Mick Jagger - vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica
Keith Richards - guitars, vocals
Ron Wood - guitars, vocals
Charlie Watts - drums
Ian McLagen - keyboards, vocals
Ian Stewart - keyboards
Ernie Watts - sax
Bill Wyman - bass
The crowd opens this show clapping and chanting before His Royal Highness, Mick Jagger and the legendary Rolling Stones take the stage for what would be one of the final shows on the band's 1981 Still Life tour. The band opens with their classic 1966 single "Under My Thumb" (only the Stones could have gotten away with singing such a chauvinistic song), then blasts into "When The Whip Comes Down." After introducing himself to the crowd, Jagger leads the Stones into another gem from the past: "Let's Spend The Night Together," the song that got them in trouble with Ed Sullivan, when, in 1967, Jagger refused to modify the lyrics for the TV show by singing, "Let's spend some time together."
After a few newer tracks such as "Shattered" Jagger pays homage to the Detroit area audience: "Ok, in the land of Motown, here we go," he says before taking the group into The Temptations hit, "Just My Imagination," an 11-minute version highlighted by a lengthy solo from saxophonist Ernie Watts. Jagger then declares the band will do two rock 'n' roll oldies that they had never recorded before - Eddie Cochran's "20 Flight Rock," which slides smoothly into another Motown classic, "Goin' To A Go Go." The latter was written and originally recorded by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. The song went down so well in its live incarnation that the band eventually recorded it for their next album.
At the time of this show, the Stones were out working their Tattoo You LP, arguably one of their last truly strong albums. "Let Me Go," a little known Stones rocker, sounds appropriate alongside other songs from that album, including "Waiting For A Friend," "Little T & A," and "Hang Fire." Still, in the end, it is the older gems such as "Let It Bleed," "You Can't Always Get What You Want," "(Time) Is On My Side," "Miss You," "Honky Tonk Women" and "Brown Sugar," which remind us why the Stones are called the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world, still crankin' it out.
Read more about the Rolling Stones in Crawdaddy!:
"Rolling Stone Oldham: Talented, Insulting, Outrageous"
Live interview "Jagger-meister"
"Chuck Leavell: Wrapped Up in Trees"
Read "Andy Topeka: The Rolling Stones Technician"
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