A MUCH BIGGER BANG

The Rolling Stones
The Rogers Centre, Toronto
Monday September 26, 2005

The fact that the Rolling Stones were playing in Toronto the day after the Austin City Limits Festival was too much of a temptation to resist, even though there were strong rumours that they would be in Australia next year.

Here was the chance to see them on what might be their final North American tour and to preview the new set that allowed fans to actually sit on stage. Not that I needed too much convincing. In 1999 I saw them in Chicago then flew back to San Francisco and drove down to San Jose to see them again.

There is something about the Stones in front of the more demonstrative North American audience that appeals to me – something of the feel of that famous 1973 Australian tour. Then again, they were the first band I ever saw, so do I need more of an excuse than that?

In 1999 I managed to get a backstage pass courtesy of a friend who had seen the band 100 times! But I found myself amongst a host of Japanese business executives and quickly left. This time I again managed to score backstage access thanks to the fact that I was interviewing our fiend Chuck Leavell and I managed to find the Rattlesnake Inn where I enjoyed several beers and some tasty food.

In fact, it was in search of some more nourishment that I happened to run into Mick Jagger on his way out of the VIP area. It was here that I had the chance to address the lead singer of my favourite band of all time with some unforgettably pithy remark. But as Mick shuffled towards me on his way to the dressing room I could not think of one thing to say that would be even remotely pithy, relevant or even vaguely amusing. ‘Hi Mick,’ seemed so passÈ. I nodded. He nodded. Then he was gone. I was pithed off.

However, I can tell you that Jagger is short (at least five centimetres shorter than me) and that he is thin, almost whippet-like at 63.5kg (I like to tell people I am nearly twice the man he is!). Not thin because he is now sixty-two years old but thin because he is probably fitter than almost another man of his age anywhere.

At first glance the huge stage set at Toronto's Rogers Centre - formerly the Skydome and now renamed in the usual commercial manner - appears to be part of the building.

Yet after a few minutes, when the whole scene sinks in, you realise that the skyscraper-like structures, with their layers of glass and bright-grey aluminium that flank the stage, are actually part of what has to be the largest set in rock history. Maybe U2's Zooropa tour is a rival. It is like a scene from a science fiction epic and difficult to imagine how designer Mark Fischer brought this to life.

Contained within the set and overlooking the stage are punters who have paid a premium price to be there. (It's an innovation you hope doesn't catch on). At the rear is a huge screen with smaller screens also flanking either side of the stage.

It is daunting sight and one that is moved between cities by 100 trucks - a convoy so large it could have evacuated New Orleans in the face of Hurricane Katrina and probably been there quicker and done the job more efficiently than the US government.

This stage set screams big with a capital 'B'! Unlike the last Stones' tour, which had many arena shows and a cut down set, this truly is A Bigger Bang, as the title of the latest album suggests. It's not rock 'n' roll, it's bigger than that.

What you get with this gargantuan set is a visual experience that will stay with you long after the sound of the music has faded. It is a huge stadium show that almost all other bands eschew these days for purely practical purposes and which probably only the Stones could, or would dare to, pull off successfully.

Given the size of the stage and of the stadium (which is usually used for baseball and football), it would seem a difficult task for any band to adequately communicate with an audience of 50,000 spread out into the high reaches of the steep tiers that enclose the field. My seat on the lower reaches - around what would be the half forward flank in Aussie Rules - turned out to be almost perfect.

The Stones' sound is massive and they have rock's most charismatic front man in Mick Jagger, a performer who can somehow turn a stadium into a club.

And make no mistake, from the time the band emerges on stage after a brief and spectacular video and they kick into 'Start Me Up', Jagger works harder in two hours than most 60 year-olds do in a week. He is lithe and lean (63 kilos according to one local paper) in his silver lamÈ jacket and black t-shirt and he is in fine voice.

By my reckoning the stage and its wings are at last 75 metres long, Jagger runs, skips and hops across it with an astonishing amount of energy. Maybe this is why there are no back-to-back gigs and only three or four concerts a week on this tour. I felt tired just looking at him!

Then there is Keith Richards, the old 'pirate' himself, as wrinkled as ever, cigarette in the side of his mouth, headband on, white scarf hanging over his shoulder, slashing at his guitar. To his left, Ronnie Wood looks as impossibly thin as the lead singer and plays lead guitar, rhythm or lap steel. And sitting at the drums is the seemingly imperturbable Charlie Watts, occasionally grinning like a man who has won the lottery but is not telling anyone.

Through 'You Got Me Rocking' and 'She's So Cold' the Stones and their band seem to shift into high gear. 'Tumbling Dice' features an excellent guitar solo from Wood. 'Rough Justice', from the latest album, is almost a throwaway before a tough version of 'Ruby Tuesday' becomes the first sing along of the evening.

Then Jagger picks up an acoustic guitar and launches into 'Dead Flowers' followed by 'Bitch' - both from Sticky Fingers. On their last tour the band would highlight a particular classic album each night but this seems to be the closest we'll get this time around.

And while the four Stones are the main focus of all the publicity (and most of the screen shots that appear), the other members of the remarkably long-lived backing band are the pillars on which the music is constructed. In fact, it is amazing how good the sound is in this cavernous expanse - crisp, clear and loud but not distorted.

Bassist Daryl Jones once played with Miles Davis; keyboardist Chuck Leavell, a 23 year veteran of the band, played in the Allman Brothers Band and has a CV as long as your arm; tenor sax player Bobby Keyes' association goes back to Sticky Fingers; backing singers Bernard Fowler and Lisa Fischer have great voices in their own right. These are musicians' musicians.

On 'Night Time Is the Right Time', a tribute to Ray Charles (pictures of him appear on the screens), Fisher is given the first chance of the evening to exchange vocals with Jagger. It is one of the highlights of the entire night.

Keith Richards then takes centre stage for a bracket of 'The Worst' and a rollicking version of 'Infamy'. I enjoy Richards' voice and it seems to me that in his downtime from the Stones he might well consider putting together the X-Pensive Winos again. It would be welcome.

When Jagger returns for 'Miss You' the key band members gather centre stage and then an amazing thing happens. Their section of the stage pops up and starts moving on some sort of trolley to the rear of the stadium as the band keeps playing. By the end of the song they are playing to a completely new section of the audience - which is good because those way up the back seemed sadly neglected for a while.

The band stays there for 'Oh No, Not You Again' and '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction'. Then as 'Honky Tonk Women' gets under way the stage starts to move back to its original position. It is a spectacular effect and one that, along with the set, puts the steep ticket price into perspective.

The first strains of 'Sympathy For The Devil' elicit two huge flames from the sides of the set and I can actually feel the heat. Jagger re-emerges in black coat and hat and leads the chorus as he dances across the stage.

Closing with 'Brown Sugar' and 'Jumpin'Jack Flash' and an encore of 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' and 'It's Only Rock 'N' Roll' ensures that everyone goes away humming the hits as a fireworks display lights the stadium.

The disappointment of the evening was that they did not perform 'Back Of My Hand', the blues song from A Bigger Bang. It would have been a nice touch and it is worthy of an airing. I know it's my hobbyhorse but a blues excursion for a few songs would be a worthwhile addition to the set.

As the four main Stones bow to the crowd and left the stage to thunderous applause it occurred to me that the single most important musician in the band is Charlie Watts. His drumming has been the steady engine that has driven the band. Keith and Ron certainly seemed to be playing with a lot of energy and verve, not just going through the motions, but when they veered Watt's beat was there like a metronome for everyone to follow.

The other thing that occurs to me is that the songs from A Bigger Bang were introduced almost perfunctorily. You would think that, having made their best album for decades, they would be hyping it a little more or at least being a bit more upbeat about it.

There is some talk that this might be the final Rolling Stones tour and you really cannot imagine the band in a few years time, with all the members in their mid-60s, embarking again on such a huge undertaking - wandering around the world for months on end with a gargantuan stage set. Mick Jagger has to slow down some time and when he does it is more likely that they will play arenas or even theatres in shorter stints.

This is a strangely meandering tour, wandering across North America like some sort of drunken caravan. From Toronto to Pittsburgh to Washington and on into February and March when it reaches Puerto Rico, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and back to Los Angeles before a flit across to Little Rock, Arkansas. There are no consecutive gigs and no more than three gigs in week. And there is a month off from early December to nearly mid-January. It seems to belie the notion that the Stone are only touring for the money; if they were they could get it over a lot quicker.

Whatever the logistics they choose in future it is hard to imagine that the Rolling Stones will not be touring again. They seem to love it up there on the stage too much.