Concert Review: Rolling Stones

Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto - August 10, 2005
The Stones rock Toronto with club show
By JANE STEVENSON - Toronto Sun


TORONTO - Talk about your "big bang" by a big band. The Rolling Stones performed a rare club show for some 1,000 fans at the Phoenix Concert Theatre last night, opening their 14-song, hour-and-20-minute set with Rough Justice, the lead single off their forthcoming album, A Bigger Bang.

As has become customary for the British rock veterans, who have been rehearsing at Greenwood College School in Toronto since mid-July, the group fine-tuned their material with an intimate gig before the start of a world tour.

In this case, their so-called Rolling Stones On Stage trek begins Aug. 21 in Boston at Fenway Park. It arrives at the Rogers Centre on Sept. 26.

Previously, the Stones have rehearsed in our city three times leading up to world tours, with club performances at Palais Royale in 2002, the Horseshoe in 1997 and RPM (now the Guvernment) in '94.

Last night's club gig, which was rumoured since Monday night and confirmed 24 hours later, was partially seen as the band's way of saying "Thank you" to Toronto.

"Thanks everyone for being so welcoming to us," said lead singer Mick Jagger, 62, whose expressive dance moves dominated his performance.


But it also helped the group get a feel for an audience again, which is important since their last live performances -- not counting a three-song set at Juilliard in New York in May when they announced their world tour -- was two years ago.

"You're all our guinea pigs," knee-bending guitarist Keith Richards, 61, joked after more seriously declaring: "It's good to be back. I can't think of a better place to rehearse."

It's believed anywhere from 150 to 350 tickets went on sale to the public yesterday morning at the Phoenix box office -- at $10 a pop -- with the remainder going to the band's family and friends, VIPs and music industry insiders.

Upon entering, fans flashed their wristbands and then presented tickets with photo ID. Security asked everyone where they got their tickets, presumably to crack down on scalpers.

The club was split into two areas, with paying ticket-holders on the lower level and VIPs milling about upstairs, where tables were roped off.

Jagger, Richards, guitarist Ron Wood, 62, and robust-sounding drummer Charlie Watts, 64 (who survived a recent bout with throat cancer), were joined by anywhere from four to nine other musicians (including a four-man horn section) on the tiny stage, depending on the song.

The Stones kept their big '60s hits to a minimum, instead concentrating on material from A Bigger Bang, which was represented by Rough Justice, the bluesy Back Of My Hand, the Richards-sung Infamy, and Oh No, Not You Again. But cover tunes like The Temptations' Ain't Too Proud To Beg, Bob Marley's Get Up Stand Up and Otis Redding's Mr. Pitiful were among the set highlights.

A Bigger Bang, which hits stores on Sept. 6, is the Stones' first studio album since 1997's Bridges To Babylon and is also the group's most substantial effort since 1972's Exile On Main Street, with 16 new songs.

When the Stones did play their classics, they either drastically reworked them -- 19th Nervous Breakdown became a slower, sleepier number -- or left them for the end of the night, finishing with the satisfying trio of Tumblin' Dice, Brown Sugar and Jumpin' Jack Flash.

Opening for the Stones, in what must surely be the gig of their young careers, was East Coast rock act The Trews.

"Come on, people, you can do better than that! The Stones are here tonight!" frontman Colin MacDonald implored the audience.

Rounded out by guitarist John-Angus MacDonald, bassist Jack Syperek and drummer Sean Dalton, the band performed a loud, 25-minute set of seven boisterous rock tunes.

The Trews previously performed at the Rivoli on Monday night to promote their sophomore album, Den Of Thieves, due in stores Tuesday.

PLAYLIST

* Rough Justice

* Live With Me

* 19th Nervous Breakdown

* She's So Cold

* Dead Flowers

* Back Of My Hand

* Ain't Too Proud To Beg

* Infamy

* Oh No, Not You Again

* Get Up Stand Up

* Mr. Pitiful

* Tumblin' Dice

* Brown Sugar

ENCORE

* Jumpin' Jack Flash

can't wait for the new album and to see them again this fall...

this was the most polite and proper concert review ive ever read.

Update: Stones Expanding 'Bigger Bang' Tour

By Jill Kipnis, L.A. ( billboard.com )

The Rolling Stones announced 15 new dates for their A Bigger Bang world tour today (Aug. 24) through a special deal with Yahoo!. Visitors to Yahoo.com were the first to find out about new international stops and can take part in a pre-sale for eight of the new dates in North America.

The tour has 2005 dates on tap through Dec. 3 in Memphis, and will pick back up again Jan. 10 in Montreal. Newly confirmed stops include Jan. 13 in Boston, Jan. 18 at New York's Madison Square Garden, Jan. 23 and 25 in Chicago, Jan. 27 in St. Louis, Jan. 29 in Omaha, Neb., Feb. 1 in Baltimore and March 9 in Little Rock, Ark.

The Stones have also added such artists as Alanis Morissette, Trey Anastasio, Wilco, Jason Mraz and Merle Haggard to their list of North American support acts.

Among the first wave of international confirmations are shows on Feb. 11 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Feb. 18 in Rio De Janeiro.

Yahoo! users can access concert footage from the tour's opening night on Sunday at Fenway Park in Boston and an exclusive audio stream of the new track "It Won't Take Long."

That cut will be found on the Stones' new album, also titled "A Bigger Bang," due Sept. 6 via Virgin. The group's tour continues Friday in Hartford, Conn.

mraz

Yeah I was thinking the EXACT same thing.

The nickname "Toronto the good" has always been a marker of piety rather than quality.

And holyshit do the Trews ever suck.