Rolling Stones - Still got it? POLL!

[Bob]

What's your opinion on the fact that the Stones are still touring? Are they still worth listening to or have they become a sad parody of themselves?

[pledm]

Hi ,
Look they are musicians and they get older,hey look at B B King but no one says if he should retire.I think its great ,heck they love it still,and by the box office numbers so does everyone.
They still do a great show,and no matter where you are at if you had a ticket to see them ,,`you` would go,,so question answered.

[lordjagged]

They should have given it up when Mick Taylor left.

[Summer]

I like thier older stuff way better than their newer stuff myself. Just my opinion though.

[pledm]

Hi all,
its still a great show,we all love the songs,heck I hated the day they fired Brian jones,but I still like the show.if mick can sing and dance and keith can stop climbing trees they will keep it up

[Bob]

If I was given tickets I'd go and see them. But not because I particularly like what they are doing today. More because it is nice to have seen them in real life before they are dead. I only like the stuff they did in the sixties. But if they want to keep performing and enjoy doing so, they can do it because people still want to see them.

[rockandrollphotog]

I've seen them at Hyde Park in July, 1969, various times in the 70s-80s-90s. I'd have to say they could still really put on an intense show music-wise with Mick Taylor. Nowadays the music's still good but ticket prices have gone through the roof & the band's making tons of dough from merchandising, during & after shows. I respect Zeppelin for calling it quits out of respect for Bonham's family & because they knew he couldn't really be replaced. Zeppelin wanted to keep their band's integrity intact--the music & legacy mattered more than keeping the franchise open. But for many bands, especially after the huge hippie gathering, Woodstock, music became regarded as a money-making machine. Ironically the epidome of the ultimate hippie gathering spelled the deathknell for the hippie lifestyle of peace, love and
rejection of the establishment's emphasis on greed, money and power. What do YOU think?

[woodstock]

Yes, it is a shame that all that matters these days is money. Ordinary people can't always afford to go and see bands and often, all the tickets are sold out almost immediately - all bought up by people who intend to sell the tickets for five times the original price.

As for the Stones, hell why not? I'd go see them!

[pledm]

Stones to relocate Belgrade concert to spare horses By Ljilja Cvekic
44 minutes ago



BELGRADE (Reuters) - The Rolling Stones have asked to change the venue for a concert in Belgrade to spare hundreds of horses from enduring a potentially traumatic experience.

The July 14 concert was due to be held at the Serbian capital's Hippodrome racetrack until animal protection society ORCA complained the noise would traumatize the 300 horses kept in the nearby stables.

Reaction to the story of the horses became heated after the news media reported that local hostlers had said they were ready to sedate the animals to keep them calm during the concert.

"The concert will not take place on the Hippodrome," Raka Maric, manager of Music Star Production, told Reuters.

In a letter to ORCA, the organizers said they had been victims of bad publicity, and it was all much ado about nothing.

"The Rolling Stones' band members are great animal lovers," Maric said in the letter. "We didn't manage to convince The Stones' management that the concert would not harm the horses."

The band has never played in Serbia. A 2003 concert was cancelled due to the assassination of then prime minister Zoran Djindjic, and a 2006 date scrapped after guitarist Keith Richards suffered a head injury while on vacation.

The likeliest new venue for the concert is the Usce park at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers. The open space has hosted concerts and big gatherings in the past, such as a rally of the late nationalist strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 1989.

[pledm]

Keith Richards Fumes at Poor Reviews

By KARL RITTER

(AP) In a file photo Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards performs at the Ullevi Stadium in...


STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has demanded an apology from Swedish newspapers for their scathing reviews of the group's performance in the country earlier this month.

Tabloids Expressen and Aftonbladet gave thumbs down to the Aug. 3 concert at Ullevi stadium in Goteborg, with Expressen suggesting Richards was "superdrunk" on stage.

"This is a first!" the 63-year-old rock star wrote in a letter published by Stockholm daily Dagens Nyheter. "Never before have I risen to the bait of a bad review.

"But this time ... I have to stand up ... for our fans all over Sweden ... to say that you owe them, and us, an apology."

Dagens Nyheter said it received the letter from concert organizer EMA Telstar. Company head Thomas Johansson told The Associated Press that Richards wrote the letter and gave it to him after reading translations of the Swedish reviews.

"There were 56,000 people in Ullevi stadium who bought a ticket to our concert - and experienced a completely different show than the one you 'reviewed,'" the letter said.

"How dare you cheapen the experience for them - and for the hundreds of thousands of other people across Sweden who weren't at Ullevi and have only your 'review' to go on.

"Write the truth. It was a good show."

In his review, Aftonbladet's music writer Markus Larsson gave the concert a score of two on a five-point scale, and said Richards appeared "a bit confused."

"I am not going to apologize for my subjective opinion," Larsson told the paper's Web edition on Wednesday. "It is Keith who should apologize. After all it costs around 1,000 kronor ($145) to see a rock star who can hardly handle the (guitar) riff to 'Brown Sugar' any more."

Glad to see Keith still has it.

[plantlady]

I haven't seen the Stones in ages, but I have a friend who sees them every time they come around. He says they just get better and better. After all, they are the ultimate professionals, and sure do keep in practice. I'd advise, like pledm, if you get the chance and you want to have big fun, go see the Stones!

[pledm]

Rolling Stones tour grossed more than $500 mln

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - The final tally on the Rolling Stones' two-year world tour is in and it topped a half billion -- making it the top grossing trek in history.

The staggering total -- $558,255,524, to be exact -- was accumulated between August 21, 2005, and August 26, when the "Bigger Bang" tour wrapped at the O2 arena in London after a second European leg.

The box office gross figure was provided to Billboard by longtime Stones tour producer Michael Cohl. The tour long ago passed the old record, set by U2's 2005-06 Vertigo tour, which topped out at $389 million. The previous mark had been the Stones' $320 million Voodoo Lounge tour of 1994-95.

According to Cohl, 4.68 million tickets were sold on the 144 "Bigger Bang" shows, which saw the Stones visit such countries as Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro for the first time. The rockers also visited smaller North American cities such as Wichita, Kansas; Louisville, Kentucky; Missoula, Montana; and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The tour was certainly not without its challenges, including the infamous head injury suffered by guitarist Keith Richards during a Fijian break in April 2006.

"It was a long tour, but more than anything it was fantastic," Cohl told Billboard. "We had to overcome a lot; this was like Homer's Odyssey. There were all sorts of difficulties to overcome and it turned out to be just one amazing triumph."

Reuters/Billboard

Ya I think they still got it. ;D

[plantlady]

Amen to that, my brother.