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8 June 1999: Place: Shepherds Bush Empire, London,
England.
Track status: Bootleg only.
Rolling Stones with Darryl Jones, Chuck Leavell, Lisa Fischer, Bernard
Fowler.
The Shepherds Bush Empire had been a variety hall
for 50 years from 1903 until the BBC bought it as a studio theatre
before selling it to the current concert promoters in 1994. The
capacity for the gig was 2000 with most on the General Admission
floor and guests on the upper balcony floors. After the warm-up
by Sheryl Crow, an announcer plainy said, 'Ladies and gentlemen
please welcome the Rolling Stones'. The opening number was Shattered
which indicated that a varied club set-list might be in order. Two
standard numbers, It's Only Rock 'n' Roll and Respectable, followed
before the alternative All Down The Line. Mick Jagger, despite being
restricted by the space of the stage showed he was more than capable
of projecting himself either in a club, arena or stadium - he just
did not have to run so far. The Some Girls lyrics were altered to
be more politically correct with white girls instead of those black
girls. He also mentioned that some girls gave him children, 'even
though I only made love to them once', which referred to his affair
with Luciana Morad. Mick said that they had never perfomed Melody
before, forgotting El Mocambo 22 years before. Nevertheless it was
a pleasure to hear with Lisa Fischer on co-vocals. I Got The Blues
and Brand New Car continued the new song section before they played
Moon Is Up for the first time. The lack of rehearsals resulted in
Mick not realising he was on harmonica. The set returned to the
more familiar with Saint Of Me, the crowd being interrupted when
doing the end of song sing-a-long by the guitar chords of Honky
Tonk Women which featured Sheryl Crow. Bar stools were brought on
for Keith Richards' spot with You Got The Silver (Keith improvised
the lyrics), which was just right for such an intimate event. Then
Before They Make Me Run followed before Route 66, You Got Me Rocking,
Tumbling Dice, Brown Sugar and an encore of Jumping Jack Flash concluded
a fantastic gig. Mick invited those who wanted to hear the familiar
tunes, to go up the road at the weekend where the twin towers of
Wembley welcomed fans to two great rock and roll shows including
an electrifying Midnight Rambler. After Britain the tour went to
Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Landgraaf, Holland and lastly Cologne,
Germany on 20 June 1999. Finally after 22 months, 150 shows, seen
by more than 5,000,000 fans it was time for cold turkey!
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