Satisfaction for Stones fans despite hefty ticket prices

The Rolling Stones pranced, swaggered, and laughed through the first of five concerts, marking their golden jubilee with a performance that critics said put paid to questions over ticket costs.

Virtually every reviewer at the first of two shows in London’s O2 Arena on Sunday night mentioned the controversy over high prices, but almost all of them said it was worth it.

The two-and-a-half hour set by one of the biggest acts in rock and roll history took a crowd of 20,000 on a trip down memory lane, opening with the 1963 hit I Wanna Be Your Man penned by Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney, right up to Doom and Gloom which is only a few weeks old.

The rest of the 23-song setlist was classic Stones from Gimme Shelter, Wild Horses, and Honky Tonk Women to Start Me Up and You Can’t Always Get What You Want. The one surprising omission was (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.

And, while the lines on their faces traced their advancing years and long careers of rock and roll hedonism, lead singer Mick Jagger, drummer Charlie Watts, and Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood on guitar still delivered the goods.

“As Jagger left the stage, still jogging and shaking his maracas after two and a half hours and 23 songs, it was clear that even at these ticket prices, the Stones’ 50th anniversary shows deliver value for money,” wrote Mark Sutherland in a review for the Rolling Stone music magazine.

Jagger, in skin-tight black pants, a black shirt, and a sparkly tie, took time out from singing to thank the crowd for its loyalty.

“It’s amazing that we’re still doing this, and it’s amazing that you’re still buying our records and coming to our shows,” he said. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Lead guitarist Keith Richards, whose survival has surprised many who thought he would succumb to drugs and drink, was more blunt: “We made it,” he said. “I’m happy to see you. I’m happy to see anybody.”

Jagger, whose lithe frame still allows for some of the trademark swagger at 69, sought to laugh off criticism of prices ranging from €500 for a standard seat, and thousands of euro more on ticket re-selling sites. “Everybody all right there in the cheap seats?” he asked as he looked up high to his left.

“They’re not really cheap though are they? That’s the trouble.”

The flamboyant veterans have defended the costs, saying the shows were expensive to put on. But specialist music publication Billboard reported the band would earn $25m (€19.3m) from the four shows initially announced. A fifth was added later.

The commercial side of the first Stones gigs for more than five years clearly rankled some.

The band which first hit the stage in Jul, 1962 at London’s Marquee Club has issued a photo book, another greatest hits album and a documentary film to mark 50 years in business.

“There’s something perversely admirable about the way the self-styled ‘greatest rock’n’roll band in the world’ seem openly intent on celebrating their golden jubilee by making as much money as possible with the absolute minimum of effort,” wrote Alexis Petridis in The Guardian.

Yet he gave the performance four stars out of five as did Andy Gill of The Independent, who singled out some of the guest appearances for praise.

Mary J Blige added fireworks to her duet with Jagger in Gimme Shelter, while Jeff Beck provided the power chords for I’m Going Down. But the biggest cheers were reserved for two former band members. Bill Wyman played It’s Only Rock’n’Roll and Honky Tonk Women, while Mick Taylor, who left the band in 1974 to be replaced by Wood, revelled in his chance to shine during Midnight Rambler

Tickets for Sunday’s gig and the second London concert on Thursday were snapped up in seven minutes last month. But The Telegraph said that just hours before the show began scores of tickets remained unsold on re-selling websites after standard tickets wereinflated to £1,300 (€1,600).

Diehard fans said they had broken the bank to snap up tickets because it might be the last chance to the see their heroes live.

Englishwoman Jill Roberts, 52, said as she entered the O2: “It’s hard to justify that kind of money but a lot of people were prepared to pay it.

“It’s an awful lot of money but I guess it’s just a one-time thing.”