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Posted by jaxx on April 01, 1999 at 17:43:41:
just got back from the east coast late last night. was too wasted to write, let alone FIND a kinkos to handle this review.sorry to read that you didn't enjoy the show, max. i was more impressed than anticipated.
"Getting Off" on my Cloud in Hartford
I knew this was going to be one of those weekends that sticks with you for the rest of your life...yes, it was THAT AWESOME. Headed into the Big Apple Saturday night for dinner in Hell's Kitchen, then onto Wilton Connecticut, where keith is rumoured to live--and this I can believe, beautiful homes on large wooded properties--quiet and private deer roaming freely. Very Very "keith" indeed.....
After partying all day in Wilton on Sunday, we caravaned to Hartford to catch the show, opting to bypass the goo lads for more of the brewskies offered by the Hartford Brewery. And, yeah. We were howling!!
The Hartford Arena is a funky "little" venue, seating about 16,000. I made my way up to my seats and immediately assessed that they were decent...side stage, but second level...way up there in the boonies and hotter than hell. Everyone started to clap and howl as the video began...Then finally, after what seemed like eternity, Keith finally walked out playing the opening licks of a very raging JUMPING JACK FLASH. Glad to hear BITCH next, since I had caught "Live with Me" at the Denver show. Me, Gazza and Voodoo were dancing and rocking out heavily, grooving on the sites and the sounds off the Boyz in concert. All three of us were genuinely in awe to be in the presence of THE BAND. We were dancing and rocking out heavily, grooving on the sites and the sounds off the Boyz in concert. I noticed that Woody was a helluva lot more animated than he was earlier on in the tour and Keith appeared to be getting off on playing in his adopted "home town". From where I stood, it appeared that whole place was jamming. About the time a kinder, gentler SOME GIRLS started up, I got so hot and clausterphobic up there in the rafters, i had to split.....
I found my way down to the first row of my section and landed a concrete wall for a seat. This view was GREAT....however, it was quite clear to me that everyone around me was a "sitter" and since I WAS encroaching on their seats, I decided to behave myself, stay seated on my perch and groove as best as i could without jumping to my feet. I gotta admit it was tough duty to sit there when I was just dying to get my happy feet into jolly gear. PAINT IT BLACK was its usual haunting brilliance and I took a moment to check out the light show below, continuing to exercise unusual restraint. I was still seated, still maintaining, even through a rocking, nostalgic version of my personal college daze anthem, BEFORE THEY MAKE ME RUN. Then the opening notes of OUT OF CONTROL.....
I was doing fine as Mick began the tune and catted around the stage...cool horns, blue lights....unable to control myself anymore, I jumped to my feet and started to dance wildly about the time the tune crescendo-ed, the lights came on and Mick was making his way to my side of the stage. Everyone around me was still seated. Mick points up at me, dances a few hip shakes with me, points up at me again, then to my amazement, he lifts his shirt up and flashes me those totally awesome washer board abs i've been obsessing over since I caught the show in early February. What a moment, what a thrill, what a Mick Fit Extraordinaire. I stood in shock for a second, reveling in that moment as Mick moved on continuing to work the arena. Then the poor guy sitting behind me gently taps me on the shoulder and quietly says, "Could you please sit down, now?" He didn't have to ask me twice.
I really grooved on finally seeing live my first favorite stones tune GET OFF MY CLOUD on the b-stage. It was upbeat, peppy and youthful...reminiscent of those junior high school feelings of immortality. This b-stage has become the concert highlight. The crowd seems to adore this part of the show and the band seems to get off on the intimacy this scene creates. Very smokey, bluesy barroomish, however a more polished MIDNIGHT RAMBLER than earlier in the tour. Lots of hand slapping and hand shaking occurs on the bridge to and from the b-stage. I was psyched to see the comraderie the band shared with its adoring fans.
Fancy Nancy found me about the time START ME UP began to play and reminded me that we met in a parking lot in Boulder before a Stones Show in '81. We marveled at how much we had changed and grown between then and now, our circle complete. Yet another introspective moment in this very excellent evening. Finally the encore, sweet SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL. This time is always a sad moment for me at a Stones show....but I had just relived my life this evening, got flashed by Mick, and I still had Monday night to look forward to.
Well, what can a poor girl do?
***************************************************************
MONDAY NIGHT
Seats tonight were most excellent indeed. The view was simply stunning. They were those funky seats everyone has been talking about around the side, back corner of the stage. All the costume changes, swigs of water, all the little nuances and "ribbing" between the band members....I saw it all from there. It was like having a back stage pass and I was loving every minute of it.
Since I didn't have a good view of a screen I concentrated on the stage and actually saw Keith pop up the trap door in the opening moments of JUMPING JACK FLASH. I immediatly knew "something was up" when the next tune was a perky YOU GOT ME ROCKING, bypassing "Live With Me".....and sure enough, after this tour's mellow version of RESPECTABLE, they dropped in a very funky, sexy GIMME SHELTER. I watched Mick "cue" Lisa for her solo to begin and like the diva she is, Lisa stepped out and belted out her part, every note soulful and clean, in essence, totally Lisa. She really had all the "boyz" in my section "ready to go", if you know what I mean which no doubt escalated during a raunchy HONKY TONK WOMAN.
Then the show stopper. I was bracing myself for a much anticipated "Moonlight Mile" and couldn't believe it when I heard the opening arpeggios and Mick lamenting, "As I stand by your flame, I get burned once again...." I'm in tears. My favorite tune off Sticky Fingers...finally. No doubt a coincidence, but this ballad that I've been quietly requesting around cyberspace was live on stage this very moment for the first time in decades and I was there to witness it. What the hell, I allowed myself to fantasize that The Boyz were playing this one for me. I was entranced with the passion in Mick's delivery, the tearful wailing guitars, the remorseful horns. Serendipity at its finest. "In the silk sheet of time, I will find peace of mind"....thank you Boyz. That was a truly special moment.
Needless to say, the rest of the show was completely rocking. No surprises, but no disappointments. Me and Gazza danced the night away. During the b-stage performance, my proximity was "back of the bar". I was amazed I could still feel the energy and magnatism that these musicians put out. This band has really succeeded in reaching every fan in every knook and cranny of this arena. So very,very nice after decades upon decades of large overwhelming stadium shows.
Keith was mellow and understated to Mick's wild spastic moves. At this close proximity, I could see Mick's mucle tone through his shirt. This man truly has the body of an adonis, and he knows it. Like a peacock, he struts around stage playing the total poser, flexing his arms (most amazing) to display very defined biceps and delts. Then he turns and tosses his head stretching his arms back to reveal triceps and a washerboard back to match his abs...This voguing is definately more choreographed than the earlier shows of the tour when his moves seemed to be more knee jerk and spontaneous.
After the funky SYMPATHY and the Boyz took their final bow, the crowd became excited again. For a moment we were fooled that the band may once again grace us with their presence....but no. The overhead screens now displayed the end of the NCAA Championship Game and the final seconds of University of Connecticut's cinderella victory. We exited stage left into a frenzied street full of basketball/rolling stones fans. Yes Hartford, you sure know how to go wild.