Definitive Indianapolis 2015 (No Label)
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, IN, USA – July 4, 2015
Disc 1 (63:28) Intro, Jumping Jack Flash, It’s Only Rock And Roll, Let’s Spend The Night Together, Tumbling Dice, Out Of Control, Let It Bleed, Wild Horses, Bitch, Honky Tonk Women, Band Introductions, Before They Make Me Run, Happy
Disc 2 (69:19) Midnight Rambler, Miss You, Gimme Shelter, Start Me Up, Sympathy For The Devil, Brown Sugar, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Satisfaction
For The Rolling Stones Zip Code summer tour of 15 cities in North America, the band would play a concert in Indianapolis on the Nation’s 4th of July Holiday. What better day to have a concert? You have a day off, can tail gate in the lot so you get the obligatory cook out in and you can celebrate with The worlds greatest Rock n Roll band, sounds like a party to me. The Indy Motor Speedway is as American as apple pie, home to the famed Indy 500 and Nascar’s Brickyard 400, the site is hallowed grounds for race fans and is a household name. The concert would be the first non race event at the location and drew 50,000 fans to the concert, their first in the state since 1994, for the event the Stones would have two opening acts, Saints Of Valor and country stars Rascall Flats to warm things up.
There are at least two recordings from this event as this is the second release, the first being Indianapolis Motor Speedway 2015 (No Label) that featured a different, excellent audience recording. For this release, referred to as definitive, yet after hearing samples of the other recording perhaps alternative would have been better wording, we have an excellent audience recording taped fairly close to the stage was evident by the lower frequencies being a bit boomy sounding. It is very clear and has excellent balance and does have that outdoor sway from time to time, thankfully the audience interference is minimal but yet captures the event nicely. Jumping Jack Flash and It’s Only Rock And Roll make for a great opening combo to start the proceedings and Keith’s riffs are prominent in the mix. If we are to judge, for men in their 70’s they can certainly hold their own and based upon the early playing, still would mop the joint with most bands.
Let’s Spend The Night Together is a fitting song and I like the band’s old school arrangement of the song, sounds most proper. The bands 90’s output is represented by a single song from Bridges To Babylon, the Motown sounding Out Of Control. Darryl Jones’ bass is excellent on this song, the Chicago musician was an excellent addition to the band after Wyman’s departure in the early 90’s, one can almost here Papa Was A Rolling Stone at the beginning. We get a nice stretch of classic music to follow, beginning with the country funk of Let It Bleed. Mick tells the audience they voted for it, so it’s by popular demand, and tells them they have not played it in sometime. You would never know as they play a slick version of the classic, gotta love Chuck’s honky tonk piano! A couple from Sticky Fingers follow, the audience near the taper are respectful and makes for a nice listening experience during the quiet beginning of Wild Horses. The versions on this tour are nicely tinged with just a bit of country that harkens to the Flying Burrito Brothers version that works really well to my tastes. Bitch seems to get the audience out of their mellow mood, Karl Denson seems to exercise Bobbie Keys ghost most efficiently and this song simply rocks.
Honky Tonk Women keeps the momentum going as well as finishes the country influence on the concert, you see it’s only rock and roll from here on out. Mick introduces the band, the original three get some serious loud ovations, as they should and makes way for Keith’s spot of the show. He wishes them happy holidays and they play a great Before They Make Me Run. Midnight Rambler is very strong on this show, the rhythm section settles the song down as the guitarists riff back and forth, Jagger sings a bit of Robert Johnson’s Come On In My Kitchen in pure blues tradition. As good as Rambler is, the funkiness of Miss You is its equal, the band lets the other musicians shine and give the song a serious workout that never gets boring. The audience starts the whoo whoo’s as soon as the percussion begins, Chuck plays some nice piano all leading to a laid back beginning to Sympathy For The Devil, the mellowness is broken by Keith’s guitar slicing through it. The interplay between Keith and Ronnie is excellent, they trade riffs and leads effortlessly and make for a rousing the dead version of the song.
The Butler University Chorale helps the band out with You Can’t Always Get What You Want, they get a nice ovation at the beginning and the French horn that follows is spot on making for a retro start to the song. Once the guitars start the whole thing comes together, they even get a little crowd interaction before an up tempo ending. The band have a little bit more and bring the house down with Satisfaction, they wring the hell out of the song for good measure bringing the concert to its conclusion…then the real fire works begin.
The packaging is typical for this series, the concert poster together with live shots from the actual concert house in a slim lined jewel case. We get a numbered sticker and pictures on the CD’s and is a typical nice no label release. With so many Stones releases out representing this tour, consumers have much to choose from, based upon the band’s playing on the two shows I have, one can conclude that the band can still kick serious ass on the concert stage…here’s to 60 and counting.
