Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Was this concert as bad as Mick and Keith Richards thought it was?

Mick and Keith didn't think much of The Stones segment at the Rock & Roll Circus. Sure, The Who blew them out of the water with their one song (which is one of my favorite Who tracks, but I digress), but they were pretty damn good. Mick, especially made their segment good. It was a shame Brian couldn't keep up playing rhythm guitar that night, but his slide guitar in "No Expectations" was lovely. According to Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, he was falling apart, and even was crying before The Stones went on (If you look carefully, you can see smeared makeup all over his eyes). THEY knew it would be "The Last Time" (pun intended) that Brian performed with The Stones.

The Who, on the other hand, KICKED BUTT!!! That performance of "A Quick One" is my favorite, if not the best, recording of that track. They should have played a few more songs, "Happy Jack", "My Generation" or even "I Can See for Miles" in addition to "Quick One", but they went out on top, being the stars of the night.

John Lennon and The Dirty Mac were pretty good with "Yer Blues", made it more bluesy than the Beatles' version (of course, Eric Clapton knew how to play the blues more than George Harrison did). "Her Blues" was a fun track, especially the fiddle solo. We could have all lived without Yoko's screaming, but it was funny to watch.

Those three are the only performances I actually have taken time to watch. The others, I'll have to watch again soon, though I have watched Marianne Faithfull's performance, and it was enjoyable, but her voice sounded very wobbly and nervous, but that's me.

From what I read, the Stones didn't go on stage until 4 in the morning. Mick was exhausted and it shows. They all looked wiped. That's why they shelved it, I guess. They definitely got upstaged, but it's a pity because it was jut bad organizing. The Stones were coming into their full power about that time, Brian notwithstanding, so it's not unimaginable that they could have made a better showing. But it was a "live on tape" event; even if they could try again they probably couldn't top the first takes in the condition they were in. So they just shelved it for the reasons we mentioned. There are some real gems in there. The whole show is available on DVD.

The Who's performance of the epic "A Quick One While He's Away" was without a doubt, the gem of the show. They had just gotten back from a tour and were hot as live performers while the Stones had been stagnating from not going on tour and simply being in the studio. The other standout was the Dirty Mac's performance of "Yer Blues". Yoko had no business performing at that show, if you want to call what she did performing.