Monday, February 11, 2013

The Rolling Stones At Kooyong Tennis Stadium … February 17, 1973.


 By Brian Nankervis.

 (an edited version of this story was published in The Age on 9th February 2013)

My friend Andy and I had been preparing for the Kooyong concerts for years. We met in Year Seven, in 1968. I was already a Stones fan thanks to my cousins. Andy had an older sister who insisted The Stones were cooler than the Beatles. The Stones were our band and while we were too young to experience early hits like ‘Satisfaction’, ‘Get Off My Cloud’ and ‘Paint It Black’, by the time ‘Jumping Jack Flash’ burst from the radio we were hooked. The political fury of ‘Street Fighting Man’ and the blues of ‘Beggars Banquet’ blew our tiny minds. The cool kids at school liked The Stones and could reproduce the cowbell in ‘Honky Tonk Woman’ note for note. By 1969 they were dancing like Mick Jagger, hands on hips, goose-stepping through the tuck shop, pointing at kids who had no idea what they were doing. We knew what they were doing.
 
Then the live album from The Stones’ first tour of America in three years arrived. ‘Get Yer Ya Yas Out’, was an incredible LP and Jagger’s stage patter added humour to our mimicry. “Think I busted a button on my trousers. You don’t want my trousers to fall down now do you?” We’d quote these comments on the tram or in Biology in a loose approximation of Jagger’s cheeky drawl. We thought we were hilarious.


We watched ‘Gimme Shelter’, stunned as the band played on while Hells Angels beat fans with pool cues and a young man was stabbed. We were aroused by Tina Turner fellating her microphone, fascinated by glimpses into hotel rooms and amazed to see Keith playing a cassette version of ‘Brown Sugar’, just recorded at Alabama’s Muscle Shoals studio. We were thrilled by the style and the substance, the sound and the fury of this band, playing live to adoring crowds. We wanted that in Melbourne.

‘Sticky Fingers’ in 1971 and ‘Exile On Main Street’ in 1972 added fuel to the fire and when tickets went on sale near near ‘Surf Dive and Ski’, we bought tickets for both shows. I reckon we paid $5 a ticket and carried them with us all summer. “We Play, Rain Hail or Shine” the tickets said.

February 17 finally arrived and I sat high in the grandstand, waiting. My stomach churned. It was incredibly hot, but I was oblivious to the rising mercury. The Stones were in Hawthorn. Madder Lake had finished and “everything seemed to be ready”. I looked at Andy and we sang a chorus of ‘Brown Sugar’, people around us joined in and we started slow clapping. Suddenly there was movement down the front, the crowd began to roar and I started shaking. The Rolling Stones were about to play.


Forty years later I treasure that initial, heady thrill of seeing ‘The Greatest Rock and Roll Band In the World’ walk on stage in the blistering afternoon heat and begin playing. I laughed when they launched into the first song, ‘Brown Sugar’. Laughed with exhilaration and relief. Laughed to hear Keith Richards play those chords out front of Charlie's solid beat. Here they were, The Rolling Stones playing right in front of me. I can still see the amps covered in white material, Keith swaggering in flared denim jeans, Bill standing like a statue, Mick Taylor playing his guitar effortlessly, Bobby Keys stepping forward to play sax solos just like on the records and the black security guard who sat on stage, clapping along with every song while trams rattled down Glenferrie Road.


They were loud and raw and loose, the crowd danced in the aisles and we were united, experiencing that intangible magic we’d been yearning for. The set list was great. Hit after hit after hit. ‘Tumbling Dice’, ‘Happy’, ‘Gimme Shelter’, ‘Sweet Virginia’. Keith and Mick Taylor trading guitar solos on the slow blues of ‘Love In Vain’, the mock theatrics of ‘Midnight Rambler’ with Jagger on his knees, moaning and whispering, slapping his belt onto the shiny stage. The visceral power of ‘Jumping Jack Flash’. It’s a gas, gas, gas.

They finished with ‘Street Fighting Man’ and while Mick threw rose petals from a bucket and yelled “we gotta go” over a wall of noise, I was elated, knowing that for me it wasn’t over. We had tickets for the next show a few hours later. At night, in the dark, under lights. It would be more like the concerts we’d seen on film and I wouldn’t be so nervous and it wouldn’t be so hot. We’d seen fans sneak down and stand in front of the stage and we were determined that tonight we would be there.


We filed out of the stadium comparing notes and favourite moments and stood in groups, not sure what to do before the next show. Someone suggested we jump over a nearby fence and soon we were swimming in the Scotch College pool, in our jocks, doing bombs and horsies, singing ‘Brown Sugar’. “I said yeah, yeah, yeah, whoo!” … ecstatic that we were about to see The Rolling Stones. In Melbourne. In a tennis stadium. Again!










SPECIAL THANKS to Bruce Thomas for his photos.


8 comments:

  1. Great article Brian. I'm a three or four years younger than you and was a fan and aware of the show at the time however I was too young or not allowed to go. I have spoken to several friends that had. Apparently the Stones were quite delayed due to an over indulgence in the hospitality marquee. I have seen their shows in Australia since beginning with two nights at the MCG and at Rod Laver Arena. Still the greatest rock'n roll band in the world!as Sam Cutler would say.
    The not so anonymous - John Argypoulos Melbourne

    ReplyDelete
  2. Terrific article Brian. Bought back many memories but for me when Jagger was throwing buckets of rose petals into the crowd and the last bucket was full of water was hilarious. Still the greatest concert I've ever been to and I've been to a few in the 40 years since.Keef & Mick T trading licks, Charlie's drumming - awesome. The other highlight for me was that having just turned 18, I begged my mum to borrow her Morris 1100 and took a girl!!!! Yep, it was a very memorable night. S#*! myself when I did a ueey in front of a tram on Kooyong Road though.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My sister (a Beatles fan! hurumph!) & her quite new hubby had tix to Kooyong, but she got sick. Something minor like plague or something, and SHE DIDNT GO! I was 10 at the time. She told me years later when I became a tragic, and I could have re-infected her! Saw them at the MCG in 95. Absolutely incredible. Saw them at Rod Laver for the LICKS tour. Utterly mind blowing. Saw them in 06 in Sydney. 4 rows from the front. I caught Jagger's water bottle! They simply defied all logic by being the most awesome thing I had ever see or heard. Going to see them In March at Hanging Rock. And Taylor is not only coming as well, but apparently he might play more that the usual 2 songs he played last year. Make no mistake. Jokes about addiction & age aside, this band is untouchable. No one is close. Not U2. Not even Springsteen. They truly are the greatest rock band in the world.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tell us about the evening show, pls!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. P.S. I've got both shows on CD. If you're interested, pls email me and I'll send them to you. J.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Angie invited me to the concert that night. It was sweltering. I still remember Jagger showering us with a bucket of ice water in the front row. Thanks Mick!

    ReplyDelete
  7. That night concert was really strange... At the end of it, Jagger pointed at someone out in the audience and said, "they're your people!!!".
    It made no sense and put out a weird vibe as everybody was leaving. I'll never forget it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. My bro slept out for a few night in the city to be first in line to buy dozens of tix for both Kooyong shows , he came home with the paint tin Jagger threw water from and one of Jaggers diamanté bracelets of Jaggers I’ve still his ticket A 56 and photos of mum n his mate holding dozens of the tix. 50 yrs ago this week .❤️🎶

    ReplyDelete