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Rolling Stones, 6 December 1969, Altamont

Woodstock West? Or just Hell. This was meant to be a great finale of the tour - a free concert for the fans with other great bands with the Stones. Well, Hells Angels weren’t the best choice for the security but afterwards it is too late to change that. This is the concert that is perhaps most written about. And no wonder. One spectator (Meredith Hunter) was killed by Hells Angels during Under My Thumb. Well, it was his fault really. Why on earth he brought a gun to a concert and drew it? Of course the Angels attacked him. But Angels weren’t so clean either. They had punched Jefferson Airplane’s Marty Balin and also hit many fans with pool cues. Well, like one Angel said (can’t remember the exact quote): “if they mess with my bike, they’re gonna get it”. Many say that the troubles were only near the (too low) stage. Most of the 300 000 crowd didn’t even know what happened before the stage. It’s said that it was Gratefuld Dead who suggested The Stones to hire Hells Angels but I think that’s unconfirmed who was in charge. The day started quite badly for The Stones. When they got off the chopper some lunatic fan punched Mick J. Great.

1) CARLOS SANTANA started the festival. He at least played songs Gumbo Jam and Jingo.

2) JEFFERSON AIRPLANE. Marty Balin knocked out by an Angel. A great start to a festival. They played songs: The Other Side Of This Life, 3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds, 3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds (restarted), Greasy Heart, White Rabbit, Come Back Baby and Ballad Of You Me And Pooniel. Great set and the last song is marvelous 11-minute jam.

3) THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS. They had few nice good moodied songs like Six Days On The Road, High Fashion Queen, Cody Cody, Lazy Days.

4) CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG. Neil Young is one of my favourite artists and now he was playing with CS&N. Great songs, like Electric Black Queen, Pre Road Downs, Long Time Gone and Down By The River.

5) GRATEFUL DEAD (Cancelled their act after hearing that The Angels had punched Marty Balin. They said it was too violent and they didn’t want to play. On the other hand it was a wise decision but had they played there wouldn’t have been that long empty period before The Stones came on because Jagger wanted a pitch black atmosphere for them. Another reason for the delay is said that Bill Wyman missed the helicopter ride and came late to Altamont.)

6) THE ROLLING STONES. At last they came on the stage. Sam Cutler’s boring announcement is hilarious. He was obviously pissed off because of the Stones and for the first time he didn’t say “the greatest rock’n'roll band in the world”. First two songs went alright but in Sympathy For The Devil the fights broke and they had to restart the song. BTW, Meredith Hunter wasn’t killed during this song but Under My Thumb. Jagger tried to calm people down by saying cliche hippy lines like: “if we’re all one, let’s fucking show we’re all one”. Perhaps that’s the reason why they also played a nice little mellow tune called Sun is shining. It wasn’t included in the setlist but perhaps they thought it would cool the hotheads. It is also said that Brown Sugar wasn’t first included but during the playing Mick T or Keith suggested Mick J that it would be nice to play that. Gimme Shelter is brilliant version, perhaps the best I’ve heard. Soundboard version of that is included in Shot of Salvation bootleg. All in all, it’s not that bad concert. Cool versions of some songs. Hopefully the soundboard will surface some day (like all the other soundboards of that tour).

So, after SFM the show and the tour was over. Sadly. Fortunately European leg was coming on in 1970. See you in next autumn when I review those shows.

Setlist: Jumpin’ Jack Flash / Carol / Sympathy For The Devil / Sympathy For The Devil (restarted) / The Sun Is Shining / Stray Cat Blues / Love In Vain / Under My Thumb / Under My Thumb (restarted) / Brown Sugar / Midnight Rambler / Live With Me / Gimme Shelter / Little Queenie / Satisfaction / Honky Tonk Women / Street Fighting Man

Altamont concert transcribed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Free_Concert

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Speedway

Bootleg with supporting acts download here: http://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?2,1125505

Remastered bootleg download here: http://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?2,1164082

Rolling Stones, 30 November 1969, West Palm Beach

West Palm Beach and the First Annual West Palm Beach International Music And Arts Festival. The Stones dropped the acoustic set off and took Gimme Shelter back for final two gigs of the tour. My bootleg has problems with speed as it wobbles a bit, not much but sometimes it’s disturbing but it’s get worse towards the end. The batteries of the tape recorder must have been the problem. This was an open air concert and a cold weather (in Florida?) so lots of tuning for guitars between songs. Under My Thumb sounds quite awful because of that tuning in the middle of the song. This is perhaps the worst gig of the whole tour. Not only the tape is in horrible condition but so were the guitars of The Stones.

Setlist: Jumpin’ Jack Flash / Carol / Sympathy For The Devil / Stray Cat Blues / Love In Vain / Under My Thumb / Midnight Rambler / Gimme Shelter / Live With Me / Little Queenie / Satisfaction / Honky Tonk Women / Street Fighting Man

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Palm_Beach,_FL

Rolling Stones, 29 November 1969, Boston (1st and 2nd shows)

After three magical MSG gigs the tour continued in Boston where they played at Boston Garden which was demolished in 1997. First show’s bootleg has Prodigal Son and You Gotta Move missing and the quality isn’t top rate. Well, Glyn Johns made a soundboard recording from both shows, wherever they are nowadays. Please, The Stones, ABKCO, Maysles or whoever: release all the available soundboard recordings and film clips. That would be a true gesture towards fans. Anyway, back to Boston. From what you can hear from the first bootleg the concert was groovy and The Stones didn’t show any kind of tiredness. Now Mick J could finally sing the line “Well, you heard about the Boston?” to the proper audience

Setlist. Jumpin’ Jack Flash / Carol / Sympathy For The Devil / Stray Cat Blues / Love In Vain / Prodigal Son / You Gotta Move / Under My Thumb / Midnight Rambler / Live With Me / Little Queenie / Satisfaction / Honky Tonk Women / Street Fighting Man

Bootleg of the first show download here: http://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?2,1159414

“Far Out! How they go?” and the second show started. This was after the normal introducing by Sam Cutler. This was also a good concert with nice versions of songs. Interesting interpretation of Prodigal Son. I don’t know, but I think Mick J sings it differently. Midnight Rambler has a very very long intro that lasts about 105 seconds before Keith starts the song with his powerful chord. Beautiful. It’s also nice that Mick J in every concert before Little Queenie asked the audience to shake their arses. And he usually used that marvelous British upper class posh accent of his. Satisfaction is brilliant. Almost as good as the 28th second show. Great shows in Boston also.

Setlist: Jumpin’ Jack Flash / Carol / Sympathy For The Devil / Stray Cat Blues / Love In Vain / Prodigal Son / You Gotta Move / Under My Thumb / Midnight Rambler / Live With Me / Little Queenie / Satisfaction / Honky Tonk Women / Street Fighting Man

Bootleg of the second show download here: http://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?2,1004615

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Garden

Rolling Stones, 28 November 1969, New York (MSG) (1st and 2nd shows)

“Everybody seems to be ready, are you ready? For the first time in three years the greatest rock and roll band in the world THE ROLLING STONES, The Rolling Stones”. Those were the legendary words by Sam Cutler at the opening show of 28 November. It was continued by another legendary comment made by Mick J: “We’re alright? Welcome to the breakfast show!”. Those lines and Jumpin’ Jack Flash can be found from the Maysles bros. film “Gimme Shelter”. And talking about JJF, to me that’s the best version I’ve ever heard. It also ends with not so perfect final chords that makes Jagger smiling and telling the audience: “we’re just gonna wake up”. Unfortunately there are no bootlegs circulating from “the breakfast show” but many numbers can be found from different sources: 1) Jumpin’ Jack Flash (Gimme Shelter movie), 2) Carol (Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out and Time Trip vol 4 bootleg), 3) Sympathy For The Devil (Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out), 4) Stray Cat Blues (Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out with overdubbed vocals), 5) Under My Thumb/I’m Free (bonus DVD of super/deluxe Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out), 6) Little Queenie (Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out with overdubbed vocals, Devil’s Disciple bootleg and Gimme Shelter extras without overdubs), 7) Satisfaction (bonus LP/CD of super/deluxe Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out), 8 ) Honky Tonk Women (Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out with possible vocal overdubs) and finally 9) Street Fighting Man (Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out with overdubbed vocals and Shot of Salvation bootleg without overdubs). Hopefully the whole concert would surface some day. It’s the Holy Grail of Stones fans. At least the previously mentioned songs are available so only five songs are missing.

Funny that SFTD at Ya-Ya’s was released so that the fourth verse was edited out. Don’t know why. You can find the missing verse from Acetate version of Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out. To make things more complicated, the acetate SFTD has verses #2&3 missing. So you just have to splice that fourth verse from acetate although that Ya-Ya’s is different mix so it won’t fit in perfectly but what the heck, now you have a whole song. And what a beautiful song it is. Great guitar playing by Mick T and Keith. Very hypnotic. Satisfaction is quite different to the one in GS movie which is mostly from second show. This version is very tight and tense and powerful. Can’t understand why Mick J overdubbed SCB, LQ and SFM for Ya-Ya’s. At least Carol and SFTD are without vocal overdubs. Concert ends with a electrifying version of SFM. I wish I’d been there….

Confirmed songs in the setlist: Jumpin’ Jack Flash / Carol / Sympathy For The Devil / Stray Cat Blues / Under My Thumb+I’m Free / Little Queenie / Satisfaction / Honky Tonk Women / Street Fighting Man

The second show started with words by Mick J: “Far out! Sorry you had to wait. Okay, baby” and then JJF blasts off. The gig probably started a bit late (again at 4am?) if Mick had to apologize for being late. Again few numbers ended to Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! like the best version of Midnight Rambler I’ve heard, that’s one of the highlights of the set during the tour. Mick whipping the stage with his belt, it would’ve been great to see that. There’s an audience tape in circuit which is not bad but also few soundboards are available: Midnight Rambler (Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!), Live With Me (Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! with vocal overdubs), Carol (Gimme Shelter extras), Prodigal Son (Super/Deluxe Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! bonus LP/CD) and You Gotta Move (Super/Deluxe Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! bonus LP/CD). This 2nd show was also great with all the versions brilliant. Can’t get enough of these shows. Satisfaction in the Gimme Shelter movie is a hybrid of all three MSG gigs I think but the main core of that version is the solo, third verse and the ending. That’s the best version of Satisfaction I know. Great song. “When I get up in the morning I want some satisfaction from you baby”. They should’ve released that in the super/deluxe Get Yer instead of the “breakfast show” version. Good that it’s available in the bootleg although it’s only audience quality. Street Fighting Man is also available in Gimme Shelter movie but during the song an announcer talks partly over it. But the last words are still echoing inside MSG: “we gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta go..:” Why you had to go? The most legendary concerts were over. Tomorrow Boston. See you there…

Setlist: Jumpin’ Jack Flash / Carol / Sympathy For The Devil / Stray Cat Blues / Love In Vain / Prodigal Son / You Gotta Move / Under My Thumb / Midnight Rambler / Live With Me / Little Queenie / Satisfaction / Honky Tonk Women / Street Fighting Man

Bootleg download here: http://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?2,1134814

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Square_Garden

Can’t say how delighted I would be to have these three MSG gigs (and other gigs too) in audio and video. The odd thing was that they didn’t play Gimme Shelter in New York. Great song but quite ignored during this tour.

Rolling Stones, 27 November 1969, New York (MSG)

It was spooky to see this morning a car in front of me with a sticker “New York City” on a window. Today it’s exactly 40 years since the first legendary Stones MSG concert. Those concerts were to be the main core of Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! LP. Those concerts (and Altamont) were also filmed by Maysles brothers and a year later Gimme Shelter movie was released. I definitely recommend that. The best music movie ever made. The numbers included in the original Get Yer and recently released Super-Deluxe Get Yer were Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Prodigal Son (dvd), You Gotta Move (dvd), Under My Thumb/I’m Free (bonus LP/CD) and Satisfaction (dvd). Sadly Mick J wasn’t satisfied with the original vocals and he overdubbed JJF - and I think it’s a bad overdub. All the way through the tour Mick J kept singing “It’s alright, It’s alright” in the chorus. Now he overdubbed that (with Keith) in the way the studio version was sung: “it’s aaaaallllright, now…”. Not a good choice. Why overdub? Because to me those originals don’t sound bad at all. They definitely should’ve kept the original vocals. Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin were also attending this show. This bootleg is perhaps one of the best audience quality bootlegs of this tour. Instruments are in more or less good balance and there are no disturbing noises at the tape. Prodigal Son was hilarious. Keith’s acoustic guitar kept going out of tune and because of that he decided to finish the song earlier. Well, Mick J didn’t know this and when Keith hit the last chord Mick J started to sing: “Ah, well…” and when he realized Keith had stopped, Mick J looked at Keith and asked “alright?” Priceless, like they would say on the Internet nowadays.

But this (and other MSG) concert was one of the highlights of the tour. If I had a chance to use a time machine (that only operates with the past) I’d know where to go :-)  Brilliant show. I probably start again with JJF…

Setlist: Jumpin’ Jack Flash / Carol / Sympathy For The Devil / Stray Cat Blues / Love In Vain / Prodigal Son / You Gotta Move / Under My Thumb+I’m Free / Midnight Rambler / Live With Me / Little Queenie / Satisfaction / Honky Tonk Women / Street Fighting Man

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Square_Garden

Bootleg download here: http://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?2,1134807

Rolling Stones, 26 November 1969, Baltimore

Baltimore gig was historical in the way that Love In Vain ended up to the live album Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! which is considered to be one of the best live albums ever made. Soundboard recording was made by Glyn Johns. It would be great to know where all those soundboard recordings are nowadays. Hopefully they will circulate some day. Anyway, this audience recording isn’t bad at all. Not of course soundboard quality but very good audience anyway. Sympathy For The Devil is awsome, ten minute version with great guitar playing and at the end Jagger start to sing that well known falsetto of the studio version. He also sings few bars of Hey Jude. This would’ve been excellent choice to Get Yer album. I’d love to hear this in soundboard quality. Prodigal Son was probably not played but that is unconfirmed. Little Queenie is missing from the bootleg tape. This was the first time during this tour they merged two songs together to make a medley: Under My Thumb and I’m Free. Maybe The Stones thought that I’m Free was too good song to be left out completely but not that good to be on its own. Nevertheless these medleys couldn’t reached the atmosphere of Oakland’s first show but they’re still not that bad. Very interesting indeed. A good solo by Mick T during the song.  Good version of the show’s highlight Midnight Rambler. All in all, very good concert.

Setlist: Jumpin’ Jack Flash / Carol / Sympathy For The Devil / Stray Cat Blues / Love In Vain / You Gotta Move / Under My Thumb+I’m Free / Midnight Rambler / Live With Me / Little Queenie / Satisfaction / Honky Tonk Women / Street Fighting Man

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Mariner_Arena

Bootleg download here: http://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?2,1004615,1154680

Rolling Stones, 25 November 1969, Philadelphia

This time The Stones played at The Spectrum which was closed at 31 October 2009.  This bootleg’s a bit muddy but still a good piece of history. Nice versions of songs. Sadly you can’t hear the guitars properly and that’s irritating, especially during Sympathy For The Devil. Also Mick J’s voice disappears almost totally during some songs.

Setlist: Jumpin’ Jack Flash / Carol / Sympathy For The Devil / Stray Cat Blues / Love In Vain / Prodigal Son / Under My Thumb / Midnight Rambler / Live With Me / Little Queenie / Satisfaction / Honky Tonk Women / Street Fighting Man. They probably played You Gotta Move also but that’s unconfirmed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wachovia_Spectrum

Bootleg download here: http://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?2,1156264

Rolling Stones, 24 November 1969, Detroit

The tour continued after a eight day break. Now the motor city, Detroit. They played at Detroit Olympia which was demolished back in 1987. A small break must have been good for them because this concert seems to be very tough and interesting. Great interpretations. Satisfaction is great. As good as MSG versions. Enjoyable concert. According to Nico Zentgraf soundboard recording was made.

Setlist: Jumpin’ Jack Flash / Carol / Sympathy For The Devil / Stray Cat Blues / Love In Vain / Prodigal Son / You Gotta Move / Under My Thumb / Midnight Rambler / Live With Me / Little Queenie / Satisfaction / Honky Tonk Women / Street Fighting Man

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympia_Stadium

Rolling Stones, 16 November 1969, Chicago (1st and 2nd shows)

Now I’ve finally managed to find Chicago bootleg. It’s unknown is this earlier or later show. Quite blurry sound. Like recorded at the other end from a corridor. You can’t really say what kind of a concert this was but songs sound okay. It seems that Stones didn’t play You Gotta Move and it sounds that they played shorter Love In Vain i.e. without the final solo.

Setlists:

1st  & 2nd show: Either the first or the second show had the following confirmed set: Jumpin’ Jack Flash / Carol / Sympathy For The Devil / Stray Cat Blues / Love In Vain / Prodigal Son / Under My Thumb / Midnight Rambler / Live With Me / Little Queenie / Satisfaction / Honky Tonk Women / Street Fighting Man

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Amphitheatre

Bootleg download here: http://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?2,1159412