxophonist Bobby Keys.
"Licks" is playing three times in most cities, following a format
of hockey arena, baseball stadium and funky older hall. They've reportedly
rehearsed more than 100 songs for the tour, so ticketholders for the show Friday
night at Comiskey Park will hear a different set than the one they played at the
United Center. The Stones supposedly are throwing out the set lists altogether
for the small halls, which means anything goes Monday night at the Aragon.
One of the things that sets "Licks" apart from its predecessors is
there's not much new product to push. The Stones will mark their 40th year in
the business with a "40 Licks" greatest-hits set, featuring four
unrecorded tunes. They played one of those, an unmemorable "Don't
Stop," on Tuesday, but the other 21 numbers were familiar favorites.
If the goal of a Stones tour is building the biggest possible fleet of
yachts, then "Licks" is sacrificing in the name of artistry by playing
smaller indoor arenas as well as 50,000-seat-and-up outdoor venues.
Each night the band is playing several tracks in a row from a vintage LP, and
Tuesday's featured disc was "Some Girls." That 1978 work is widely
considered the last great Stones album, although today it seems unabashedly
sexist, even misogynistic. The set-within-a-set started with "Far Away Eyes,"
an ersatz country number featuring Wood on pedal steel (or "the furniture,"
as Jagger laughingly referred to the instrument as it was moved onstage). "When
the Whip Comes Down," with its "XXX" video beauties projected in
the background, and "Miss You" were the guiltiest of pleasures at
best.
J agger can whip a crowd into a frenzy like few other performers, as he
displayed from the outset with "Street Fighting Man." The
revolutionary spirit is alive and well, with tickets scaled at $350 on down.
Yeah, right.
But the Stones at heart were never political animals. On the eve of the Sept.
11 anniversary, there wasn't one reference to the tragedy, which was downright
refreshing. "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll" is more than a song title, it's
a philosophy, and fans like it.
While many rock guitarists who were deeply influenced by the blues tend to
lose speed and technique as they age, Richards has never been a pyrotechnician
so much as a stylist. What he's lost from a technical standpoint is minimal, and
he has never played with more rollicking good cheer. His featured numbers,
"The Worst" and "Happy," are well-deserved moments in the
spotlight.
There's one soul tune on every program, and Tuesday's was "Can't Turn
You Loose," with the horn section getting a workout. While there were
complaints during the first tour stop in Boston that Keys and his three fellow
brass players were underamplified, the horns sounded distractingly loud at the
United Center. The trio of backup singers needed a PA boost, particularly on
"Tumbling Dice."
Among the golden oldies, the highlight was "Can't You Hear Me Knocking,"
featuring Woods' ever-mounting rhythm work. "Honky Tonk Women" always
gets a different reading from Jagger, but "Satisfaction" stuck too
closely to the source to justify remaining in regular tour rotation.
The group uses a smaller "B stage" for a stripped-down miniset,
getting up close and personal with the people in the cheaper seats while
performing numbers that don't require the full support staff. Jagger displayed
his mastery of Muddy Waters' vocal mannerisms with a dirty-old-blues reading of
"Mannish Boy," complete with a Jagger harmonica solo. "Brown
Sugar" also went over well on the smaller stage, with Keys breathing fire
from the sax.
For the encores, the band selected "Sympathy for the Devil," with
Richards laying down some tastefully devilish licks, and "Jumpin' Jack
Flash," with an endless spray of red confetti--and torrid sound--from the
stage.
Even after 22 songs, the Glimmer Twins weren't huffing hard enough to blow
out a candle. These devils need no sympathy, indeed.
The Pretenders delivered a greatest-hits retrospective that featured the
blistering power-chord interplay between Hynde and Adam Seymour, and a pretty
fair drummer himself in Martin Chambers. Opening for the Stones is an unenviable
task, but the Pretenders held the crowd's undivided attention, particularly with
old faves "My City Was Gone" and "Back on the Chain Gang,"
as well as the more recent hit ballad "I'll Stand by You."
Rock review, the Rolling Stones at the
United Center
By Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune
They may be entering their fifth decade, but the Rolling Stones still have a
few surprises left. Here are a few from Tuesday's concert at the United Center,
the opener of a three-night Chicago stand (details to follow):
Mick Jagger still gives a toot (or at least does a good job of faking it).
The Stones realize they've written a few good songs besides the greatest hits
they've been flogging on recent tours.
Ron Wood lives!
Jagger sounded testy, and that's just the way Stones diehards like him.
"If you can't rock me, somebody will," he growled. The song, which
kicks off the 1972 "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll" album, is more of a
threat than a plea: Get it on, or get out of the way. On this night, it was as
if Jagger were directing it at himself.
The Stones came out like they had something to prove, and indeed they did. On
their 40th anniversary, they're charging the stiffest ticket prices ever for a
rock 'n' roll tour. Little wonder Keith Richards at one point knelt before the
folks in the $370 seats as though in the presence of royalty.
The fans have given the Stones a pricey stage on which to dance, and the band
did not take the responsibility lightly. On past tours, one could always rely on
Charlie Watts' spare but propulsive drumming to drive the tunes, and for
Richards' guitar playing to splice the beats and keep the rhythm oil flowing,
even when the rest of the Stones were phoning in the hits.
But on this night, Jagger twitched, twirled and gestured as if
electro-shocked back in time. Watching the wiry singer, one appreciated again
how much he borrowed from James Brown, Jackie Wilson and Tina Turner, and how
much he gave to a future generation of rockers, from Iggy Pop and Patti Smith to
the Hives' Howlin' Pelle Almqvist. As opener Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders
jokingly said: "We owe them so much: our clothes, our haircuts, our drug
habits."
Jagger's voice swaggered with virility and purpose, and he delivered a long,
growling harp solo on "Mannish Boy" that would have made band
patriarch Muddy Waters smile. Is this man really 59 years old? If he could
bottle his secret, Viagra would be in trouble.
The second reason Tuesday's show was a cut above for the latter-day Stones
was that the cartoon known as Woodie has rejoined reality. Ron Wood has been
known primarily in recent years for flopping, flailing and grinning like a
drunken buffoon. But fresh out of a recent stint in rehab--the whiskey bottle he
once hoisted has been replaced by bottled water--Wood affirmed why the Stones
hired him in the first place to replace Mick Taylor in the mid-'70s.
He laid down a wicked slide solo on "All Down the Line," played
whining pedal steel on "Far Away Eyes" and "The Worst," and
locked into the riff that runs down the spine of Otis Redding's "I Can't
Turn You Loose" with the kind of glee that once inspired the Replacements
to pick up their guitars. His solo on "Can't You Hear Me Knocking"
earned a slap of the palm from Jagger, but it was his jousting with Richards
throughout the evening--the guitars tangling like stray cats in an alley
fight--that lubricated the Stones and allowed newcomers to glimpse what the
glory days must have sounded like.
It was encouraging to see the Stones cover not only the late Redding, who
once did the same to their "Satisfaction," but dig out the ode to
illicit carnal knowledge, "Stray Cat Blues," and explore their 1978
masterpiece, "Some Girls," in some depth (the flippant country ode
"Far Away Eyes," the big spacious groove of "Shattered" and
a hammering "When the Whip Comes Down," as well as the obligatory
"Miss You.")
There was just enough juggling of the set list to at least pique the renewed
interest of the more discerning Stones fans, while those seeking hits and
nothing but got a big dose at the beginning and end of the 23-song, two-hour
show: "Street Fighting Man," "Honky Tonk Women," "(I
Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like
It)," "Sympathy for the Devil," "Jumpin' Jack Flash."
Unfortunately, the Stones didn't exploit the possibilities of the smaller
second stage in the middle of the arena floor; after "Mannish Boy,"
they performed the rote anthem "You Got Me Rocking" from the 1994
"Voodoo Lounge" album and "Brown Sugar"--not particularly
adventurous choices.
Here's hoping the Stones open it up even more on the final nights of their
stay, Friday at Comiskey Park and Monday at the Aragon Ballroom.
What's clear is that the Stones still have the will and firepower to deliver
the kind of high-energy show their ticket prices demand.
Chicago
United Center
September 10, 2002
My first ‘Licks’ show was September
10th at
Chicago
United
Center
. A perfect
flight from DCA from an empty Reagan Nat’l Airport.
The weather could not have been more perfect.
Spent the day with my hostess, Ms Akissaway (Isabel).
We cabbed to
United
Center
, quickly purchased our merchandise and got to our seats, 1st
Tier, Row 2.
The setlist was great, am really getting
into ‘Stray Cat Blues’, was not one of my favorites at that time.
As the Stones exited the B-Stage, we noticed Security in front of us was
quite tight, they walked right in front of us and high-fived the front row.
Tried to get a picture but didn’t have the flash on, unfortunately.
We met up at Sterch’s afterwards with
some Undercover people and closed the place down.
A lovely night for sure.
Susan Weisner
 Another B-stage photo from same show.
Blue
Lena photos:
Members Elizabeth
Johnson, Joe Mills and Blue Lena in the VIP Lounge at First Union Center
9-20-02
.
|
