Santiago 1995 (no label)
Velodromo del Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile – February 19, 1995
Disc 1: (55:35) Introduction, Not Fade Away, Tumbling Dice, You Got Me Rocking, It’s All Over Now, Rocks Off, Sparks Will Fly, Satisfaction, Out Of Tears, Angie, Rock And A Hard Place, Love Is Strong, I Go Wild
Disc 2: (65:37) Miss You, Band Introduction, Honky Tonk Women, Before They Make Me Run, Slipping Away, Interlude, Sympathy For The Devil, Monkey Man, Street Fighting Man, Start Me Up, It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll, Brown Sugar, Jumpin’ Jack Flash
The Rolling Stones massive Voodoo Lounge 94/95 World Tour lasted a little over a year and saw the Stones playing 135 concerts on six different continents. (I’m sure they would have played Antarctica too had there been a venue there). The South American leg ran from January 27th until February 19th and included eleven dates in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile.
Voodoo Lounge would also be the first record and tour that didn’t feature Bill Wyman on bass. Darryl Jones (ex-Miles Davis and Sting) was chosen by Charlie Watts to replace Bill and remains in the Stones touring lineup to this day. The rest of the band features long time keyboardist Chuck Leavell, Bobby Keys on saxophone, Lisa Fischer and Bernard Fowler on backing vocals, and Andy Snitzer, Michael Davis, and Kent Smith (A.K.A “The New West Horns”).
Santiago 1995 is the final show in South America and is sourced from an FM broadcast. There are trace amounts of compression present and some minor clipping in the bass and kick drum occasionally but overall the broadcast is very clean and sounds excellent. There are also station IDs (or something in Spanish) at the beginning of some of the tracks that can be a little startling at first but are very brief. The tags can be found on “You Got Me Rocking”, “Satisfaction”, “Angie”, “Love Is Strong”, “Miss You”, and “Start Me Up”.
Personally, I thought The Stones really sounded great during this tour, Darryl Jones is very solid and locks in nicely with Charlie and there is good interplay between Ronnie and Keith throughout. South America is always home to some massive shows and there is plenty of energy in the air for the band to feed off of.
After the tribal drum intro The Stones take us way, way back in their catalog to an early classic, opening the show with their cover of The Crickets’ “Not Fade Away”. The mix is somewhat uneven but comes together fairly quickly and by “Tumbling Dice” it becomes stable and everything settles in. The first half of the show is home to much of the newer material featured in the show. “You Got Me Rocking” is the first of five tracks from Voodoo Lounge and is full of energy with nice slide work from Ronnie.
“It’s All Over Now” chugs along nicely and satisfies the 60s loving Stones fans. “Rocks Off” was the spot in the set that changed from night to night and is the third performance of the track during this South American trip. The horns add a lively texture to the Exile track.
Mick greets the audience in Spanish, Chile’s native language, before “Sparks Will Fly”. They play a great spirited version of “Satisfaction” that captures the energy of the original. Mick gets a couple of “Hey, Hey, Hey’s” out of the massive audience even after finishing the track. “Out Of Tears” is a beautiful new song. The band’s execution is right on and Chuck Leavell lays out some really tasty piano and the track has a great slide solo. Mick continues to dazzle with “Angie” which features acoustic guitars exclusively including the solo.
“Rock And A Hard Place” represents a real modern classic Stones sound that proved they could still do it. Daryl Jones gets a short but sweet bass solo during the track. “Love Is Strong” and “I Go Wild” are played in quick succession and continue to represent the Voodoo Lounge record.
“Miss You” has some great piano and bass licks in the intro. Chuck and Darryl are heavily featured and seem to be having fun with this one. Mick’s vocals are more subdued than past versions and he quips “Shake your funky butt, girl” in the break. He calls out for Bobby before a great saxophone solo and the song is extended to over nine minutes. Keith’s lead vocal spots follow “Honky Tonk Women” and tonight’s selections include “Before They Make Me Run” and the Steel Wheels ballad “Slipping Away”.
“Monkey Man” would have to be the highlight of the Voodoo Lounge tour for me even though it may not have the passion of the original. Lisa Fischer helps Mick out with the high notes at the end and does a fantastic job. “Street Fighting Man” on the other hand sounds a bit sluggish tonight but isn’t necessarily a bad version. The end of the show is rightfully reserved for the home runs that no Rolling Stones concert can be without and the band finishes strong including a superb “Brown Sugar” which again features a great sax solo from Bobby Keys.
This show has been previously released on silver disc in the past as Southern Quotations From Chile 1995 on Vinyl Gang Products. Santiago 1995 comes from a longer source and contains the final track “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” which is missing from the Vinyl Gang making this no label release complete for the first time on silver disc.
Santiago 1995 is another very nice Stones release from the no label camp. It comes packaged in a slimline jewel case with some live shots of the band inside. The soundboard recording sounds excellent and its only downfall is the station IDs that briefly mar six of the tracks. If you can overlook this minor hindrance, than Santiago 1995 is one from the Voodoo Lounge tour well worth investigating.
4 Comments
VGP-089 is in STEREO.
Is the VGP in stereo or are all sources for this broadcast in mono?
Another downfall: it’s a MONO source.
When I first heard that this release was on its way, and contained the complete show, I was hoping that a new source was being used. Namely, one that did not have the “Concerto” voice over joining in on six tracks. I had the vinyl gang release and frankly, with all the unmarred excellent board tapes for this tour available(Oakland, Tokyo, Miami, New Jersey and Rio), I rarely listened to this Chile show.