Chicago 1981 (no label)
Rosemont Horizon, Chicago, IL – November 23rd, 1981
Disc 1 (75:42): Take The A Train, Under My Thumb, When The Whip Comes Down, Let’s Spend The Night Together, Shattered, Neighbors, Black Limousine, Just My Imagination, Twenty Flight Rock, Going To A Go-Go, Let Me Go, Time Is On My Side, Beast Of Burden, Waiting On A Friend, Let It Bleed, You Can’t Always Get What You Want
Disc 2 (54:24): Band introductions, Little T & A, Tumbling Dice, She’s So Cold, Hang Fire, Miss You, Honky Tonk Women, Brown Sugar, Start Me Up, Jumping Jack Flash, Satisfaction, Star Spangled Banner
Whenever The Rolling Stones tour the US, their visit to Chicago is always one of the highlights because it is the location of Chess Records, one of the sources for their muse. In 1978 they played a massive show at Soldier Field, but in 1981 they played three nights in the new Rosemont Horizon with a capacity of 18,000. They even jammed with Muddy Waters at the Checkerboard Lounge the night before the first show.
November 23rd is the first of the Chicago shows and is one of the shows in the lot of 1981 soundboards that surfaced about a decade ago and pressed on Des Plaines 1981 (DAC-032) and Chicago, Illinois, November 23, 1981 (Crossfire Hurricane).
Chicago 1981 on “no label” utilizes the recently surfaced professional recording found on Wolfgang’s Vault. Like all tapes associated with Bill Graham it is very top heavy, crisp and clear and very enjoyable. The concert itself is rough and uneven. There are some very good moments, but ultimately the band sounds tired and jaded at others and some collectors really dislike the performance. Regardless, it is very entertaining and a good title for the Stones collector to have.
