"Paris was always a stronghold for us..." - Bill Wyman,
The 3rd year in a row now at the Olympia, and each time without fail the French seem to be heavily in favor of The Stones compared to any other act at the time. Bill summarises the concert very nice in Stone Alone:
"Mick wore a floor-length satin gown, and at the end of concert, threw tulips into the audience who, as France Soir reported, tried to make more noise than we did. The only injury was to Charlie who was accidentally hit on the nose by an over-eager fan with a camera, just as we were leaving for the hotel."
As for the recording itself, it is from a broadcast of the concert on French Radio. The audio has been circulating on bootlegs for years, with all but "Paint It Black", "Under My Thumb", "Ruby Tuesday", "Let's Spend The Night Together", being terribly low quality. But is has come out that better sources for, "19th Nervous Breakdown", "Get Off Of My Cloud/Yesterday's Papers", and Satisfaction, have come up. So I compiled the best source for every song, along with the banter from the actual Broadcast, to make the complete concert. This is by far the best sounding recording of their 1967 European tour.
The band's playing is spot on too. Keith notes having to play the rhythm and lead parts on the albums, and this knowledge translates live as well, on Paint It Black the improvisations he's playing are quite sublime. On Under My Thumb, he pretty much solo's the whole thing through. And lastly on Satisfaction, a year and a half after the songs debut, has perfected it.
On the topic of Satisfaction, if that was Brian playing with the feedback on the first verse, that was great too for early 1967. Though Brian's ability lies in the fact that he plays 6 different instruments during the concert. Rhythm Guitar on Paint It Black, Declaimer on Lady Jane, 12 String lead on Get Off Of My Cloud, Recorder on Ruby Tuesday, Organ on Let's Spend The Night Together, and lastly Harp on Goin' Home.
Don't think Charlie missed a single fill, beat, clash for the entire concert. Consistency great he was. Drummers might realise he plays some parts different from the record too, a little improv. Bill's playing for every song is great, sliding on Paint It Black, the solo of Lady Jane, the almost second lead on Get Off Of My Cloud, and the bass running off just at the every end of the recording. Mick, even though the tour had gone on for 3 weeks at this point, still sounds great. A highlight being Satisfaction, he drives the audience to his command here. Well enough rambling on, setlist is down there.
Setlist:
00:01 - Paint It Black
2:38 - 19th Nervous Breakdown
6:37 - Lady Jane
9:45 - Get Off Of My Cloud
11:30 - Yesterday's Papers
12:48 - Get Off My Cloud (continued)
14:01 - Under My Thumb
16:32 - Ruby Tuesday
19:59 - Let's Spend The Night Together
23:18 - Goin' Home
26:11 - Satisfaction (I Can't Get No)
