Posted by Fleabit Peanut Monkey on September 01, 1999 at 21:34:13:
In Reply to: Re: '78 Tour and Peter Tosh posted by Sugar Blue on September 01, 1999 at 18:39:36:
The hindsight view of the '78 tour varies GREATLY among fanatics, it seems. Some folks hold the view that this tour was pure, cooked-down & ready-for-mainlining Stones, as good as it got. I've never been one of those folks. All my friends had seen the '72 tour, the show that is now immortalized on Philly Special, and of course that performance had immediately been transformed into mythology before the smoke had cleared. One of the defining moments in the history of mankind, if my friends were to be believed. I went to see them in '75. (These shows all take place in The City Of Brudderly Love) at the Spectrum, and I was so shocked & flustered & overwhelmed by being in Their presence that I didn't notice how hokey much of the show was (read: Billy Preston). But still, it was GREAT. Moments of real drama in Gimme Shelter and Midnight Rambler, blood-red lighting and an aura of magic. And it seemed damn near 3 hours long. When tickets went on sale in '78 I FORCED everyone I knew to buy a ticket. I xeroxed maps to the party at U of Penn the night before and we all stayed up all night pretending we were Keith Richards. The show, which has been described elsewhere, was among the worst of their career. And for some reason they played "Satisfaction" in the middle of the set so there was no encore. This was definitely the Stones' "punk" period, and the main thing they picked up from punk was a "fuck-you" attitude. (There's a site called Stones Mania which has cool photos of the '78 Tour and commentary from a Japanese guy who thought Keith giving the crowd the finger was the coolest thing ever. Like I said, opinions vary GREATLY.) "Fuck You" is a little galling coming from millionaires who you've waited for hours, thru the rain and Foreigner, for.The general opinion among my friends was that I could KEEP the damned Stones. My faith remained unshaken, and I still thought hearing them do "Sweet Little 16" was pretty cool. But I wouldn't have wanted to test my mettle by seeing them again on that tour. The '81 show didn't completely redeem them for me, although it WAS better. It was still in broad daylight and only about 2 hours long. So I was completely flabbergasted, and felt my life-long devotion had not been misplaced after all, when I saw them in '89. They haven't left me down once since then. And on this last jaunt I was THRILLED by all of the Some Girls tunes they played. They were all played a LOT better than they were in 1978. IMHO.