A rocking celebration of The Rolling Stones
Presented by Adelaide Guitar Festival
Reviewed 14 September 2024
How many iconic rock stars, when asked who some of their major influences are, would not list the Rolling Stones? The number would have to be minimal, considering the band changed the landscape of radio by introducing an unpolished and desperate sound, where guitar riffs are best when sung out loud. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and Brian Jones (later Mick Taylor, then Ronnie Wood) not only defined a generation of music, but are still playing with the largest grossing live bands around, the youngest band member (Wood) a mere 77 years old. Saturday’s one-night-only, sell-out performance of The Rolling Stones Revue at Her Majesty’s Theatre made it clear that Australian rock royalty Tex Perkins, Adalita, Sarah McLeod and Steve Kilbey would say most definitely the Rolling Stones have had – and still do – a compelling hold on them.
Part of the Adelaide Guitar Festival, the four rockstars sang their way through the entire Sticky Fingers album in the first set and moved onto the more popular hits for the second, celebrating 60 years of the Rolling Stones with all the cool old kids in attendance. Sticky Fingers is undoubtedly an excellent album and would have to be the only way one could explain opening the show with McLeod’s version of Brown Sugar, a song about a Black slave woman being raped by her master that even the Stones refuse to play live these days.
The thing about rock and roll is it’s as much about swagger as it is about the beat, and McLeod (The Superjesus) has got bucket loads of both. Her stage presence is a high-energy, entertaining mix of humour and soul, and her interpretation of Beast of Burden proved a brilliant melding of both Jagger and Bette Midler from their 1983 duet. Her backing vocals for Gimme Shelter was phenomenal.
Every song Perkins (The Cruel Sea) sang was a standout. He’s got the charisma to carry off whatever Jagger might throw at him, sitting perfectly in the pocket with his bluesy, heart-wrecking voice and his wildly emotive stage presence. Even though he referred to sheets of music at his feet, presumably ensuring he got the words right, he still owned the very-disco Miss You in a very big way.
None of the singers played an instrument outside of the maracas and the tambourine, which seemed a little strange for a guitar festival. This worked against The Church’s Kilbey during Bitch, as he looked as though he’d liked to have been hiding behind his guitar. Once he slid into the psychedelic space of Sister Morphine and 2000 Light Years from Home, however, his discomfort disappeared and he simply shone.
Adalita (Magic Dirt) seemed more than at home with the country-flavoured songs like Wild Horses and Dead Flowers. Her twang, like Jagger’s, is dirty and cool, and her duets with Perkins were pretty special.
The backing band was tight, with Dario Bortolin (Baby Animals) on bass, Gordon Rytmeister (Glenn Shorrock) on drums, Rob Woolfe (Ian Moss) on keyboard, James Christowski on guitar and Winston Smith on sax, but it was The Whitlam’s Jak Housden who stepped into the Keith Richards’ spotlight and demanded attention. Randy the roadie was extremely busy swapping out Housden’s guitars throughout the night.
Much more could have been done with the lighting, which remained fairly stagnant until Adalita’s Only Rock and Roll three-fourths of the way through the show, suddenly immersing the audience in a collaborative rock and roll feel. At that point, we all wanted to stand up and dance. But this is Adelaide, and in most cases we sit in our chairs and wait for the musicians to tell us to get up, or maybe take the initiative and jump up for the final song of the night. In the case of the Rolling Stones Revue, both things happened, allowing us to close the show in true rock fashion, shaking our hips and waving our arms to what was a predictable choice: Satisfaction. The all-in rendition was beyond buzzy and the chemistry of the quartet and the band was completely hot. Everyone got their rocks off.
Reviewed by Heather Taylor-Johnson
Photo credit: Kyahm Ross
Venue: Her Majesty’s Theatre
Season: ended
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