The next time I saw The Rolling Stones

 

It was on the 22nd of June at Circo Massimo in Rome. Mick Taylor appeared with them, plus they sang some recent songs that probably most people did not expect like "Streets Of Love" from "A Bigger Bang" and "Out Of Control" from "Bridges To Babylon". Oh, and the venue was great. That's all for now but a full report will be coming soon on a future post...

Setlist

01. Jumpin' Jack Flash
02. Let's Spend the Night Together
03. It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)
04. Tumbling Dice
05. Streets of Love (with Mick Taylor))
06. Doom and Gloom
07. Respectable (with John Mayer by request)
08. Out of Control
09. Honky Tonk Women (band introductions)
10. You Got the Silver (Keith Richards on lead vocals)
11. Can't Be Seen (Keith Richards on lead vocals)
12. Midnight Rambler (with Mick Taylor)
13. Miss You
14. Gimme Shelter (with Lisa Fischer)
15. Start Me Up
16. Sympathy for the Devil
17. Brown Sugar
Encore:
18. You Can' t Always Get What You Want
19. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (with Mick Taylor)

The last time I saw The Rolling Stones

It was on June 18 2007. They were due to appear in Athens in June 2006, then cancelled because of Keith and the coconut tree incident, while the local organizers did not attempt to reschedule in the next year like other countries did. So I decided to make the trip to Lyon, France to see them there. This was my first concert trip and if you've been following this blog then this is the one  that started it all...

 

Setlist

1. Start Me Up
2. It's Only Rock'n Roll
3. She's So Cold
4. Bitch
5. Monkey Man
6. Let It Bleed
7. Midnight Rambler
8. I'll Go Crazy
9. Tumbling Dice
   --- Introductions
10. You Got The Silver (Keith)
11. I Wanna Hold You (Keith)
12. Miss You (to B-stage)
13. Rough Justice (B-stage)
14. Get Off Of My Cloud (B-stage)
15. Honky Tonk Women (to main stage)
16. Sympathy For The Devil
17. Brown Sugar
18. Satisfaction
19. Jumping Jack Flash (encore)

The next time I will see The Rolling Stones is in Rome this Sunday...

The first time I saw The Rolling Stones

It was on September 16 1998, when they came for a concert in Athens. This was in fact their second concert in Greece. The first one was in 1967, but it was before my time and it ended in riots anyway, with the police storming in and stopping the concert.

Anyway, in 1998 I did not have a camera with me (digital cameras were very expensive back then), but here are the relevant news report from the Greek television

Setlist

1. Satisfaction
2. Let's Spend The Night Together
3. Flip The Switch
4. Gimme Shelter
5. Anybody Seen My Baby
6. Paint It Black
7. Saint Of Me
8. Out Of Control
9. She's A Rainbow (web choice)
10. Miss You
    -- Introductions --
11. You Don't Have To Mean It (Keith)
12. Wanna Hold You (Keith)
13. Little Queenie (center stage)
14. You Got Me Rocking (center stage)
15. Like A Rolling Stone (center stage)
16. Sympathy For The Devil
17. Tumbling Dice
18. Honky Tonk Women
19. Start Me Up
20. Jumping Jack Flash
21. Brown Sugar (encore) 

And no cowbell in sight!

As it happens, my first concert of evey year involves either The Big Nose Attack or Down & Out. Both bands feature Boogie Man on guitars and vocals and ittle Tonnie on drums. And so it was this year, when the first band I saw live were The Big Nose Attack who were opening for Blue Oyster Cult at Gagarin in Athens. The sound was very good (something which does not always happen at that venue) and that was especially important for The Big Nose Attack who I'm used to seeing in small places.

As for Blue Oyster Cult, they mesmerized the audience, both the young and the old(er) who have spent decades listening to their records. Almost all the favourites were played. even some that were not expected, like "Astronomy"

And there was not a single cowbell in sight!

...and they also played an amazing version of "Gimme Shelter"

Continuing with the local bands, this time it's the turn of Mamma Kin. According to their Facebook page Mamma Kin were formed in 2002 and a year later they released their first demo, which was enough to book them gigs for gigs on all the music scenes of Athens, major festivals (culminating in Rockwave 2012) and more in mainland Greece and the Greek islands. Their music is a mix of 70's hard rock and punk rock 'n' roll, but they have items of their own that ‘‘don’t stick anywhere’’. Their first album entitled'' Crime Does Pay'', was released in 2008 with producer Ottomo (producer of Monika's "Avatar"), and got remarkable reviews. At the end of 2012 the band released their second album entitled'' Silver Bullets''. They have shared the stage with all major Greek rock bands as well as many foreign names such as Marky Ramone, Dead Moon, Nashville Pussy, Fuzztones, Peter Pan Speedrock, Mad Sin, Demented Are Go, etc.

I finally got to see them in December last year at the Zero club in Athens.
The gig was opened by 700 Machines.

Then, Mamma Kin came on playing "rock n roll as it was born, but even more wild, untamed and orgy". 

My favourite was "Rock'N'Roll Spirit" from their second album. 

They played songs from both albums and they also played an amazing version of "Gimme Shelter" before which their bass player informed us that "Keith Richards is 70 years old this week, but he rocks more than anyone of you!"