The Rolling Stones Revue gathers some of Australia\u2019s best and fairest singers and instrumentalists for the celebration of a classic album and a non-stop, knees-up eisteddfod of Greatest Hits.<\/p>\n
Written by Murray Bramwell<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s Adelaide Guitar Festival featured an excellent tribute to the incomparable Jeff Beck. This time around it is the pre-eminent rock and roll guitar band, The Rolling Stones. Sixty years on, and they are still out there on the (gold paved) road, filling stadiums like there is no tomorrow. Mick is now 81 and Keith (a medical miracle in his own lifetime) is not far behind.<\/p>\n
Headlining Adalita (formerly in Magic Dirt) Sarah McLeod (from SA\u2019s own Superjesus) Tex Perkins (The Cruel Sea and much more) and Steve Kilbey (stepping out of The Church to visit the Gilded Palace of Sin) Rolling Stones Revue has been touring the country and is now here at Her Majesty\u2019s.<\/p>\n
The show is in two sections. The first, a full performance of the 1971 Sticky<\/em> Fingers<\/em> album, and the second, a sampling of hits from the mid-Sixties onwards.<\/p>\n Regarded by many as one of their best albums Sticky Fingers<\/em> was the Stones\u2019s ninth studio album, some of it recorded at the famous Muscle Shoals Studio in Alabama, the rest in London. It was their first recording without founding member Brian Jones and the debut for guitar wizard, Mick Taylor.<\/p>\n First up is \u201cBrown Sugar\u201d, a song quietly dropped from the band\u2019s setlist because of calls for its cancellation for its many perceived cultural transgressions. Launched in full vocal roar by Sarah McLeod, with some hyperactive dance moves, the song is much altered by the female gaze, its lascivious lyrics now more playful than predatory.<\/p>\n The band gets into stride – Jak Housden on lead guitar sharing those irresistibly descending chord chops with fellow strummer James Christowski. Drummer Gordon Rytmeister sets the rock steady tempo in tandem with bassist Dario Bortolin \u2013 Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman are being well represented. The sax solo by Winston Smith is the excellent first of many.<\/p>\n Tex Perkins enters to take the mic for \u201cSway\u201d. His delivery is a Tex drawl not a strangulated Mick, but it captures the feel of the original and this initial restraint gives him space to ramp it up later in the show.<\/p>\n For \u201cWild Horses\u201d (the songs are in strict album order) he is joined by Adalita for the first of a series of duets which are a strength in the show. The familiar country rock lament, with its keening refrain, reminds us that this is one of Jagger\/Richards\u2019 finest songwriting efforts. Housden and Christowski\u2019s guitars standing in for the slide and 12 string in the original, capture the tender yearning in the song all the same.<\/p>\n McLeod returns to lead the charge with \u201cCan You Hear Me Knocking\u201d, her stage moves perhaps over-frenetic (especially as the many and varied stage back projections feature too many Jagger swaggerisms to invite comparison). The extended instrumental section gives us more of Winston Smith\u2019s reed playing \u2013 Bobby Keys would be well pleased with its grainy expressive timbre, and Housden again excels.<\/p>\n When assembling the album The Stones were worried there were too many \u201cslow\u201d songs and the mood too downbeat. In fact, it this decision to trust the listener to pay closer attention that marks Sticky Fingers<\/em> as mature and enduring work. This is evident in performance when Perkins and Steve Kilbey share vocals on \u201cYou Gotta Move \u201cwith pensive slide guitar from Christowski and lock-step slow march rhythm from bass and drums. This is repeated by Perkins, braced at the mic as though in a force nine gale singing \u201cI Got The Blues\u201d, with keyboard player, Rob Woolfe supplying excellent lashings of Hammond.<\/p>\n Having already acquitted well with \u201cBitch\u201d, Steve Kilbey delivers a poignant low-key reading of \u201cSister Morphine\u201d with its grimly confessional lyric by Marianne Faithfull. The guitarists supply acoustic and slow, melancholic slide embellishment, the bass and drum are a dull heartbeat gradually building to agitation, and Kilbey\u2019s measured vocal captures the quiet desperation of Faithfull\u2019s own stark world weary rendition.<\/p>\n Adalita\u2019s terrific \u201cDead Flowers\u201d with its country lilt and ragged company piano from Rob Woolfe is another highlight. As is the final song \u201cMoonlight Mile\u201d. From the haunting guitar intro -Jak Housden coaxing sweet sad melodies from his red Gibson, to Perkins and Adalita\u2019s almost ethereal vocals, plus the thrumming bass and soft cymbal percussion, it is a mordant serenade to the end of the album. The tenth sticky finger (if you count thumbs) is also the conclusion to a memorable first set.<\/p>\n The second half is the fun bit. McLeod lifts the pace with \u201cStart Me Up\u201d, Tex puts on a coloured shirt for \u201cHonky Tonk Women\u201d, Adalita wears a tinsel-fringed jacket for \u201cTumbling Dice\u201d and Kilbey, a psychedelic shirt for \u201c2000 Light Years from Home\u201d. Her Majesty\u2019s is turning satanic with portentous piano chords from Woolfe.<\/p>\n \u201cGet Off My Cloud\u201d is a singalong led by Adalita \u2013 many of those joining in very likely bought the Decca single in 1965. It is definitely a seniors crowd. The band hits another high with the downcast \u2018Paint it Black\u201d sung by Tex, and spiralling into a dervish dance with Jak Housden\u2019s hypnotic, extended guitar solo.<\/p>\n After Kilbey leads the audience choir in \u201cLet\u2019s Spend the Night Together\u201d, Perkins releases his inner Mick with some cockerel strutting on \u201cMiss You\u201d and spreads some lyric sheets on the floor to help navigate a chilling version of \u201cSympathy for The Devil\u201d. And, for The Big Chill moment, the show closes with \u201cYou Can\u2019t Always Get What You Want\u201d<\/p>\n For encores, Perkins morphs into \u201cJumping Jack Flash\u201d and the whole company of top-rate musicians converge \u2013 just a shout away \u2013 with a terrific performance of \u201cGimme Shelter\u201d. \u201c(I Can\u2019t Get No) Satisfaction\u201d seemed an unlikely closer \u2013 given that the crowd was on its feet, singing and going bonkers. As was I. But, for me, the first set – the 1971 album in its entirety- was the real triumph. By a moonlight mile.<\/p>\n Rolling Stones Revue<\/em> was performed for the Adelaide Guitar Festival at Her Majesty\u2019s on September 14.<\/p>\n Published InDaily September 15.<\/p>\n Guitar Festival review: Rolling Stones Revue<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n