Thinking about the Rolling Stones from earlier upthread, and that time I saw them in Nashville. Being a big stadium show, like they do, I knew it would be a spectacle...the video screens on either side of the stage (thankfully, since we were at the opposite end of the stadium, second from the very top row...only one other group of people had a farther away seat than us
), but they had their usual assortment of extra stage personnel/musicians (keyboards, a horn section and three backup singers). Par for the course, I'd seen footage from previous tours, etc.
But, halfway through the show the lights went down. "Intermission? Oxygen break? They are old, after all...".
And this little square stage in the center of the stadium, where everyone was standing, was uncovered (I'd seen it all night and just assumed it was sound equipment next to the big sound/light board in the center of the field). But they climbed up on it (couldn't have been more than 16’ square) and Charlie had this little stripped-down drum kit, Keith and Ron were playing hollow body Gibson guitars and old, small Fender tweed amps and their keyboardist came with them and was just playing what looked to be a regular upright piano. And with no fancy lights, horns, other vocalists, etc. they played about a 20-minute set of blues and early Chuck Berry/Bo Diddley-type rock 'n' roll. It was, by far, the highlight of the show for me.
They sounded like a
band. Two guitars, drums, bass and a tinkling, boogie-woogie piano, and then Mick singing "Around and Around", "Oh Carol", "Little Red Rooster" and others. I remember thinking "I would've paid this crazy-ass admission to see an entire 90+ minutes of
this! Screw the big stage and the extra eight bodies on stage!"
They sounded the way they probably did back in early 60's England, in the clubs...pre-fame, pre-arenas/stadiums, etc. It was so cool to see them "get back to their roots" like that, and just play straight ahead three-chord rock 'n' roll and blues, the way they started out. Keith was playing all those Chuck Berry parts note-for-note, and he and Ron Wood both got to sing lead on a couple of songs. It was, for a brief period, the tightest, most rocking little bar band I'd ever seen. I was sad when that part of the show was over!
"So
this is what the Rolling Stones would sound, and look, like in a tiny dive bar somewhere? Awesome!"
I don't know if that's something they do on every tour - this is the only time I ever saw them live - but, if so, fans get a treat to see them so "small", stripped down and just doing it the old-fashioned way.