But Living In A Ghost Town (on U-Chewb, with a fine and strangely moving video) is not only the best Rolling Stones record since [YOUR CHOICE HERE], it's a great record. At a time when everyone is in Exile On Main Street, it's a major jolt of positive energy and a reminder just why rock n' roll is such a very, very important thing - and probably best left to the old guys.
Whatever time we have is time enough to rock and roll.
EDIT: FiveGunsWest adds this swell postscript:
"I saw them on the 72 tour in Mobile, AL, 2 days before my 16th birthday. An amazing tale of drug indulgence and pure good luck. Went mushroom picking on the way there. Had a baggie full of chocolate mescaline caps, weed, some shit that was supposed to be thc. Get there, there are no hotel rooms. Got on a list. Go to venue, it's sold out and I only have 20 bucks. I stay there planning to hide inside til the show. It's 10 am. Talk to a black janitor out back & he says the Stones got pissed at these journalists, the front center section 100 seats were now available. I cop 3 tickets, start selling them right in front of the box office for 10 bucks, then 20, then 75 and finally 150 a pop. I have the front row center seat, my friends were all over the place as they already had tickets, a couple were with me. We also got two suites of rooms, paid for all that. High as fuck for an incredible show....I have the boot. Somehow wound up alone after the show walking & a guy up the way asks are you following me, I sez no, he says he's lost, we walk toward each other and it's my best friend from school. Get to suites and it's an orgy developing. Just an outrageous scene. I forget the name of the gospel group that opened up but the singer was so thrilled with the adulation she had to be carried off stage, then an hour and a half of Stevie Wonder and two and a half hours of the Stones. Poor Bill Wyman had fallen off the stage the night before in New Orleans so his hand was bandaged but he didn't appear to be feeling any pain. A hell of a show for 6.50 cents a head & it was only a little 10k seater. Saw Zep there on the Houses of the Holy Tour later."
HELLO ANY LINK? THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR JOB!
ReplyDeleteTsk. Sudge manners ya gots! Dis ain't some toid avenoo dive, ya bum!
Delete(Stealth Link in this comment - lots of luck!)
Nice remembrance, FGW. Got to see them on the '74 tour when they did a two concerts in one day in Baton Rouge. Had tickets for the early show, went into the mens room, and hid in a stall while the venue exited and re-emerged when they started to let in the night crowd.
ReplyDeleteSorry for my very dirty bad manners but thanks again!!! You're a kool guy
ReplyDeletepmac seems a bit off. The Stones played in 1975, including an outdoor show at Milwaukee's County Stadium for the then outrageous price of $10, ten dollars! Double digits! Full bladder meant I peed on home plate and a close friend threw up on himself (which was helpful because it cleared out the area and he didn't smell too bad). Rufus and The Eagles opened and the boys were at their funkiest with Billie Preston and Ollie Brown along for the ride.
ReplyDeleteI think what pmac meant - and he'll correct me if I'm wrong - is that he hid in the toilet for a year before sneaking into the '75 gig.
DeleteWas the '76 gig, but time flies when your standing on the throne.
DeleteAnd, roryg is correct - I'm always a bit off, but the year was '75. Not actually an official tour date in BR. Was considered the final dress rehearsal before the tour started in San Antonio, which is why they played two concerts on the same day. The Meters opened for both sets.
DeleteYour think-piece will be going viral in a few hours, pmac - get lawyered up!
DeleteI'll represent myself, you know that fool for a client thing.
DeleteThe Ghosts of Stones shows past...
ReplyDelete1965 New York City, Academy Of Music.
Drank Coca-Cola and ate pretzels.
1966 Forest Hills Tennis Stadium Queens New York.
Swallowed two Dexedrine and drank Rheingold Beer
1969 Madison Square Garden.
Dropped Orange Sunshine and smoked weed.
1975 Madison Square Garden.
Cocaine, Weed and Southern Comfort.
1978 Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey.
Cocaine, Weed, Quaaludes and Courvoisier VS
1978 New York City, Palladium.
Merck Sharp & Dohme Cocaine Hydrochloride, Weed, Seconals (Reds) and Remy Martin VSOP
well, that neatly sums up a decade!! nicely done! should have been born a decade or two earlier I recon but the underground music in the 80s wasn't too bad a consolation I guess
DeleteThank you so much Mr. Fark sir!
ReplyDeleteMy Stones tales of woe:
1. July 1966 - My cousins worked at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City NJ and could get comp tickets to shows. They were going to get tickets to see the Stones, who played three shows that day. But noooo ... being the dorks they were said "it will be too crowded … we will get tickets for tomorrow” So the next day I had the out of body experience of seeing Al Martino, the King Family and comedian London Lee all on the same bill mind you. The Stones couldn’t hold a candle to that extravaganza.
2. 1975 – My wife goes to the local mall to get tickets at Ticketron for the Stones. These were the days when you stood in line and waited for the cashier to print the tickets of the little Ticketron machine. So naturally it’s a long line and it’s on the second floor of the store (John Wannamaker) and it is hot. She proceeds to pass out. The security guard rustles her up and asks if she would like to go the front of the line, to which responds, “no”. Well you can guess the rest, as she gets to the front of the line the concert is sold out.
I guess this offering is a blessing for my previous suffering.
That's a hell of a story FGW! Thanks for sharing!! And thank to Farq for the swell boots as well!!
ReplyDeleteSince it's apparently spaced-out Stones Stories Friday, here's mine:
ReplyDeleteIt was the Let it Bleed tour with Ike & Tina and Stevie W. opening. The venue was the Forum in Inglewood, Jack Kent Cooke's wedding cake-like arena. I don't recall the specific type of acid we dropped that night, but we were all tripping balls on arrival at the Forum. Now for those who don't know, the Forum looks exactly the same, regardless of the angle from which you view it. Having lacked the mental wherewithal to note the section in which we'd parked the microbus, we were utterly confounded upon emerging from the arena, ears and brains still throbbing, to realize we didn't have a clue how to find our ride. In the end, we were obliged to wait until thousands of cars had departed, to spot our little microbus standing alone, forlorn, awaiting its passengers.
The show was pretty ripping too.
Great Stones stories - wish I had one! Never saw them, not once.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Rolled Gold and for showing me what a bunch of belching degenerates the regulars here are, when they're not staying home in the same underwear for 6 months to raise awareness of man-made-fibres' strength.
ReplyDeleteSweet sentiments, Ms. Blancmange, nicely expressed! The Belching Degenerates™ are now the official Isle O' Foam© Tiki Hut Band!!!
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