Twenty-eight years ago last December, the Rolling Stones endedtheir 1969 tour at a racetrack in Northern California calledAltamont. The concert was free. It ended with three fans dead, butmany say the band never played better.
Last night, the Stones ended their "Bridges to Babylon" tour atthe United Center. Many of the seats cost $300. There were noproblems, and the band was considerably tighter than when it startedthis tour at Soldier Field seven months ago.
But there was no hint of danger, intensity, immediacy orunbridled passion - the ingredients that make for great rock 'n'roll.Somewhere in between there's got to be a happy medium.Granted, Mick Jagger and company were much better whenexperienced indoors with an excellent sound system and no giantballoons or superfluous fireworks to distract from what should mattermost: the music.But the veteran rockers played 15 of the same songs theyperformed on Sept. 23. They opened the same ("Satisfaction") andclosed the same ("You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "BrownSugar"). These and most of their other choices were dull andpredictable. There were no surprises - not even an invitation toopener Buddy Guy to jam on "I Just Want to Make Love to You."Next week, local heroes Cheap Trick are nodding to their ownhistory with four nights at Metro. They'll perform one of theirfirst four albums each night. Wouldn't it have been great if theStones came out and played all of "Exile on Main Street" or "StickyFingers" or "Let It Bleed"?They still would have sold out the United Center, but they wouldhave had to stretch to play some of those killer tunes that theyhaven't touched in decades now. They would have had to challengeeach other and the audience.Instead, they were still on autopilot, just as they were thefirst night. Yes, it was working better now. Mick didn't lose hisbreath as much or try quite as many silly moves. Keith and Ronweren't quite so sloppy. Charlie . . . well, Charlie was great onnight one and he was great last night, too. At least we can alwayscount on him.The folks who paid $300 a ticket heard 21 songs - $14.29 pertune. Instead of one night with a human jukebox, they could havebought one of the Stones' albums on CD for every tune they heard.They'd have been much better off if the music is what they careabout.I suspect that it isn't. I suspect that seeing the Stones onthis tour was partly a status symbol - you want to impress people bythe fact that you were there, like seeing the Bulls as this seasonwinds down - and partly a mega-entertainment event "that no oneshould miss," like "Titanic."Sorry, but I expect much, much more from rock 'n' roll. Iexpect more from the Rolling Stones.
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