nuzzaci - an online journal

It’s a different thing going to a concert and seeing a band where the members are old enough to be your dad. Next to the tick-boxes on your criteria sheet you will not find:

• [ ] stage dived
• [ ] climbed the stage scaffold
• [ ] trashed instrument
• [ ] jumped into the drum kit
• [ ] good contact with audience
• [ ] tight
• [ ] good sound

You expect routine and brilliance most bands totally lack, purely due to less experience. You expect that the fact that they have been playing and performing together longer than you have been alive should show and amaze you.

Other bands that I have seen that falls into the same category are, in chronological order:

• Iggy Pop, 1967
• Black Sabbath, 1968
• AC/DC, 1973
• Ramones, 1974
• Mötorhead, 1975

The latest member to be added to this list is, as you might have figure out, the daddy for many rock bands – The Rolling Stones, 1962. But I’m afraid that it is the list’s weakest member.

Before I start ranting on about my disappointment and so on, I must confess that I don’t know The Rolling Stones. I didn’t listen to them growing up and I haven’t had much enjoyment of them later in life. I don’t own a single Rolling Stones album or memory. This is simply because what I have heard is nothing I’ve been too impressed with… but looking back on my list again – that was the case with Iggy Pop and The Ramones as well and they didn’t disappoint me.

Basically this is what I knew before the concert, and some of it may not be all true (don’t see it as facts):
I knew that Mick Jagger is the lead singer, and that he has impregnated a lot of women around the world and likes to date and marry models. Even though it might look like he’s related to Aerosmith Steve Taylor and the guitar god Steve Vai, he’s not. I knew that the guitarist is Keith Richards, and that he really likes wearing a bandana around his head, John Rambo style, and a Fender Telecaster resting on his left shoulder.
I knew that their most famous graphic representation is the tongue and lip logo… and I kind of knew that they wrote the song Sympathy for the Devil and Satisfaction.

So my hopes on this gig weren’t high, I just wanted to get an explanation and understanding on why The Rolling Stones are one of the longest running and most successful rock acts in show business, and why they keep filling stadiums and arenas around the world, being the highest grossing act the year that they tour. I didn’t expect to leave the stadium in south west London buying a tongue belt clip and going home with an urge to learn how to play the songs on the guitar. I just wanted to understand. Which, you might have figured out – I didn’t.

Maybe they are to old, but then should they play? It felt almost like if you took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in the museum instead of the theatre. The stage looked and felt oversized. When Mick or Keith moved over to the far end of the stage, to salute the people sitting on the sides, everyone stood up and applaud – it felt like we applaud the fact that they actually made the afford to make it over.
It definitely didn’t sound like these boys have been playing together for what, 44 years? And that you can’t even justify with old age, maybe old age in combination with a lot of drugs, but then again – should they play if they can’t actually play. Parts were dreadful. The sound were horrible.
What’s up with all the changing of clothes? When did changing clothes between every other song become a part of a rock act?
And if you have been to a few bigger concerts you weren’t impressed by the show either – the fire, the moving stage, the big screens. 80000 people payed about £150 each. That should be enough to make something a bit more spectacular. Again, they are suppose to be the highest grossing act the year that they tour.

I know, they probably changed the cause of rock history. They probably have inspired thousands of bands. 10 years ago they probably held amazing shows. I should probably shout the F up and show them some respect. But that was then – thanks you. Not now.

I think most people, including me, go to see The Rolling Stones because people say that The Rolling Stones is one of those things you should see (before they die). People, including me, go to see them so that they can tell other people they have seen them and the person being told knows who ‘They’ are. Most people don’t know the history. Most people don’t know the songs. Most people are people like me. And if I hadn’t gotten the ticket for free – I wouldn’t have gone. And if anyone is planning to go and see one of the best rock acts in the world ever – please book tickets for AC/DC. They will never ever let anyone down. I believe, and hope – the day they can’t play – they don’t.

The name Rolling Stones comes from the the proverb “A rolling stone gathers no moss”, which has two meanings: 1) people pay a price for being always on the move, in that they have no roots in a specific place (the original meaning); 2) people who keep moving avoid picking up responsibilities and cares.

So that’s the relationship between the band ‘The Rolling Stones’ and the Bob Dylan song ‘Like A Rolling Stone’… that, the proverb, and maybe the irony of coincidence between the proverb, the band and the lyric of Bob Dylans song.

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
People’d call, say, “Beware doll, you’re bound to fall”
You thought they were all kiddin’ you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin’ out
Now you don’t talk so loud
Now you don’t seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?