not so long ago i received (or got) an email reminding me that "my event was soon". mostly my reaction, at least initially, was "what f*****g event", look you see. on opening the mail i discovered that it was, the weekend of that week, the rescheduled Rolling Stones tribute act coming up. oh. this was supposed to be either the weekend before or after the quite class Fleetwood Mac one i saw, but they had to postpone when their Brian Jones was taken ill. no, i have no idea if the illness was swimming pool related.
off i went, then, to go and see The Rollin' Stoned, for that is what they call themselves. don't think i came up with that term for a class title here, dear reader. whereas i would not say i was all that bothered about going, for the initial purchase was (very much) taken on a whim on seeing a bit of video of them full tilt performing, i am glad that i did, as it was a fun night out.
there are (of course) those that get quite precious about "tribute acts", saying such aloof or pious things like "only the original artist should play the songs" or "musicians should only want to play their own stuff". i kind of get the logic (or thinking), but no. should this sort of thing be a law then, presumably, we would not have been able to hear any Beethoven music performed for the last 200 or so years. for the latter, to be honest, if i had an ounce of talent (i do not) then i would love to live a life where i am playing the classics of rock all day every day. besides, as the charts prove, mostly we have to accept that every great rock and roll song has probably already been created.
quite an interesting thing with the line up of the Rollin' Stoned. they have (of course) a Mick, a Keith, a Charlie and a Bill, but also a Brian and another Mick (Taylor), but no Ronnie Wood. you can make of that what you will, although to help the band proudly announce they do "none of that new sh!t". apparently the line in the sand for "new" is 1981, for Start Me Up of that year is the most recent one they play. only two (2) songs from what you might call the "Ronnie Wood" era feature entire, being the one i mentioned and then Miss You. that latter one takes an interesting diversion, too.
my new phone with a camera welded on it appears to do much (more) better video than the last one, which hopefully comes across in the above clip. indeed that is some of the performance of You Can't Always Get What You Want, especially for those mentioned above that would prefer to stand in a field for a few hundred pounds (or dollars) peering at the remnants of the original band rather than go and see a different band do decent versions of the songs.
in respect of the set, pretty much all you could wish for from the "classic" era of the Stones. sure, i mean yes, i would love a 2000 Light Years or We Love You, but it's not like the original band play them too much, if at all, these days. unusually on that theme, they do indeed play Brown Sugar, commenting how they felt it was "stupid" for the (actual) Stones to ditch it. leaving aside any politics or what have you with the song and, well, it is one of the greatest bits of rock guitar of all time, and it would be a tragedy if it were to be never played in any capacity by someone ever again.
performance wise and there's little to fault with the band. but note the "little" part there for just now. if one accepts that the greatest of Stones songs are unquestionably more iconic than complex, it would to my ears still take some formidable talent to do, say Gimme Shelter properly. which the band very much does. realistically no, the singer does not sound all that much like Jagger, but then who does. what's important is that he gives full tilt great performances of all the songs. put it this way, better than how i could gone done sing them, or many others. no matter how much me and others in the audience were singing, or rather shouting, along.
back, then, to the "little" part of that last paragraph. any what you might call Spinal Tap moments? oh, my word, yes. by chance i captured the below video as part of doing clips to send to family and friends all around the world, for most i know love the Stones as much as i. don't think this was staged, but decide for yourselves.
yes, this was indeed at the (very same) venue i was at more or less the same time last year when there was the quite class "we shall put the smoke machine on as much as we want" incident that brought a somewhat abrupt end to that particular gig. i have attended gigs there where all went as it was planned, by the way. but yes it's quite class when the unexpected turns up or happens.
for appearance one could argue that's just as an important part of a tribute act as the sound. to this end bravo the band for wearing outfits easily and readily associated with the Stones. well, mostly. it would have been smart if they made the Bill Wyman have a feather in his hair like the band did on their early 80s tour of America, or dress him in a blue suit. more, improbably, on Bill later, but extra special praise for the Mick Taylor, who(m) looked like he could easily have another tribute career, but one that celebrates Robin Askwith. should you think that is a slight or a dig, no it isn't. famously Robin Askwith once got to do full tilt nudies with Jill Gascoine, so he is a massive hero of mine.
an unexpectedly long (30 minutes!) interval gave me chance to step outside momentarily for a cigarette or two (sorry). that Brian Jones (not the real one) decided to do the same was a plus, and it was a delight to have one (a cigarette) with him and get the obligatory selfie. yes, the beard (mine) has gone since this was taken, but my hair remains in chaos theory mode. i find it uncomfortable to write this, but all the same, whilst the rest of the band were great (plus points for Charlie Watts doing a perfect Charlie Watts holier than thou, i am superior look), Brian was the star of the show, be it musically, crowd banter or just plain having a good time. were i to go and see the Rollin' Stoned again, Brian would be the draw.
since i vaguely mentioned it, the show is split in two, with each bit (or "act") being an hour or so each. the first part covers a mix of "ballads" and sort of rock songs, like the previously showcased You Can't Always Get, plus the likes of She's A Rainbow and Ruby Tuesday. part two is pure rock, and it's amazing. especially when they take a really unexpected but all the same very welcome detour.
nice to see (and yes i am running out of things to say) that i was not the only gent there on his own. as point of fact, or rather from what i could see, the lure of hearing some classic Stones tunes saw several gents, either of a similar or older age to your humble narrator, turn up. i don't mind doing "things" with friends, or people i know, but ultimately i am perfectly comfortable doing my own thing, thanks. when i see something like this coming up i'd rather go and enjoy than worry about if someone wants to go with me to it.
right, i am now all but certain i have added more images and videos than i have words. to be honest i expected to be doing a lot more waffle on Bill Wyman and quite a bit more on the overt lack of Ronnie Wood, but not to be. oh, yes, there were ladies there. one seemed to get up and dance to some of the songs one would say "here is one for the ladies", and a couple of gents joined in, apparently vying for her attentions or affections. indeed i did take a look, and decided (with considerable respect) that i would rather just go home after the gig and have a nice cup of tea.
go on then, a bit more video for you. most of the clips i took seemed to be just at the time someone decided to walk in front of me, but i think this little part of Sympathy For The Devil is pretty much just the band in focus.
just to give me something to write of here, go on then, another link thing for you to a bit i wrote of the film of the Stones creating Sympathy For The Devil. i really do with, as with The Beatles' Let It Be thing, someone would go back and re-edit that, taking out all the Jean-Luc Godard pretentious scenes and just showing the bits on how the band created the song. what version of the film exists is still truly an astonishing grab from history, with things like the lyrics needing to change from "who killed Kennedy" to "who killed the Kennedys", and the all of a sudden empty cushion where Brian Jones was sitting at the start of it all.
there are, as it happens, quite a few of these "tribute band" gigs coming up near me over the next few months. of the ones on offer i am somewhat (and obviously) tempted by a Bowie one. we shall see. i don't need to rush to a decision on it right now, for the end of November remains relatively a bit of a way off yet.
well, that's that then. i haven't (knowingly) seen any other Stones tribute bands, so can't compare. but yes, absolutely, if you get the chance (or are considering it) going and seeing the Rollin' Stoned is very much a worthwhile use of what time you have.
either i can put more stuff about Bill Wyman, or Ronnie Wood, or going to gigs alone, or heroes of mine what have appeared in full tilt nudies with ladies that i would (very much) like to have done, or i can just call it quits.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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