Big stars at small Stones show
2002-11-05 15:00
Los Angeles - Rolling Stone Mick Jagger's star power was put to the test on Monday as the cream of Hollywood turned out to see his veteran rock band play its first theatre show in Los Angeles in more than 30 years.
Rock stars among the 2 200 fans at the Wiltern Theatre included Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Neil Young, Tom Waits, Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, Fleetwood Mac co-founder Mick Fleetwood, Dwight Yoakam, Kiss singer Paul Stanley, former Rage Against the Machine singer Zack de la Rocha and Eagles bass player Timothy B. Schmit.
The film and TV community was represented by Anjelica Huston, Benicio del Toro, writer/director Cameron Crowe, comedian Dennis Miller, Peter Boyle of Everybody Loves Raymond and Reese Witherspoon.
Jagger joked at the outset that he would allow all the famous people - "and everybody that thinks they're famous" - to come up on stage and join hands.
The Wiltern stop marked the final show of the Rolling Stones' Los Angeles trilogy. They played at the 20 000-capacity Staples Centre last Thursday and the 45 000-capacity Edison Field on Saturday. The last time they played such a small venue in Los Angeles was in 1972 at the Hollywood Palladium, an old ballroom that holds about 3 500 people.
The Rolling Stones have played four other small shows since their "Licks" world tour kicked off on September 3: in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York. They have one more left in Las Vegas on November 29. The rest of the tour is divided between stadiums and arenas, with the song selections notably different among the venues.
For almost two hours, Jagger, guitarists Keith Richards and Ron Wood and drummer Charlie Watts mixed old tunes like Stray Cat Blues and B.B. King's Rock Me Baby with crowd-pleasing classics like Start Me Up and Honky Tonk Women.
The Wiltern marked the first club show where all the songs had been previously performed on the tour. On previous club stops the Stones dusted off rare ballads such as 1967's She Smiled Sweetly and 1981's Worried About You.
Surprisingly, given the high-wattage crowd, the Stones deigned to share the spotlight with only one guest, opening act Solomon Burke. The rotund soul icon staggered on stage to make a cameo appearance as the band covered Burke's 1960s tune Everybody Needs Somebody to Love.
One of Burke's sons draped Jagger in his father's elaborate cape, much to Jagger's delight, while Burke Sr. declared the band to be "the true kings of rock 'n' roll".
Jagger responded, "Keith said you can fit three of us in that cloak!".
Tickets were priced at just $68, and the show was an instant sellout. Prices for the other venues are as high as $350, but most dates have sold out.