Again, The Rolling Stones deliver a great show!
With a setlist once again altered by songs like Sad Sad Sad, Get Off Of My Cloud and Beast Of Burden, this is another nice variant of the setlist played so far.
This show was another good one. But still, not as good as LA II, as far as I can tell. And exactly this is the problem: judging a show like Tampa solely from the live streams available at the time and given their VERY limited quality, it’s very hard to judge anything even remotely just. You only can get a very small taste of the actual event. But then, there’s a tiny, little advantage: If you’re at the gig, the sheer volume keeps many details under cover. The live streams or YouTube videos, however are different. The algorithms of mobiles or cameras level the volume down and you get a completely different sound experience.
Thus, the experience of being there and watching via the internet from afar differes greatly. Nevertheless, I have come to great respect for Mick, Keith and Ronnie for delivering as they did so far on this tour.
As for Tampa, “Ghost Town” via the stream last night was not really convincing. But check out the YouTube video below – I had tears in my eyes and find they delivered that song mighty fine. Another highlight, if you want, is “Sad Sad Sad”. The first time added to the setlist for the first time on this tour, this was a nice addition. And the song delivered well until it was Kaith’s time to do the solo. He completely missed the right scale. In the video below, you can see Mick looking back as he walks along the catwalk to engage the audience, thinking ‘What’s going on here?’. The video, taken from the pit perspective, has the sound of the stage monitors for the most part, and less that from the PA. So what really puzzles me here is that Keith kept on playing the wrong notes as if he couldn’t hear his guitar from the stage monitors. But thast’s not really the case, right? Not with a production of that scale and quality they have running now. And, too, Keith is not deaf. So that would be a question I really would like to have answered. I bet, Mick and Keith will discuss those moments with the production team running this tour, as they will have done with this fabulous incident with the missing 10string acoustic guitar for Wild Horses before…
The press
tampabay.com – In Tampa, the Rolling Stones have got what you need
photos.cltampa.com – The Rolling Stones revisit their favorite local memories in brawny, assertive return to Tampa Bay“[…] Still, it’s unfathomable that a group made up of core members who have been at it for the better part of 60 years can still pack in fans at a football stadium. The Rolling Stones can still attract an audience that ranges from 20-somethings to great grandparents who know it’s only rock and roll…but they all seem to still like it. “
