The Rolling Stones, ‘Welcome Home The Rolling Stones 1′ (Rattlesnake RS 311/12)
Street Fighting Man / It’s Only Rock N’ Roll / Tumbling Dice / Paint It Black /
Ride ‘Em on Down / Under My Thumb / Fool To Cry / You Can’t Always Get What You Want / Honky Tonk Women / Band introductions / Before They Make Me Run / Slipping Away
Sympathy For The Devil / Miss You / Midnight Rambler / Start Me Up / Jumpin’ Jack Flash / Brown Sugar / Gimme Shelter / (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction – Bonus tracks – Like A Rolling Stone / You Got The Silver
Recorded live at the London Stadium, May 22nd, 2018. bonus tracks recorded live at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, UK June 2nd, 2018.
As the Stones rolled back in to Britain to tour for, what many believed, would be the last time, we baked in soaring temperatures as if even the weather believed this return to be a chance event. A brilliant summer turned up a brilliant set of shows as well as the Stones – Well rehearsed and refreshed from the previous years tour of Europe – came back to sell out shows, bringing with them their banks of merchandise and parred down but effective stage set up.
As I’ve mentioned before, the tapers were out in force for this series of shows – From the handheld recorders to the more specific IEM captures from inside or outside the stadium – there is something that could be pushed out in days or in weeks to sate demand.
This Rattlesnake set (The first of two) was announced for release shortly after the tour finished and released c. Late September / early October. An IEM / audience mix in the style of Xavel’s own product but without the price ticket or the hassle of trying to find a copy (Though certainly, it’s easier to find these Eastern versions nowadays than when you were mainly confined to under the counter deals) all wrapped up in the luxury Rattlesnake style. I listened through a good pair of headphones but through speakers, it was a better experience, almost like being on stage, if not front row.
A fantastic show, Keith dropped chords far less on the run this year, Ronnie has continued to take up a few more solos regardless, Mick still has more energy than a thousand wind turbines and is in fine voiceand Charlie, well, where would we be without him? From the strum of the first chord (We assume a roadie, could be Keith), the faceless voice that asks “Ready?” Through Mick’s feed, through the start up of the electronic opener music we get a beautifully recorded and mixed show. Each instrument is catered for in an enveloping wide stereo, it’’s like you’re there, if not better (And certainly cheaper!) The two bonus tracks – oddly enough – seem to appear firstly from an audience source quickly switching to a mixed IEM source – Very welcome they are though.
The booklet with this set is the standard Rattlesnake high quality production – Not one pixilated image in sight, some brilliant liner notes that detail the Stones ‘No Filter’ tour in 2018. For anyone who has struggled to purchase the Xavel sets, maybe even if you’ve heard them, the light mastering touch applied to these disks makes them sound wonderful and toes the line over better
A brilliant collectors item for sure and a requirement of your Stones collection.
