 Western Springs, Auckland, New
Zealand
on Sunday, April 16th. 2006. The band arrived yesterday evening to
Auckland. Here to the right Mick on the way to the hotel.
Latest reports from Western Springs says:
Fans have come from far and wide to attend tonight's Rolling Stones concert in
Auckland.
It is the first time the Stones have played in New Zealand since 1995, with
their last world tour in 1997-98.
With the band members aged in their late fifties and early sixties, it seems
most people are taking what could be their last opportunity to see the rock
legends live.
Many fans at Western Springs picking up tickets today are from Australia, and
one couple has even travelled here from Bangkok.
Gates open at 5.30pm, with opening band Nickelback set to take the stage at
7.30pm.
Around 55.000 tickets are sold for the show - and weatherforecast seems good.
Set list:
Jumping Jack Flash - Let's Spend The Night Together - It's Only Rock'n'Roll -
Oh No Not You Again - Bitch - Ruby Tuesday - Midnight Rambler - Start Me Up -
Tumblin' Dice - Intros - This Place Is Empty - Happy - Miss You - Rough Justice
- Get Off Of My Cloud - Honky Tonk Woman - Sympathy For The Devil - Paint
It Black - Satisfaction - You Can't Always Get What You Want (encore) - Brown
Sugar (encore)
Reviews:
Stones could have been louder
More than 55.000 fans are at Western Springs Stadium to see legendary Rolling
Stones.
17 April 2006
Believe it or not, Western Springs management say the Rolling Stones could have
been louder.
More than 55,000 fans packed into Auckland's Western Springs stadium last night
to see the veteran rockers.
Auckland City Council received four noise complaints over the night, the first
call came just after 9pm.
Stadium Manager, Dave Stewart, says that is to be expected, but he believes the
proper measures were taken.
He says the sound levels were four decibels under the limit at the mixing desk.
Mr Stewart says independent noise testers as well as those from the council were
there monitoring.
© 2006 NZCity, NewsTalkZB
 
The Rolling Stones at Western Springs
17.04.06
Reviewed by Russell Baillie
On the gas-gas-gas scale, it was just a gas-gas. Or maybe a gas-gas-and-a-half.
Yes, when the Rolling Stones - here for the fifth time in their 40-plus year
history and 11 years to the day since last playing Western Springs - delivered
almost everything that could be expected of them in their 20-song sub-two-hour
show.
It even came with a gig-within-a-gig - a stage which rolled the entire band out
into the middle of the Western Springs arena for a four-song bracket during the
second half.
Pretty funny if you paid megabucks for the front row, only to see the band
heading towards the Portaloos, huh?
Earlier, it did take a while for the band to prove this Auckland concert before
55,000 fans wasn't just another line on the tour T-shirt.
That proof came a good half a dozen songs in, having already dispensed with
classics such as Jumping Jack Flash as opener (with Keith Richards
straight into its pivotal riff with no mucking about on the original intro), Let's
Spend the Night Together, and It's Only Rock'n'Roll.
Those songs might have well been the triumphant closing over on any other night.
Played early on, this one sounded as if the whole show risked going through the
motions.
But just as a dashed-off Ruby Tuesday threatened to stop any sense of
momentum then came a higher gear with an extended, tension-and-release work
through the band's blackest blues Midnight Rambler.
It was the night's first great performance, one which evoked the Stones'
dangerous past rather than just plain old nostalgia. And fortunately, there was
plenty more of those to come - especially Sympathy for the Devil, Paint It
Black and Get Off Of My Cloud - on a set which predictably relied
heavily on 60s and 70s material, along with a few numbers from last year's
return-to-form album A Bigger Bang.
Individually, the core Stones - all sexagenarians except Ron Wood - appeared
hale and hearty.
Complete with wardrobe in which nothing was too disco or too small, Sir Mick
Jagger still risked inducing fatigue just watching him go-go-go. Charlie Watts
remained the zen master behind his kit; Richards looked to be enjoying himself,
his two Dylan-ish solo songs adding something unpredictable.
Talking of predictability, US pop-metallers Nickleback were an incongruous
opener, one bullshit power ballad after another which supports the rock-is-dead
argument more than the ancient headliners.
As for the Stones, they were great when great and when they weren't they were
the Rolling Stones on a fairly good night. Which 40 years on, is still one of
rock'n'roll's greatest circuses.
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