The final show for New Zealand, and a
break before the Rolling Stones arrive to Barcelona late next month.
Jumping Jack Flash - You Got Me Rocking - She's So Cold - Oh No Not You Again
- It's Only Rock'n'Roll - Angie - Gimme Shelter - Midnight Rambler - Tumbling
Dice - Intros - This Place Is Empty - Happy - Miss You - Rough Justice - Start
Me Up - Honky Tonk Women - Sympathy For The Devil - Paint It Black - Brown Sugar
- You Can't Always Get What You Want (encore) - Satisfaction (encore)
I wasn't even born when they last played Wellington, but
having seen them 11 years ago in Auckland, I wasn't going to miss this –
surely, their last? – visit to our shores.
Jumpin' Jack Flash, It's Only Rock 'n' Roll, Angie
– these hits were dished out early. You can say what you like about The
Rolling Stones (and indeed, now, through longevity, they've arrived at a form
of artistic immortality in my book) but it's a testament to their "greatest
rock 'n' roll band in the world" status that they can carve off the early
hits, and leave plenty on the roast for later helpings. Last night's entire
set could have been substituted by another complete hits set-list; there are
not many bands around that have a back catalogue as solid.
Accusations that the band are now milking it were put
to rest as buried treasure from average albums (You Got Me Rocking from 1994's
Voodoo Lounge, She's So Cold from 1980's Emotional Rescue) was presented among
nearly two dozen hits. Material from A Bigger Bang (the Stones' best album in
at least two decades) sounded great live – but the real fire was felt from
the singalong anthems; that was what the all-ages audience wanted to hear.
Mick Jagger ran from coast to coast across the stage
and though he might finally look his age, he's in tremendous shape. Keith
Richards might not be in such good shape – but then the last time he looked
healthy he was still a teenager. The fact that The Human Riff (part-Simian
features, part pirate-inspiration) can still half-windmill those blunt-edged,
not-quite-in-tune chords and duck and dive next to partner-in-crime Ronnie
Wood is all that matters. Charlie Watts is the heart and soul of the Stones in
this environment, the main component of the live machine. His snare drum
punches down like a piston, while Woody's searing slide sits over Richards'
rumbling rhythm guitar.
Certainly the sum is greater than the parts: Richards
and Wood will always make it through a gig, Watts is a stunning no-frills but
solid-fills drummer and Jagger is an amazing front person – cavorting and
issuing blues-rock howls all the while – but their chemistry is amazing,
built on years of perfecting their take on precious early rhythm 'n' blues
antecedents.
Midnight Rambler lurched and grumbled out from the
stage as a 35-year-old psychedelic blues-rock song should and Keef then
mumbled out Empty Without You and Happy – which the audience was. Miss You
didn't miss anyone as the core band members were taxied out to the middle of
the stadium's lawn, still playing, where they performed a series of classics
(Start Me Up, Honky Tonk Women) on a mini-stage before ferrying back to close
with Sympathy For The Devil, Paint It Black and Brown Sugar.
The encore of You Can't Always Get What You Want was
proved a misnomer – we'd been getting all that we wanted all night! – and
then, inevitably (what every fan felt) Satisfaction. These guys may be in
their sixties now, but clearly The Rolling Stones love what they do. And we
love them for that. There's no other reason they would work this hard to put
on such an amazing show.
Westpac Stadium, Wellington, New
Zealand
