THE ROLLING STONES
The Rolling Stones’ Licks Tour plays the New York area Sept. 26, 28 and 30 at Madison Square Garden, Giants Stadium and The Roseland Ballroom respectively.
——–
BOSTON – Call ’em the Rolling Bones. They ain’t pretty to look at, they have wrinkles on their kissers that seem impossible, yet the aging but still agile Rolling Stones were able to get their ya-ya’s out in Beantown for last night’s Licks Tour opener.
At Boston’s Fleet Center, in front of nearly 19,000 fans, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts celebrated the band’s 40 years in music with an electric, eclectic two-hours-plus program that tapped every stage of their career and even dabbled in the blues and soul.
Before the Stones took the stage, the big question on everybody’s tongue was: Can they still thrill?
This Fleet Center show shouted emphatically: Yes they can, but it takes a while to get their motor purring.
After the wizened Stones’ shaky start, they lived up to their title as the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band.
They tried to make the point with their opener “Street Fighting Man,” and again with “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It)” and they even attempted to click by slowing it down with the classic ballad “Wild Horses,” but the magic mojo that is the Stones didn’t take hold until they slid into a mini-set from “Exile on Main Street.” After that the band was solid.
Caught in the moment where great expectations are actually realized, Jagger – the band’s voice and lips – gushed, “I’m having a great time up here,” and it was no lie.
Love or loathe his cocky swagger and his ultra-cool confidence, one couldn’t deny the singer’s charisma at this opening-night gig. He may be the first Brit to be so warmly welcomed in Boston since before the Revolutionary War. At 59 years old, Mick the Quick still works at it. Even when the band was warming up, the guy never coasted, and it seemed there wasn’t a moment that he forgot he was on stage to entertain.
At this concert, he ricocheted back and fourth across the stage working the entire sold-out house as if he had just one chance to make an impression. Clearly, the singer was energized by being behind the mike, before thousands of adoring fans, making millions of dollars again.
Richards, a year younger than Jagger, was equally jazzed by being back on stage with his pals and lifelong bandmates. He was in constant motion during this performance, yet his fretwork was a study in conservation of motion, allowing him to create powerful instrumental interludes that were deliberate and precise. He was awful on his vocal turn “Slipping Away” but very good singing the tune “Happy.” It shows he has to be more careful in his choice of material.
Charlie Watts’ hammer-of-the-gods drumming was unbelievable. The lanky, silver-haired, stone-faced beatmaster was especially good during the late show version of “Brown Sugar” and “Tumbling Dice.” In “Dice,” he illustrated that it’s not the frontmen Jagger or Richards who really lead the band; it’s him.
Wood is a terrific axman. He can rock out on an up-tempo number, and he can deliver sensitive guitar leads for a Stones ballad. During this performance, Wood was at his personal best during a new song called “Don’t Stop” played early in the concert.
As for Mick’s pipes, the singer was totally in shape for the rigors of this no-holds-barred concert. Over the years, his singing has gotten huskier and huskier, but there is still enough sweet stuff in his upper range to squeeze into the occasional falsetto (with the assistance of a trio of back up singers).
Are The Rolling Stones the greatest rock band in the world? It’s a good argument. They have the longevity, the songbook and the licks – and they seemed to have lost little of their edge. And after extravaganza tours with expensive sets that made theme seem more Vegas than vicious, in 2002 at the Boston opener, these bad boys grown old still have hearts of Stones and can rock the ages.