Old faithful

The Stones aren't fading away

by Matt Ashare

The lights go down, a ferociously amplified lion's roar fills the stadium, quieting the crowd, and the curtains part to reveal a giant circular video monitor filled with a sci-fi image that brings to mind Stargate. If you've been surfing the Net for advance reviews, then you know what happens next -- you're about to hear the signature riff of the classic Rolling Stones anti-anthem "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," the once unruly offspring of an ambitious English R&B outfit who are now old enough to be those Hanson boys' parents, played by a guy who's their grandparents' age. But even knowing all that ahead of time doesn't counter the explosive rush of nostalgia-laced adrenaline that accompanies hearing Keith Richards actually play those 10 fuzzed-out notes on his Telecaster for the first time tonight, even if this is the thousandth time you've heard it. Because this is the Stones, the greatest rock-and-roll band in the history of world, and these guys are more comfortable jamming in football stadiums than most people are singing in the shower.

So, with Mick Jagger dolled up in a matador red-and-black jacket/pants ensemble, Keith in a leopardskin long coat, and Charlie Watts wearing the kind of casual button-top sweater my own grandfather once favored, the Stones greeted Foxboro once again, as the Bridges to Babylon tour settled in, like Steel Wheels and Voodoo Lounge before it, for the first of two nights of stadium rock last Monday. Surrounded but never dwarfed by an eyesore of an Egyptian-themed stage flanked by two giant gold hermaphrodite ant-women and, when the remainder of the curtains parted mid set, a pair of even larger inflatable gold goddesses, the Stones went through their old routine (greatest hits, a few cult classics, and a couple of cuts from the new disc) with only a couple of minor modifications. There was the Internet pick-of-the-night, a tune chosen by visitors to the band's official Web site: "Star Star," which Mick introduced with a liberal dose of "fuckers." And there was the U2-style small-stage routine, whereby Mick, Keith, Ronnie, and Charlie walked across a bridge to a mid-stadium platform, where they were joined by bassist Daryl Jones and pianist Chuck Leavell for a relatively bare-bones spin through some real oldies like "Little Queenie" and "The Last Time."

But the second-stage journey back to their bar-band roots was really just a formality: the secret to the Stones' stadium success has always been their ability to treat even giant stages of their own construction with a bit of ironic contempt, and maybe indifference. Technological advances have only made it easier to hear how truly torn and frayed Keith's jutting guitar riffs are on a tune like "It's Only Rock and Roll" or the new "Flip the Switch," not to mention how instinctively Charlie and Ron Wood seem to find the groove of tunes like "Gimme Shelter," "Tumbling Dice," and "Honky-Tonk Women." With Mick functioning as a smirking MC/mascot/cheerleader, and sometimes as a real singer, and smooth background vocalists and keyboard and horn players filling in the gaps, your ears can still cut through all the fancy crap and hear those very primal forces of Charlie's swinging rhythm and Ron & Keith's electric blues guitars. It's an unprogrammable, inimitable, unquantifiably human sound that hasn't faded with age or lost its shocking intensity.