My friend Dave and I managed to pull two tickets from Ticketmaster to the October 29th Rolling Stones concert at the Beacon Theater. The show was the final event in Bill Clinton’s $25K-a-pop birthday-weekend bash, and the first of two shows filmed by Martin Scorsese for a movie about the band (the second is Halloween night.) Tickets were scarce—we heard that only 200 seats went on sale to the general public—and security was so tight we had to show up the day before with photo ID to get wrist bands; no wrist band, no entrance, even with ticket.
You’re probably rooting for the show to have sucked; I know I would be. Sadly, it was great. Buddy Guy opened—we didn’t get inside in time for his set—and then with only a tad more ado, the Stones did this:
Start Me Up
Shattered
She Was Hot
All Down the Line
Loving Cup (w/Jack White)
As Tears Go By
I'm Free
Undercover of the Night
Just My Imagination
Shine a Light
Tumblin' Dice
band intros
You Got the Silver (keef)
Little T'n'A (keef)
Sympathy for the Devil
Live With Me (w/Christina Aguilera!)
Paint it Black
Jumpin' Jack Flash
(e) Satisfaction
Interestingly, not a thing from the new record.
If you’re like me, and you find the typical Rolling Stones concert to be a little too rote, too predictable, too reliant on the smash hits, then this gig was right up your alley. (If not, you’re probably scratching your head wondering what the hell “I’m Free” is.) Only the very last two songs seemed the least bit perfunctory, although of course the Xtina cameo livened things up immensely just before. (About Xtina, allow me to say yet again, “Grrr!”) There were great, lesser-known album tracks (“She Was Hot,” “Shattered,” Undercover”) and rare old chestnuts reinvented (“I’m Free,” “As Tears Go By,” “Shine a Light.”) And of course, the Rolling Stones shrunk down from football stadium to concert theater is a revelation unto itself; “Tumblin’ Dice,” for example, may seem trite in a hockey rink, but at the Beacon it shimmied and shook the house right down to the bone.
After Buddy Guy’s set, the Stones brought out a comedian to work the room; fellow named Bill Clinton.
To accommodate the Stones’ stage set-up and Scorsese’s crews, maybe forty percent of the floor seats were gone. There were walkways protruding into the house down the middle, and along either wing. The band left the stage effects at home, relying instead on the old showbiz gimmick of spot-on, in-the-pocket rock’n’roll riffing.
“Start Me Up” is just the core band—Jagger, Richards, Woody, and Charlie, plus bassist Darryl Jones and keyboardist Chuck Leavell. Ronnie Wood plays an outstanding lead; he seems to dominate the early part of the show, a surprisingly commanding stage presence given the pull his two glimmer twin bandmates have on the spotlight. “Shattered” is also just the core six, all jagged and full of groove. “She Was Hot” was an inspired choice, one of the great Keef/Woody “weave” songs; Keith digs in here and sizzles.
The horn section joins for “All Down the Line,” and before the song’s end the whole Rolling Stones Orchestra is onstage. For “Loving Cup,” the band brings out Jack White of the White Stripes; he and Jagger begin seated center stage on acoustic guitars and vocals, attacking the song as a blues duet before the band kicks in. White strolls around the stage sharing the rock’n’roll grind with each of the principals in turn (I mean, who wouldn’t?) It looked to me like he’s a Woody fan.
The semi-unplugged interlude continues, with just Jagger and the two guitarists on stage for “As Tears Go By.” Mid-song the three are joined by
Jagger has a guitar now, and chugs out the riff to “Undercover.” Unfettered by the ‘80s production style of the studio recording, it is a great song, all sweaty funk, insistent riff and nasty grind, and no distracting chord changes. Then “Just My Imagination,” ringing and chunky; Jagger joins in on a frenetic 3-guitar weave in a breakneck close. This one-two punch is, to my ears, an unquestioned highlight.
“Shine a Light” is lovely, featuring a soaring Woody solo all around Leavell’s loping lilt. Buddy Guy joins the core sextet for “Champagne and Reefer,” a straight blues with the obligatory guitar wank-off session on the break; someone (I think Keith) goes too soon on the first chord change (there are extra bars), resulting in some good-natured laughter amongst the players, then on to the down and dirty. Then the riff to “Tumblin’ Dice” comes tumbling out of Keith like breath, and the song is just flat-out great; as I said above, it shakes the place right down to the bone. Band, theater, and audience converge in a magical moment of rock’n’roll.
After Jagger introduces the band, Keith favors us with “You Got the Silver;” just him and Woody, and Keith isn’t even playing guitar. Woody plays tasty acoustic slide, accompanying Keith as he camps it up in his long red frock. Then “Little T’n’A,” the great Keef track off Tattoo You; he grinds out the goods.
“Sympathy for the Devil” starts off a little bland, “whoo hoo’s” notwithstanding; arranged still for the stadium, it feels a little flat… although things get interesting when Keith gets down to business and lights it up. Next, the band welcomes Christina Aguilera to the stage to trade verses with Jagger on “Live With Me.” She is white hot, a column of pure sexfire, a platinum exclamation point. And oh yeah, she sings the absolute hell out of the song, she’s a true R’n’B diva who delivers the goods.
“Paint It Black” is a diverting choice, although for my money a lot of the Brian Jones-era songs don’t translate to the stage with this line-up, any more than you’d want to put a sitar in Chuck Berry’s hands. “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” is a just so story, and the crowd loves it.
For the encore, the band offers up “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” Jagger singing like a man possessed, connecting with the glitterati downstairs, and the slobs in the cheap seats (that would be me.) It’s a riff you’ve heard so often you can play it on your cell phone, but when Keith and the Stones tear away at it, eventually it cuts through the familiarity and lands somewhere primal. Somewhere satisfying, even.
Sure, we shelled out $28.50 a piece-- plus Ticketmaster fees-- for the tickets, but I’d have to say it was worth it. A great show. If I can’t go Tuesday night, I’ll anxiously await the movie.
Labels: The tunes
Two weeks ahead of U.S. congressional elections that have put President George W. Bush's Republicans on the defensive over their Iraq strategy, the U.S. ambassador and military commander in Baghdad told voters directly via a rare joint news conference that success was still possible, and on a "realistic timetable".
Insisting sectarian bloodshed had not caused Washington to water down its goal of a stable, democratic Iraq, envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said he expected Iraqi leaders to make "significant progress in the coming 12 months" in meeting "benchmarks".
Timetable. Benchmarks. (Or, "How I Learned to Love Cut and Run.") That sounds like what we (that's the editorial we) have been saying all along. Especially in this post, from October 13, where we said:
...the debate between Dems and Reps is really this: the Dems are saying that as long as we refuse to signal a willingness to initiate the transfer of power, there is no motivation for the Iraqis to "stand up," and so this is an occupation without end; we are essentially acting as enablers to them, our smothering "love" preventing them from taking respnsibility for their own defense. If we send a clear signal that we will be leaving soon, the Dem argument goes, the Iraqis will stand up, because they'd have to. "Only when we stand down, will they stand up."
Looks like the president was paying attention. Good for you, George Dubya! But next time you stop by and read APW, leave a comment! Its the very least you can do, what with us making foreign policy and all.
Labels: The politics
We went pumpkin picking (and animal feeding) on a farm on Long Island this weekend. here is my little girl, playing inside a toy train.
When you peel the onion a little, though, these latter two statements are paradoxical. They can't both be true. Because it is possible for the Iraqis to stand up before we have accomplished some sort of "victory."
What exactly IS victory? Presumably it means defeating some enemy (although Bush has yet to articulate exactly what victory is or might look like, and who that enemy is.) But what about, "When they stand up, we'll stand down"? Doesn't that mean, essentially, that when the Iraqis step up and are prepared to police and protect their own country, we will pass off the baton and depart? And so, doesn't it mean that if the Iraqis were ready to stand up tomorrow, we'd be willing to leave tomorrow-- without any discernable victory? If we stand down when they stand up, aren't we essentially saying, "Hey Iraq, you finish this fight; we're leaving."? Isn't that a cut and run end game for US involvement in Iraq?
If Bush is telling the truth (sure, a big if) that we'll stand down when they stand up, then the debate between Dems and Reps is really this: the Dems are saying that as long as we refuse to signal a willingness to initiate the transfer of power, there is no motivation for the Iraqis to "stand up," and so this is an occupation without end; we are essentially acting as enablers to them, our smothering "love" preventing them from taking respnsibility for their own defense. If we send a clear signal that we will be leaving soon, the Dem argument goes, the Iraqis will stand up, because they'd have to. "Only when we stand down, will they stand up."
Everyone wants this mess over. The Dems seem to have an approach that facilitates it ending; Bush has an approach that has no end game.
Basically, you can't accuse the Dems of "cut and run," because ultimately both sides seem to want the exact same thing: to hand off responsibility to the Iraqis. The difference is, the Reps are unwilling to do anything to make that happen; the Dems are urging that we take an active role in getting the Iraqis to stand up. Reps say the Dems offer no alternative; but "Let's get out" is actually thought leadership on the Iraq occupation.
When a mother bird wants to teach her babies to fly, she pushes them out of the nest. Essentially, Dems want to push Iraq out of the nest; Bush wants to keep them in the nest (at $2 billion a week) until they spontaneously fly away. And that just aint going to happen.
Labels: The politics
"Ashley Gallo, a 21-year-old former page who is now a senior at Western Michigan University, said on Sunday that many of her friends had viewed Mr. Foley as one of the few lawmakers who made a real effort to reach out to young people. "
Um, isn't that why he had to resign?
**********
Then there's this:
"Secretary of state Condoleeza Rice said it was 'incomprehensible' that she could have ignored dire terrorist threats two months before 9/11."
Exactly Condi. That's what we've all been saying for the past 5 years. Absolutely freaking incomprehensible.
Labels: The politics
