The venerable, iconic rock band’s much-ballyhooed Michigan tour stop proved remarkable due to Mick Jagger’s boundless energy and the band’s endearing love for Detroit. Review, photos.
Rolling Out the Classics: Mick Jagger, at right, was a testament to rock ‘n’ roll’s vitality on Monday. (Photo/Joe Maroon Photography)
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If Monday night’s show was indeed the last time the Rolling Stones will ever visit Detroit, they went out in grand style, delivering over two hours of their greatest hits, a sprinkling of deeper album tracks, and a classic Motown cover before an enthralled, packed house at Ford Field.
A “No Filter” tour date delayed from June 2020 because of COVID, the show led off with the massive video screens filled with images of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, who died on Aug. 24 of an undisclosed illness.
With longtime friend and collaborator Steve Jordan behind the drum kit, the Stones immediately launched into “Street Fighting Man” and never let up after that.
Paying Tribute to Watts and Motown: Jagger on stage Monday. (Photo/Joe Maroon Photography)
Mick Jagger did take time out to give an emotional tribute to Watts, noting they first met the incomparable drummer in 1962 and dedicating the show to his memory.
Guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood were in masterful form all night, especially on epic versions of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “Midnight Rambler,” with the latter track incorporating a snippet of the Robert Johnson standard, “Come On in My Kitchen.”
And drawing one of the biggest responses of the night was a hip-shaking take on “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” The Temptations’ 1966 hit. Quipped Jagger: “We can’t come to Detroit and not do a Motown song.”
Along the way, Richards sang lead on the very cool “Between the Buttons” track, “Connection,” and deeply moving “Some Girls” song, “Before They Make Me Run.”
THE BAND’S 21st DETROIT APPEARANCE CLOSED WITH A BANG
Jagger noted that Monday’s performance was the band’s 21st in Detroit, and he thanked fans for all their support over the decades, while noting that the Stones’ first appearance in the Motor City was back in 1964 (at Olympia Stadium).
It seems not much has changed since then in terms of Jagger’s boundless energy. Now 78, he flaunted the moves and energy of someone 50 (or more) years younger, endlessly prancing back and forth across the massive stage and never missing a note.
Top-Shelf: Ronnie Wood, drummer Steve Jordan and Keith Richards. (Photo/Joe Maroon Photography)
The backing musicians in this touring incarnation of the Stones were top-shelf as always, featuring longtime keyboardist and music director Chuck Leavell, bassist Darryl Jones, additional keyboardist Matt Clifford, horn players Karl Denson and Tim Ries, and backup vocalists Sasha Allen and Bernard Fowler.
Band members also endeared themselves to Michigan fans and demonstrated their love for Detroit during the stopover, with Wood and other band members making a visit to the iconic Motown Museum on Sunday, and Jagger making charming references on stage to Detroit landmarks. He joked about the plight of the woeful Detroit Lions and compared the merits of the Lafayette and American Coney Islands.
The evening spectacle drew to a breathless close with set-enders “Paint It Black,” “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” and the two-song encore of the timeless classics, “Gimme Shelter” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”
ICYMI: The Local Spins interview with keyboard player Chuck Leavell.
PHOTO GALLERY: The Rolling Stones at Ford Field
Photos by Joe Maroon Photography
VIDEO: The Rolling Stones, “Honky Tonk Women” and “Connection” (Ford Field)
SET LIST: The Rolling Stones at Ford Field
Setlist.fm
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