Stones preserved in MSG

I wish I had something witty or biting or significant to say about the Stones last night. I had a great time, although if I never hear “Satisfaction,” “Start Me Up” and “It’s Only Rock N Roll” again, that’d be just fine me. I prefer my Stones set to have more obscurities. The most obscure they got last night was “Bitch” and “All Down The Line,” the latter of which sounded particular good. They covered “Get Up Stand Up,” which sounded fine, although reggae never comes easily to Charlie. Their reworking of “19th Nervous Breakdown” as a white blues stomp made me wish they took a few more risks like this. Some of these songs have becomed somewhat calcified in their current arrangements (although the Times’ Ben Ratliff quipped that the re-arrangement transformed it from a song about panic to a song about hot-tub therapy).

The energy level was high. The band sounded fine. Who would think that seeing the Stones at an arena would qualify as an “intimate” show? But such is the life of a stadium filling classic rock band. And the smaller venue helps a lot. The gimmicks were kept to a minimum and the focus was squarely on the music, which suits them well. I never found Jagger to be the compelling showman that other believes him to be, but he definitely does better working smaller stage and appears to connect better to the audience.

I’m sitting here now trying to divine some significance to the Stones in 2005. When I come up with something I’ll write.

The setlist is here.