FRIDAY June 21st: ROLLING STONES 50/ Philly #2

THE ultimate GROUPIE got GREEDY! TWO Rolling Stones concerts in ONE week!
And SO, here is how Rolling Stones junkie Steve Raymond saw things on Friday night in South Philadelphia..

MICK Jagger, the ageless cat howlin' and prowlin' and tearing up the Wells Fargo Center! This man CAN'T be stopped..AND we thank our depleted billfold$ for it!

Friday night in Philly exploded before 18,000 FREAK-A-ZOID fans much like Tuesday night! "HEY, Hey, hee, hee Get OFF of My Cloud(sung). The sing-a-long began! Boundless energy from a symphony element in it's 50th year, blowing the roof off the big house! The hairs on my neck (and back) stood up on setlist selection #2, It's ONLY Rock N Roll, BUT I like it, LIKE IT, YES I do!"

ALL the records that I've been collecting since I bought that first HONKY TONK WOMEN 45 RPM vinyl record at Strawberry Records in Bloomfield Connecticut's Copaco Shopping Center in 1969, came alive one after the other!

NO Opening act: A+++

PICK Of the night: Can't You Hear Me Knocking featuring original guitarist Mick Taylor!
While Taylor seemed to having monitor or technical issues during the extended play and appearing to be yelling at sound technicians/tuners during the song, it was a cool, bluesy effort on the entire collaboration! For Mick Taylor's outward dismay and arrogance I give a C- but total group collaboration was: A+

Selection #5 featured guest Aaron Neville and the legendary Drifters song Under The Boardwalk.
Generally, I h-a-t-e 50's and 60's pop AND there was NO exception on this night. I am not familiar with Neville's body of work BUT it best mimicked a bad effort of "pull somebody from the crowd" Karaoke! Terrible and unnecessary! Neville, a man of zero personality and showmanship on stage looked like he was "mailing in" the vocal effort even though his old friend and producer Keith Richards gave him a resounding grin and hug as the song finished up. Keith, by the way, produced and played guitar parts on Neville's most recent My True Story album of which peaked at #7 on the charts. I am not sure which charts those would be.  F 

The BOYS' restored our confidence with a launch into WHEN The Whip Comes Down, my all-time favorite track on 1978's Some Girls release. Rockin, Keith guitar prowess and Mick slinking around the stage like he's 20! (He turns 70 on July 26th)*  A

Honky Tonk Women, of which I've got several different LIVE' performances of this song stored for personal listening was ROCKIN'. Chuck Leavelle, all the way from Honky Tonk land, Georgia USA did not disappoint! He is master of the keyboard with unassuming, yet great flair! What great talent in this band and every single player woven into one another to create the perfect listening experience! A++

Keith ROCKED with Happy, not included in Tuesday night's (6/18) setlist . It's one of my personal favorites since purchasing the Exile On Main Street Vinyl in 1972: B+

Longtime Stones Saxophonist Bobby Keys was superb on the instrumental of Brown Sugar! Bobby also showed his finesse on the Listener request pick of the night, Can't You Hear Me Knockin': A+

CROWD: What a difference three whole nights makes! What a difference early in the week (Tuesday) and Friday going into a weekend can be. Tuesday: Adult, cool, calm, collected yet appreciative and singing loudly! Friday: Younger drunk crowd makes their unwelcome  presence felt. Sloppy drunk, groping, stumbling into seats in front, behind and next-to throughout the performance. Obscenities, threats and slurring comments like "F##@k YOU, I paid for these seats," was a constant. You want to fight back or at the very least laugh and jeer and point fingers directly BUT never a good idea with humans depleted of cognitive brain function. The good news is, these folks, actually far and few between and MOST in my section, would pass out or walk out and never reappear . F

SOUND: The sound wasn't as clear and crisp on Friday night as it was on Tuesday. It was sometimes very "tinny" and with a blown woofer sound of imbalance. Guitar riffs weren't as dazzling and inspirational as Tuesday night, when I teared' up during It's Only Rock N Roll' and Brown Sugar. I'm not sure WHY the sound was deficient and I even went back and forth with ear plugs for bass feel, to no avail.  I felt good about making the two-night investment all the same. C

OVERALL: B