The Rolling Stones Comerica Park, Detroit July 8th 2015

Rolling Stones gig is a unique occasion for many reasons, and looking around at the expectant faces before these septuagenarians strolled and strutted onto the Comerica Park stage on the most recent leg of their Zip Code tour, shows the universal and generation encompassing appeal they still command, not just here in the states, but worldwide, some 50 years after their first world tour. For many people seeing the Rolling Stones is a box ticked on a bucket list, one of those must see bands. For others it’s a three hour journey back in time. Whatever the reason, the…

Review Overview

Exhilarating

Summary : Regardless if you are a fan previously, it is a delight to witness a group of guys doing what they do best – playing great music, and playing it to perfection.

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A Rolling Stones gig is a unique occasion for many reasons, and looking around at the expectant faces before these septuagenarians strolled and strutted onto the Comerica Park stage on the most recent leg of their Zip Code tour, shows the universal and generation encompassing appeal they still command, not just here in the states, but worldwide, some 50 years after their first world tour.

For many people seeing the Rolling Stones is a box ticked on a bucket list, one of those must see bands. For others it’s a three hour journey back in time. Whatever the reason, the Stones, and especially iconic front man Mick Jagger understand why people have paid top dollar to come and see them and are determined that every single one of them won’t go home disappointed. And hand on heart I can guarantee that each and every one of them – grandmother to grandson, hipster to former hippy, black and white – who witnessed this scintillating two and a quarter hour set would not have.

There was no going through the motions, no just another day at the office to get one more cheque featuring more zeros than the mere mortals gazing up at the stage can dream of.

Regardless if you are a fan previously, it is a delight to witness a group of guys doing what they do best – playing great music, and playing it to perfection.

Unlike many of their contemporaries and the multitudes of people who have tried – mainly unsuccessfully to follow in their shoes, the Rolling Stones understand that they are there to entertain. And entertain they certainly did. From the first chords that blazed out from Keith Richards’ guitar on set opener Jumpin’ Jack Flash to the mammoth but oh so sumptuous re working of the closer (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, this was 110% pure entertainment. Hit after head nodding, foot tapping, arm waving hit greeted and treated the ecstatic crowd, but what made this night even more special, was the subtle re-workings that the band gave to the numbers. An extended riff here, a harmonica solo there, almost all of the classics were given a reworking, and without fail, they worked. This was the Stones at their bluesy best.

It may be no surprise that they decided to change thinks for this tour. It’s their first time on the road without long time saxophonist Bobby keys who succumbed to cirrhosis of the liver last year and it also comes barely 16 months after Jagger lost his partner L’Wren Scott.

Closing your eyes, or looking away from the stage – something that is easier said than done, Jagger is a performer who constantly grabs your attention – the soaring riffs and sometimes melancholy but always sumptuous vocals take you back in time, so when you once again focus on these rag tag bunch of extravagantly dressed grandfathers on stage it never fails to give a little jolt to the system. But a good, life affirming jolt.

The Zip Code tour has gone back to basics in terms of the stage theatrics and production. Gone are the pyrotechnics and gimmicks that were a feature of recent world tours, this is a very much stripped down affair, and it works. Anything would struggle to take the spotlight away from the 4 legends on stage, but it is obvious that the intention is to make the music the star of the evening. The set list – changing subtly every night to accommodate a nod to local roots, and performers, is like the perfect juke box selection, and it gets the balance just right. Gone are the more stodgy, swampier numbers that have occasionally marred – if only slightly – previous tours, and picking a highlight would be like choosing your favourite child.

Seeing them on stage, talking to each other literally, or with their instruments, it is obvious that they still very much love doing what they do, and that they are very comfortable in their own skin. Even if that skin isn’t quite as taut and blemish free as it once was.

Regardless if you are a fan previously, it is a delight to witness a group of guys doing what they do best – playing great music, and playing it to perfection.

Set List:

Jumpin’ Jack Flash
It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It)
All Down the Line
Tumbling Dice
Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)
Rocks Off
Moonlight Mile
Bitch
Honky Tonk Women
Before They Make Me Run
Happy
Midnight Rambler
Miss You
Gimme Shelter
Start Me Up
Sympathy for the Devil
Brown Sugar
Encore:

You Can’t Always Get What You Want
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction


 

 

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