No Smoking In Glasgow

I have probably heard around twenty-five shows from the Bigger Bang tour in bootleg form now. This is one of the better ones for some reason. It is soundboard quality, no crowd noise, great balance. But what really attracted me was the great version of Sway.


The RS messageboards were going a bit nuts when the band unleashed Sway during the last tour and I was excited to hear it too. I have one other version from the Stateside tour, but the Glasgow version is superior due to the bigger guitar sound that I think the song needs. It has more swing in this version.

I know that my Rolling Stones writing output has been sporadic at best throughout 2008. I never followed up on Shine A Light, but it was an amazing experience I should have written about. I really felt like I had seen the band after the film was over. I saw at the Imax as I imagine it was meant to be seen and I wish I had gone back.

At the same time, the film made me a bit sad. Although the band always tries hard to come across as very "now" it felt a bit like a swan song for their live act. I always feel like this inbetween tours when it seems impossible that the beast could come back to life, but I wonder if it will really happen again or if I will see it when it does. I hope so.

Shine A Light

I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to Shine A Light or not. As you can see from my lack of updates, I may have burned out on the Stones temporarily. Also, the madness surrounding the Led Zeppelin reunion last fall sent me into a vortex of Zeppelin material from which I am only now emerging.

So having burned out on my obsessive tracking of the Bigger Bang tour, I'm uncertain about revisiting it, although the Beacon shows filmed for Shine A Light are clearly out of the ordinary. First of all, the setlist is something we haven't seen in decades.


Because I am rather oblivious to the illegality of it all, I downloaded the soundtrack this afternoon and had a listen. I need more time to digest it though. It sounded totally different than Live Licks, but maybe this is a good thing? More ragged, more strung out. On the other hand, I had a creeping fear that perhaps the band itself sounded played out. Is it possible? I need more time.

In any case, I'll be out next weekend to see the film and it might give me a better perspective on the soundtrack. Until then...