Complete Tokyo Dome Two Days (New Tattoo Records NT-001/02/03/04)
Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan – March 22nd & 24th, 2006
Disc 1 March 22nd, 2006: Introduction, Jumping Jack Flash, Let’s Spend The Night Together, She’s So Cold, Oh No Not You Again, Sway, As Tears Go By, Tumbling Dice, Rain Fall Down, Night Time Is The Right Time, band member introduction, This Place Is Empty, Happy
Disc 2: Miss You, Rough Justice, Get Off Of My Cloud, Honky Tonk Women, Sympathy For The Devil, Paint It Black, Start Me Up, Brown Sugar, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
Disc 3 March 24th, 2006: Opening, Start Me Up, It’s Only Rock’n Roll, Oh No Not You Again, Bitch, Tumbling Dice, Worried About You, Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, Midnight Rambler, Gimme Shelter, band introductions, This Place Is Empty, Happy
Disc 4: Miss You, Rough Justice, You Got Me Rocking, Honky Tonk Women, Sympathy For The Devil, Jumping Jack Flash, Brown Sugar, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
Complete Tokyo Dome Two Daysfills an important gap in the avalanche of Stones releases documenting their latest tour of Japan. The Dog N Cat releases have been drawing most of the enthusiasm with the clarity of the ald sources and for focusing upon Mick and Keith. My concern about these sources and stated in my reviews of those titles is that only half of the music is captured and only half of the concert can be enjoyed.
Whatever the merits of having a horn section and back up singers (which is always debatable with the Stones) I think it is important for their contributions to be present on the tape to gain an accurate appreciation of the show. This new release on the New Tattoo label is a direct competition to not only the DACs but also the first four disc quad release of these two shows Bang At The Tokyo Dome on the Silverdisc label.
The audience sources released on Bang At The Tokyo Dome has drawn criticism for being mediocre. In fairness I’ve never heard it to compare but the tapes used by New Tattoo are superb complete stereo audience recordings. These are among the best documents from the entire tour much less the Japanese dates. They sound very similar to one another and are probably the product of the same taper in the same location.
He picks up all of the instruments and singers perfectly with the result that the entire performance is heard. Moreover is the atmosphere on the tapes. Reviewers noted the heaviness of the sound for the Tokyo dates and that comes across loud and clear on this. The first night’s tape is marred by a girl yelling “Mick” obsessively between songs and her boyfriend yelling “Keith” after her. The second evening doesn’t have that kind of interference and is much better as a result.
The New Tattoo label is manufactured by Devil Productions who recently released Bang At The MSG 2006, Handsome Girls and Bang At The Rio. It isn’t explained why they are using a new name but it has the identical high standard production values as their previous releases and the same insert advertising their older releases. The front cover has a full stage shot from the first evening showing how massive the whole production is with the exploding lips superimposed over the photo.
This is a great release on all counts and very well worth having even for the collector who is committed to the Dog N Cat releases. Hopefully New Tattoo (or Devil Productions) will seek out and release equally good tapes from the other three Japan dates and release them so we can hear the entire tour in this good of sound quality. For the two Tokyo Dome shows I think this release is an essential to own definitive release definitely worth having.
