Never Tired (Vinyl Gang VGP-065)
Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan – March 9th, 1995
Disc 1 (60:48): Intro. / Not Fade Away, Tumbling Dice, You Got Me Rocking, Live With Me, Rocks Off, Sparks Will Fly, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, No Expectations, Let It Bleed, Rock And A Hard Place, Love Is Strong, I Go Wild
Disc 2 (65:38): Miss You, Honky Tonk Women, Before They Make Me Run, The Worst, Sympathy For The Devil, Monkey Man, Street Fighting Man, Start Me Up, It’s Only Rock And Roll, Brown Sugar, Jumping Jack Flash
By the end of the long Voodoo Lounge tour The Stones played seven shows at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. Never Tired documents the third show in the set in a good to very good but distant and somewhat thin audience recording. Compared to some of the excellent audience tapes that have surfaced from this tour this isn’t one of the best but it is perfectly listenable and captures the atmosphere of the show perfectly. There are some minor cuts between some of the songs but nothing serious. “All Down The Line” from the soundboard appears on the compilation Fuckin’ Tired on Wizardo Records. Vinyl Gang is a pointed response to Wizardo Records both in the title and the variation of the front cover design.
The set list comprised of some of the new songs, several rarities and a healthy dose of the classics. With the tight horn section and back up singers, they turn their set into a cabaret fitting with the whole theme of the album. “It’s All Over Over Now,” played at most of the Japanese shows, is dropped on this night. What distinguishes this show from the others is the inclusion of “No Expectations.” It was played in the August 28th, 1994 concert in Cleveland with Lenny Kravitz guesting for the first time in twenty-one years. Tokyo is the second performance of the tour and was a late addition to the set. “That’s a surprise to me” Jagger quips at the end.
They play a sweet, jazzy riff as an introduction to “Sympathy For The Devil” and all of the classics played in the latter half of the set, starting with “Street Fighting Man” are given an anthemic quality leading into a communion with all things Stones. The newer songs “You Got Me Rocking” and especially “Love Is Strong” sound fantastic as does the older rarities introduced to the set such as “Monkey Man.” The drum-laden arrangement of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” is an exciting way to begin a show as well. This is a very early release by Vinyl Gang issued soon after the show and is to date the only release of any source from this interesting concert. It is worth investigating for the rare “No Expectations” but also for the tight, hot performance by the band.
