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In the midst of another-night-at-the-office
greatest hits show for the Rolling Stones, the eternal drummer Charlie
Watts kept things swinging. He smashed a cymbal so hard it looked as if
it had been cracked by a two-by-four. And he even allowed himself a
smile as the 2 1/2-hour show wound down Tuesday at the packed United
Center.
Though the Stones’ set lists have become pretty
predictable over the last couple decades, it’s still a lot of fun to
watch the band interact. Watts, his posture erect, his hair silver, his
wrists bringing the sticks down like dancing sledgehammers, made
everything move in the first of three Chicago concerts. The interaction
of Watts, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood had its own
choreography, a shake and shimmy of jutting elbows and snaking, nearly
invisible hips. These are some of the skinniest human beings on the
planet, and they slide-stepped around each other as if orchestrating the
music on the fly – which in many cases they were.
Weathered they might be and prone to
playing certain old reliables again and again – lest the customers who
paid as much as $600 for seats protest that they weren’t getting their
quota of hits -- the Stones still flirt with the songs as if they just
started dating. “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It)” was wheeled
out again, but Watts’ left-hand punch on the snare and the way his right
hand accelerated atop the tom drum as Richards took a guitar solo
created its own excitement within the well-worn song.
For all the hoopla surrounding the Stones, they
play with minimal gear and minimal fuss. The theatrics were considerably
toned down from past stadium shows – no inflatables, no pyro – just a
five-piece rock ‘n’ roll band letting fly, abetted by two horns and two
back-up singers.
Some of the add-ons gave the show a charge.
Long-time backing vocalist Lisa Fischer dug her high-heels into the
stage as she reared back and wailed on “Gimme Shelter.” Veteran blues
singer Taj Mahal, who accompanied the Stones during their 1968 film “The
Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus,” strolled on stage to perform a
fierce “Six Days on the Road” while thrashing his guitar. Mick Taylor,
the Stones lead guitarist during their halcyon early ‘70s, added to the
six-string muscle on the blues opera “Midnight Rambler,” with a frenzied
Jagger peeling off dance moves like James Brown with the jitters.
Richards slung his arm around the prodigal guitarist, and Taylor pecked
his old pal’s cheek.
It was a good night for the guitarists. Wood and
Richards like to keep each other guessing, darting in and out by feel
rather than prescription. Richards’ tone was flat-out rude, his riffs
announcing themselves like a backfiring Harley on “Tumbling Dice” and
“Jumping Jack Flash.” On “Brown Sugar,” Daryl Jones’ bass assumed
man-eating proportion.
The Stones did their best to justify the
inclusion of two relatively recent songs in the set list, the feisty
“Doom and Gloom” and the rather forgettable “One More Shot,” but it was
the disco-fired numbers that felt freshest, with Jagger’s falsetto
rising to the challenge over the Watts-Jones groove on “Miss You” and
especially “Emotional Rescue.” But nothing could top Richards and Wood
on acoustic guitars for the unusually tender “You Got the Silver,” with
Watts – as usual – adding just the right feel on brushes.
No wonder the drummer was grinning, however briefly, at the end. It was a good night back there in the Stones engine room.
Rolling Stones set list Tuesday at the United Center:
1. Get Off of My Cloud
2. It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)
3. Paint It, Black
4. Gimme Shelter
5. Wild Horses
6. Rocks Off
7. Emotional Rescue
8. Six Days on the Road (with Taj Mahal)
9. Doom and Gloom
10. One More Shot
