By Greg
As the title suggests, this is the second part of the story, the first part is here.
Near the Stage
So there we were, in the tongue pit with Tren’s great friend Sue, who she probably hadn’t seen for a couple of years, and Sue’s sister, Judy.
“Ahhh! You’ve got the same top as me!” Both have a black (of course) “It’s only rock n roll” singlet top. Judy has a different, but equally cool Stones top.
I look around at the scene. It isn’t long until the show starts and the tongue pit isn’t all that crowded – probably a riot control measure. Mind you there are three or four rows of standing, jiggling, excited people who are jammed up against the fairly narrow barrier in front of the stage.
It appears that pretty well everyone is wearing some version of a Rolling Stones top. I wonder briefly if the Stones have sold more merchandise than records….. well, probably not.
The rest of the Arena is choc-a-block with seated fans – probably about 12,000 of them.
Tren and Sue are yabbering and laughing non-stop as they always seem to when they are together. I would say no one makes Trenna laugh more than Sue. I like Sue a lot, but I’m still soaking up the atmosphere.
This DEFINITELY feels different to two nights ago half way up the raked seating. This DEFINITELY feels more like a Stones concert ought to feel.
The crowd is amazingly diverse. Do they bring their own group of young attractive 20 something women to stand at the front of the crowd nearest the stage?? How does that happen?
It is 1 November 2014 so Trenna and I are both about 57 years old. Some of the crowd are older than us by several years. Cashed up baby boomers ticking off the bucket list, or going to yet another Stones concert.
I know from the Thursday concert that there will be plenty of other people our age who have made the WRONG decision and opted for a seat for the duration.
However, probably the majority of our tongue pit comrades are in their 30s and 40s. All shapes, sizes, races and genders. They all share a broad smile and a sense of anticipation.
The Concert Starts
Most concert reviews are written that night, or maybe the next morning. I’m doing this one more than 7 years later so, in the main I can’t give you a blow by blow description of each song of the concert. But there are certainly impressions and memories that have stayed with me all these years.
They were truely great, and rightly the kings of all they surveyed. The crowd was absolutely adoring and very well behaved. Joined in a common experience that will last a lifetime.
We slowly shimmied and edged so that for most of the concert we were about 6 or 7 rows of standing people from the front. Close enough to clearly smell Ronnie’s cigarettes – he had several through the show, and in range of the guitar picks thrown out to the tongue pit crowd through the night. I just missed out on one – damn!
The band were clearly having a great time. I prefer to be retired at their age, but if they still have to work I can’t think of a more enjoyable occupation.
Mick, as I think everyone knows, is an amazing powerhouse. He has his moves down so well there is no mistaking who it is just 4 meters in front of you.
There were many highlights of course. Keith coming right to the front of the stage to do some blues numbers whilst Mick and the rest did yet another change of clothes. The guy clearly loves his music and the mob adore him for it.
Seeing Mick Taylor (Ronnie’s predecessor) on stage was AMAZING and an unexpected super bonus we weren’t expecting when we first booked the tickets.
I don’t play guitar but I have been to a LOT of concerts. I think Keith and Ronnie are fabulous but you could tell the difference between their playing and the virtuosity of Mick Taylor. You knew Keith in particular, and Ronnie as well, were lapping it up, all three producing intertwining licks and riffs. WOW!!
Satisfaction
I’ve always enjoyed the song Satisfaction. Who doesn’t?
I read this year, 2022, in Keith’s autobiography, Life, that for a long while the Stones didn’t perform it live. Here’s what he said.
“A peculiarity of “Satisfaction” is that it is a hell of a song to play on stage. For years and years we never played it, or rarely, until maybe the last ten or fifteen years. Couldn’t get the sound right, it didn’t feel right, it just sounded weedy. It took the band a long time to figure out how to play “Satisfaction” on stage. What made us like it was when Otis Redding covered it. With that and Aretha Franklin’s version which Jerry Wexler produced, we heard what we’d tried to write in the first place. We liked it and started playing it because the very best of soul music was singing our song.”
Keith Richards, 2010, p142.
Was it good? It was sensational. It was one of the songs that they got Mick Taylor on stage for for a bit of extra fire power (I’m not suggesting they can’t do it without him).
That driving main riff just powers through the whole song, constantly. The delight they get in playing it is obvious – see the video clip below.
I recon it was my favourite song of the night but I thought the whole experience was out of this world.
I did take a lot of photos, and a few videos, because I knew that even though we were close there would be plenty of detail that Trenna wouldn’t be seeing. She poured over the snaps for days after.
All 4 of us were rocking and rolling throughout the night. Bouncing up and down, hands pumping in the air, dancing – screaming!
Finale
As happens with these things, sadly, it had to end, but that was after about 2 and a half hours of fun, joyous revelry. For that brief period Perth, Western Australia was the epicenter of ecstasy. The Stones, the crowd, everyone had a fun night.
The lights went up and we were left standing, exhausted in a comparatively quiet sea of empty water bottles and plastic beer cups. Music was playing over the PA and the people in the stalls were filing out in an orderly fashion.
Tren and I were standing in the pit laughing and reliving it with Sue and Judy. Sue was leaving to return to Karratha the next morning. Her whole 3,000 km return trip was all about these few hours.
Then, the trustworthy looking man with the Head of Security badge appeared to ask Judy and Sue how they found the concert. They thanked him SOOOOO much for letting them into the tongue pit, and so did Trenna and I.
The experience had been massively increased by being there with friends.
He then produced a sheet of paper with the official set list on it and gave it to Sue. He agreed to a couple of photos and made a speedy exit. What a nice man.
It turns out that several people who had been standing nearby now wanted photos of Judy and Sue and the Set List. They happily obliged.
The next memories I have of the night was arriving home to find Trenna still fully pumped, and me only a little less so. We very reluctantly cut off our tongue pit wrist bands, not really wanting to, but knowing that they couldn’t stay on for ever, and if you weren’t there you just wouldn’t understand.
Some time in 2020 I asked Trenna what was the best experience of her life. She acknowledged there were many, but none, absolutely none were as good as being in the tongue pit with me, Sue, Judy and the Rolling Stones.
I have to agree with her.
Set List
A set list, and a review of the Perth concert are here. The page also contains some photos which are better than mine. If you are happy to look at (a small number of) my photos scroll down.
To go straight to the bottom of the page to make comments, or for a link to Trenna’s Black Sabbath review, click here.
More Mosh Pits
If you haven’t read Trenna’s contemporaneous review of the Black Sabbath concert, I highly recommend it. You’ll find it here.
2 replies on “THE Rolling Stones Concert – Part 2”
Wonderful that Tren got to experience 2 Stone’s concerts in a week – WOW 👌
Yes, we were both over the moon!
I recon the tickets to the second concert were probably the best value purchases we ever made.