The Rolling Stones Twickenham Stadium London September 20th 2003
Support Act: Primal Scream
By 2003, and the Licks tour, The Stones tours had become corporate rock, and ticket prices had rocketed. I was really up for seeing them again, and wanted to be sure of tickets for one of the gigs, so I joined the fanclub and bought tickets as soon as they went on sale. I still only managed to get tickets half way back on the pitch. This was also the first time I’d seen them use a seated arrangement on the pitch, and the ticket price had rocketed to £75. The show was originally scheduled for 23 August and was postponed the day before the show, as Mick Jagger had flu. This was frustrating as I had to change train tickets, and hotel arrangements, which cost us. Still Marie and I stuck with it, rebooked the train and our hotel (having to settle for a hotel in Richmond, as we could get in the same hotel near the stadium) and went to the gig a month later in September. 
The support act was Primal Scream, who didn’t impress on the day. The sound was poor for their set, and the crowd didn’t warm to them. I’ve seen them since in Newcastle Academy, and thought they were great. The Stones were superb, the stage set, screens and lights stupendous. Keith had a camera on his guitar neck from which his fingers were projected onto the screens. Angus and Malcolm Young from AC/DC joined them for Rock Me Baby. I was sold again. A review of the time by Nick Bosworth from the IORR site summed it up well: “I was sitting at the back of the stadium for this show in the corner and what a great show. Right from the off the crowd were into it dancing in the aisles, in their seats, singing along and well just going nuts. Well to sum up, this was a great gig and The Stones managed to make me feel I was in my living room but sharing it with 55,000 fellow fans.”
Setlist: Brown Sugar; It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It); Don’t Stop; Miss You; Salt of the Earth; Rock Me Baby (with AC/DC); Midnight Rambler; Tumbling Dice; Slipping Away; Before They Make Me Run; Sympathy for the Devil. B-Stage: Respectable; You Got Me Rocking; Street Fighting Man; Gimme Shelter; Honky Tonk Women; Start Me Up; (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. Encore: Jumpin’ Jack Flash
Archive for the ‘Rolling Stones’ Category
23 Feb
The Rolling Stones Twickenham Stadium London September 20th 2003
22 Feb
The Rolling Stones Don Valley Stadium Sheffield June 6th 1999
The Rolling Stones Don Valley Stadium Sheffield June 6th 1999.
This show was originally scheduled to take place a year earlier in 1998, but the entire European tour was postponed for a year for tax reasons! From Time is on My Side, the Rolling Stones Chronicles site: “June 8, 1998: The Rolling Stones’ British concerts are postponed until 1999 because of new tax laws. This means the Bridges to Babylon tour will spread over three calendar years, by far the longest in the Stones’ history up to this point. Because of its financial motives, the postponement causes controversy in the media.” This was a pretty lame reason for postponing the tour in my view, and just showed what values The Stones held at the time. Anyway, Marie and I stuck with it, and hung onto the tickets (actually I think we had to return them and they were reissued, the ticket has a sticker on with the new date, so I guess that must have been the case?). Support came from Cheryl Crow, who also joined the Stones for Honky Tonk Women. We had seats in the stand to the left of the stage. This was the first time I’d seen the Stones with a B stage, and the bridge took them out over the crowd onto a smaller stage in the centre of the stadium. This was pretty novel at the time, although many bands have followed suit with a similar set up (Take That come to mind). 
I’d missed the Voodoo Lounge tour, which in hindsight was a big mistake, and which I truly regret to this day. This show renewed my interest in the Stones. I thought they were great that night, and I vowed to see them every tour from then on, and have stuck to that so far. It was interesting, and a surprise, to see them play Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone. Setlist: Jumpin’ Jack Flash; You Got Me Rocking; Live With Me; Respectable; Gimme Shelter; Ruby Tuesday; Honky Tonk Women (with Sheryl Crow); Saint Of Me; Out Of Control; Paint It Black; Before They Make Me Run; You Don’t Have To Mean It. B-Stage:
Route 66 (Nat King Cole cover); Like Rolling Stone; Midnight Rambler; Sympathy for the Devil; Tumbling Dice; It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It); Start Me Up; Brown Sugar; Encore: (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
21 Feb
The Rolling Stones St James Park Newcastle July 18th 1990
The Rolling Stones St James Park Newcastle July 18th 1990
The Stones returned to St James Park in 1990, 8 years after their last visit to the venue. Support this time came from Dan Reed Network, and local rockers The Quireboys. This was part of their Urban Jungle Tour which took them around the world. The Stones put on a great show, and were on better form than their previous visit to St James. Stand-outs for me were Ruby Tuesday, and 2000 Light Years from Home, which is one of favourite Stones track, from the (in my view) much under-rated Their Satanic Majesties album. 
Setlist: Start Me Up; Sad, Sad, Sad; Harlem Shuffle; Tumbling Dice; Miss You; Almost Hear You Sigh; Ruby Tuesday; Rock and a Hard Place; Mixed Emotions; Honky Tonk Women; Midnight Rambler; You Can’t Always Get What You Want; Can’t Be Seen; Happy; Paint It Black; 2000 Light Years from Home; Sympathy for the Devil; Street Fighting Man; Gimme Shelter; ;It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It); Brown Sugar; Jumpin’ Jack Flash; (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. From the (very large) tour programme: “The success of the band is bound up in the story of Mick and Keith. It’s pretty simple, almost comic book stuff, two schoolboy friends who grew up together first listening to, playing and then writing music. The two have opposites: Keith is shy, Mick is not.”
20 Feb
The Rolling Stones St James Park Newcastle 1982
The Rolling Stones
St James Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, June 23rd 1982
Support Acts: J Geils Band, George Thorogood and the Destroyers. Setlist: Under My Thumb; When the Whip Comes Down; Let’s Spend the Night Together; Shattered Neighbours; Black Limousine; Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me); Twenty Flight Rock; Going to a Go-Go; Chantilly Lace; Let Me Go; Time is on My Side; Beast of Burden; You Can’t Always Get What You Want; Little T&A; Tumbling Dice; She’s So Cold; Hang Fire; Miss You; Honky Tonk Women; Brown Sugar; Start Me Up; Jumpin’ Jack Flash. Encore: (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction 
The Rolling Stones were on tour across Europe again in 1982, some 6 years after their last UK appearances, in support of their album, Tattoo You. UK Fans had waited a long time for this tour, and anticipation was high. The tour took in a mix of venues from small concerts halls in Scotland, to stadiums in Newcastle and London. I queued for hours outside St James Park to get tickets for the Newcastle gig. People slept all night outside the ground and the queue weaved its way around all the surrounding streets. After a few hours in the queue I managed to get tickets for the gig. This was the first gig at the Newcastle ground and the local fans were determined to give the band a good reception. Support came from George Thorogood and the J Geils Band, who had recently had a hit with their single Centrefold. The Stones started with Under My Thumb, which was quite unexpected for me. I’d become used to them opening with big hits like Jumpin’ Jack Flash. The show was quite long, although not as long as their Knebworth set. We started off sitting in the stand opposite the stage, and spent some time wandering around the pitch. The gig was general admission, so you could wander around the stadium freely. The Stones played well, but not great, and the sound wasn’t too hot. I missed the intimacy of the City Hall gigs.
Reports from the time suggest that there was friction in the band, particularly between Mick and Keith, and the shows got mixed reviews. This was their first mega tour of Europe, and followed on from a massively successful US tour, which was the biggest grossing tour of 1981. This was the start of a pattern for the Stones, of stadium gigs, based on a massive stage show, every few years.
19 Feb
The Rolling Stones Knebworth 21 August 1976
The Rolling Stones Knebworth 1976
The Rolling Stones, 10cc, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Todd Rundgren’s Utopia , Hot Tuna , Don Harrison Band.
By 1976 The Rolling Stones were reaching the peak of their success. The Knebworth festival of that year was a massive event of celebration. The band had sold out a big UK tour, and this show was added to satisfy the huge demand for tickets. I’d seen their Glasgow Apollo show a few weeks earlier, but couldn’t resist going to see them again at this big show. Lots of my friends were going, it seemed everyone I talked to was going to make the trip south for this gig. I drove down with Marie and my friend John arriving the day before the gig. I’d been to the 1974 (Allman Brothers) and 1975 (Pink Floyd) Knebworth concert, but the crowd for The Stones was much larger; with a capacity crowd of 100,000 attending the festival. The supporting bill was pretty strong: Todd Rundgren put in a good set (I Saw The LIght was one of my favourite tunes at the time), and Lynyrd Skynrd almost stole the show with a mega version of Freebird, and some superb guitar dueling. 10CC were OK, and played all their hits. The stage was a giant tongue, based on the Stones logo, and two large screens projected the stage action to the back of the crowd. There was a long, long, boring wait for the Stones who came on very late. The Stones played a marathon set and delved deep into their back catalogue, playing many songs that hadn’t featured in their set since the 60s. The sound wasn’t too good in some parts of the field, and although they were fantastic it wasn’t the best Stones performance, but it was a great event. 
Setlist: Satisfaction; Ain’t Too Proud to Beg; If You Can’t Rock Me / Get Off of My Cloud; Hand of Fate; Around and Around; Little Red Rooster; Stray Cat Blues; Hey Negrita; Hot Stuff; Fool to Cry; Star Star; Let’s Spend the Night Together; You Gotta Move; You Can’t Always Get What You Want; Dead Flowers; Route 66; Wild Horses; Honky Tonk Women; Country Honk; Tumbling Dice; Happy; Nothing from Nothing; Outta Space; Midnight Rambler; It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll; Brown Sugar; Rip This Joint; Jumpin’ Jack Flash; Street Fighting Man. 
Annoying, and unusually, I don’t have my ticket stub for this event (although I do have my programme); I’m pretty sure the whole ticket was taken from me at the gate. This musn’t have been the case at other gates, as stubs do come up on ebay. I must try and get one sometime. Update on May 12th 2012. I bought a stub on ebay! See scan to right. Thanks to John for sending me the poster scan.
11 Feb
The Rolling Stones Glasgow Apollo May 10th 1976
The Rolling Stones Glasgow Apollo May 10th 1976
I saw the Stones for the third time in Glasgow in 1976. My friend John was at University in Edinburgh and bought the tickets. There was a big sramble for tickets for this tour. I seem to recall that I applied for tickets for Stafford I think, and wasn’t successful; and was delighted to hear that John had managed to get a couple for the Glasgow show. This was my first visit to the legendary, and sadly missed, Apollo; I went to see a few bands there in the 70s. I drove up to Edinburgh to pick John up, and then we drove across to Glasgow. Support came from the American funk band The Meters, who were ok but didn’t stand out to me. We had good seats up in the circle with a great view of the stage. 
The Stones came on and started with Honky Tonk Women. The crowd in the circle were quite reserved, staying in their seats throughout. This was the Stones at the height of their popularity and the start of the mega tour. It was also their first outing with new guitarist Ronnie Wood. Setlist: Honky Tonk Women; If You Can’t Rock Me / Get Off of My Cloud; Hand of Fate; Hey Negrita; Ain’t Too Proud to Beg; Fool to Cry; Hot Stuff; Star Star; You Gotta Move; You Can’t Always Get What You Want; Happy; Tumbling Dice; Nothing from Nothing; Outta Space; 
Midnight Rambler; It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It); Brown Sugar; Jumpin’ Jack Flash; Street Fighting Man. The Stones were great that night, and a Stones concert was becoming an event as much as a concert. After the gig, John and I drove back to Edinburgh and then I drive home to Sunderland. I had a busy week of concerts that week. I’d driven to London and back at the weekend to see David Bowie at Wembley, saw the Stones in Glasgow on Monday and then drove to Birmingham later the same week to see Kiss on their first UK tour. John, Marie and I saw the Stones a few months later at their massive Knebworth show. I’ll write a review of that gig soon.
4 Feb
The Rolling Stones Newcastle City Hall 13th September 1973 (late show)
The Rolling Stones Newcastle City Hall September 1973
The Rolling Stones returned to Newcastle in 1973, two years after I first saw them at the same venue. This time I was determined to get a ticket when they went on sale, having had to buy one outside the gig on the night in 1971. The tickets went on sale on a Sunday morning, the box office of the City Hall opening specially, as big crowds were expected. So two friends and I decided to queue overnight for tickets to ensure that we go to the concert. We turned up at the City Hall early on the Saturday morning, more than 24 hours before the tickets were due to go on sale. There were already a few people in front of us in the queue as we settled down for a long wait. And wait we did. As the day went on, a few more joined the queue. It wasn’t until later in the day that most people arrived, but by Saturday night the queue was weaving its way round the corner and along the street. The City Hall steps are not the most comfortable place to sleep, and in fact we didn’t get much sleep at all, but the crack with the crowd was good, everyone having fun and feeling pretty good that we knew we would be getting tickets. By the time Sunday morning came, the queue was massive and it was clear that many people would be going home disappointed, even though the Stones were playing two shows. As in 1971, the band were playing an early (6.30pm) and late (8.45pm) show. Last time I went to the early show. This time we were planning to buy tickets for the late show and were feeling very grown up as a result! When the box office finally opened, we were still pretty near the front of the queue and managed to buy tickets in the middle of the second row of the stalls! Looking back I wish I’d had the foresight (and the cash) to go to both shows.
The night of the gig came some weeks later. The support act was Billy Preston, who also, as I recall played keyboards in the Stones band. I knew little by Billy other than his Beatles connections (he played on Get Back and at the rooftop concert) and the hit Thats the way God planned it. As I remember he was pretty good, and got us all singing along to Thats the way God planned it. The Stones came on, exploding into Brown Sugar. My friends and I couldn’t believe how close we were to the band. Unlike the early show in 1971, everyone was up on their feet from the start. The set continued with Gimme Shelter, Keith singing Happy, Tumbling Dice, Star Star (the lyrics seemed very rude to me as a young teenager), Dancing with Mr. D, Angie, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Midnight Rambler, Honky Tonk Women, All Down the Line, Rip This Joint, Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man as an encore. The Stones seemed to me to be the perfect rock band at that point, and this was to be the last time I saw them in a venue as small as the City Hall, although not the last time I was so close to the stage. Jagger was the ultimate rock show man, and they all looked young, fit and still hungry to make their mark as the greatest rock n roll band in the world. For us young teenagers that night they definitely were the greatest band we had ever seen, and this was a gig that we talked about again and again, and for a long time after. Its interesting to note that in the early 70s the Stones were not playing any of their early 60s hits on stage, something they have returned to more recently.
8 Jan
The Rolling Stones Newcastle City Hall 4th March 1971
The Rolling Stones Newcastle City Hall 4th March 1971
Memories from a long long time ago
I was 14 years old when the Rolling Stones 1971 UK tour took place. I’d read about the tour in the music press and SO wanted to see them. Incredible as it seems now, this was billed as the “Farewell to England” tour, and anticipation was high for these shows, all of which had sold out immediately. I was determined that somehow I would get to see them when the tour opened on March 4th at Newcastle City Hall. There were two shows at the City Hall, an early evening show at 6.30pm and a later show at 9pm. I persuaded my parents that I would go along on the night to the early show, and see if I could pick up a ticket outside.
So the day of the show arrived. I rushed home after school, quickly had something to eat, and set off on the bus to Sunderland, and then on the train to Newcastle. I arrived at the City Hall with a little time to spare, and approached a few shady looking guys who were loitering around outside the venue. Some of them did have tickets to sell, but they wanted way above face value, which was between 75p (or 15 shillings) to £1. I only had a couple of pounds, which I had managed to scrape together from my pocket money, and their prices were way above what I could afford.
Time was moving close to 6.30pm and I was beginning to lose all hope of seeing my heroes. I then heard a couple of guys talking as they crosssed the road to the venue, and one of them said to the other that he had a spare ticket. I went straight up to them and asked them if I could buy it, and offered him £1 for the 75p ticket. To my joy he agreed to sell it to me, the deal was done, and I headed straight into the City Hall. My seat in Row AA was towards the back downstairs, but was still a pretty good view. A few moments later, the support band took to the stage, which to my surprise and delight, was The Groundhogs, who had just released the Split album. The Groundhogs set was short, probably around 30 minutes, and consisted of tracks from Split, including Cherry Red, Groundhog and Split Part 2, as well as earlier songs Garden and Eccentric Man. This show started a lifelong obsession with The Groundhogs, as well as the Stones, for me.
After a short interval, a guy took to the stage and introduced “The greatest rock n roll band in the world: The Rolling Stones” and we were off and into Jumping Jack Flash! I’m not exaggerating to say in that moment my life changed for ever. This was the concert that finally and totally hooked me on rock music and rock concerts; and there was no going back for me from that point on. Mick Jagger was wearing the same pink satin suit and cap that he wore onstage for a recent Top of the Pops performance of Brown Sugar. Keith looked great, as cool as ever, playing a perspex see through Zemaitas guitar. New guy Mick Taylor looked too young and pretty to be a Stone. Bill and Charlie looked like a rhythm section should. The band were accompanied by Bobby Keys on saxophone, Jim Price on trumpet and Nicky Hopkins on piano. The crowd seemed surprisingly reserved to me, with everyone remaining in their seats throughout the show. The Stones were great, and it was a dream come true for me to actually see them. Jagger was amazing. I can still remember the menace of Midnight Rambler as he whipped the stage with this belt. I travelled home on the train still buzzing about the concert, part of me not quite believing that it had actually happened, that I had really seen the Rolling Stones. I couldn’t wait to get home and tell my parents , who had doubted that I would mange to get into the concert. And I also couldn’t wait to get to school the next morning so that I could tell all my friends, and brag about the whole thing! Setlist (something like): Jumping Jack Flash; Live With Me; Dead Flowers; Stray Cat Blues; Love In Vain; Midnight Rambler; Bitch; Honky Tonk Women; Satisfaction; Little Queenie; Brown Sugar Encore: Street Fighting Man. I’ll continue to reflect upon my Stones concert experiences over the coming weeks. I really do hope that they do tour, as rumoured in this their 50th year.
30 Oct
Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings Sage Gateshead 29 Oct 2011
Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings with special guest Mary Wilson from the Supremes
The Sage Gateshead 29 Oct 2011
Will and I went to see Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings at the Sage last night. We were upstairs in the cheap seats looking down directly onto the stage; its quite high up there, but you still have a great view. It was my first experience of the Rhythm Kings; the last time I saw Bill Wyman was with the Rolling Stones. Bill’s current band consists of, among others, jazz/r&b/pop stalwart Georgie Fame and veteran ace country-rock guitar picker Albert Lee. For this tour they are joined by Mary Wilson of the Supremes. These are all truly experienced pros, and they delivered what you would expect, an evening of polished, well-played classics.
The set was split into two, and Mary Wilson joined the band for a few songs in each set. The evening started with a laid back Bill Wyman strolling onto the stage and introducing the band one by one. Then they were straight into a collection of r&b, blues, rock n roll and skiffle. The songs were classics including tracks by the Everly Brothers, Ray Charles, the Coasters, Lonnie Donegan, Howling Wolf, and Chuck Berry. Will and I were expecting some songs made famous by the band members, perhaps in a similar manner to the way in which Ringo Starr’s band operates, but that was not to be. So no Bonnie and Clyde or Yeh Yeh from Georgie Fame, and no Country Boy from Albert Lee. This was a Rhythm Kings show and what we got was an evening of great rhythm and blues.
Mary Wilson treated us to some Supremes and Motown (Baby Love, Can’t Hurry Love, Stop in the Name of Love, and Dancing in the Streets). She looks great; in fact they all do (she is 67, and Bill is 75!). Other stand outs were Three Cool Cats, Stormy Weather (a duet by Mary and Georgie) and Its a Mans World (sung by vocalist Beverley Skeete). The last song was Honky Tonk Women sung (quite well) by Bill. Great stuff. Will and I both enjoyed it; perhaps the old ones are still the best. Next week I go to see Roy Harper at his 70th Birthday concert at the Royal Festival Hall; everyone I go to see now is getting pretty old….(and so am I…)
Bill Wyman website
programme
ticket
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