Come Together: The Rolling Stones Tribute Concert
20th January 2021
The Opera House, Wellington, New Zealand.
Review by Scott Weaver, photography by Bruce Mackay.
The Rolling Stones have secured their place in history as one of the greatest, if not ‘THE’ greatest rock n’ roll band ever. Their studio output has delivered an uneven quality at times but their run of LPs from ‘Aftermath’ to ‘Goats Head Soup’ is simply incredible. After that it gets a bit patchy but there are occasional flashes of brilliance like the whole of the ‘Tattoo You’ LP, bits of ‘Undercover’ and even ‘Voodoo Lounge’ has some gems. To be fair if you’d been going so long, you’d be entitled to some off days too. 1972’s “Exile on Main Street” is often considered their magnum opus but as any right-thinking Stone’s fan knows, their previous 1971 release, ‘Sticky Fingers’ is the album that they never bettered.
It remains to be seen if the Stones will ever play another gig in Aotearoa. It seems unlikely due to the global pandemic and the advancing years of the Stones themselves. The sad, sad death of Charlie Watts last August added another proverbial nail in the coffin. It is certain that Kiwis would never be getting the entirety of the ‘Sticky Fingers’ album, on the off chance they did return. The retirement of ‘Brown Sugar’ from their setlist has put paid to that pipe dream.
Yet here we have another privilege of living in Wellington. We get to celebrate the 50th anniversary release of ‘Sticky Fingers’ as part of the Liberty Stage ‘Come Together’ rock concerts. We have some of Aotearoa’s finest musicians, tackling the greatest album from the greatest group. And high expectations often produce brilliant results.
It’s a disparate bunch of musicians. From Jon Toogood (Shihad) who certainly knows how to rock, but tends towards a deeper, heavy sound than what is required here. He didn’t touch a guitar all night. To fellow Wellingtonians Sam Scott and Luke Buda (Phoenix Foundation) who on the other hand, have us used to playing their cruisy, psychedelic, indie compositions. Both of their respective bands are fantastic but one would not associate them with the swagger that The Stones are famous for.
Toogood bounded on to the stage to front the 1st song, Brown Sugar, with this incredible backing band. He was dressed in the bogan uniform of black jeans and t-shirt, wearing a colourful jacket that would make Jagger proud. While he wasn’t the strongest singer on display (there was some heavy competition after all), his enthusiasm and the way he worked the crowd set the night alive.
Bret Adams (The Bads) is surely the most underrated guitarist in the whole of the country and was in mighty fine form. I caught him playing with Tami Neilson on her ‘Brass, Strings… Sing’ tour at this very venue. He was so impressive I immediately went out and purchased my first ‘The Bads’ album which has adorned my turntable for an extensive amount of time ever since. His lead work was simply astounding tonight and his voice wasn’t half bad either. He simply never let up. The guitar interplay with musical director, Jol Mulholland, who was sporting a Flying V at times, was literally music to my ears.
As expected, the band played the entirety of the Sticky Fingers album, with a rotating roster of singers fronting the band. I won’t name check them all, suffice to say all the musicians were incredibly tight and talented.
A special mention goes out to Luke Buda wearing a pristine white suit and arguably the singer who came closest to Mick’s American drawl. However, the highlight of the night for me was Deva Mahal’s performance of ‘You Gotta Move’, invoking its traditional African-American spiritual roots and making the Stones cover her own. She has a set of pipes and make no mistake.
After the interval, we returned to a collection of classic stone’s songs which had the crowd out of their seats and dancing down the front. Particularly impressive was the trumpet solo during ‘Paint it Black’.
While there is a benefit when all the punters know the material, there is also an expectation and the invariable comparison with the original recordings. There was no need to worry as all in all, we were treated to a fantastic performance by a fantastic band. I went home happy and suitably impressed.
And the Stones were always more fun than the Beatles. Yes, I said it.
Were you there at the Opera House for this brilliant Rolling Stones tribute? Or have you seen any of the other ‘Come Together’ series before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Note: Ambient Light was provided passes to review and photograph this concert. As always, this has not influenced the review in any way and the opinions expressed are those of Ambient Light’s only. This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase a product using an affiliate link, Ambient Light will automatically receive a small commission at no cost to you.
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I saw the Come Together Sticky Fingers show in AK last night. I enjoyed the first half good enough. The second half was a rollicking good time. No complaints from this punter. Glad I went, and would see that band perform again. I hope they got paid well, and we’re well looked after. B