The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, May 2, 1979-Page 9

No Stoi
By R. J. SMITH
Many of the people I talked to after
the Barbarians concert last week wan-
ted to see Keith Richards' and Ron
Wood's heads skewered on twin poles.
all beccause Mick Jagger didn't show.
And who could blame them? Jagger
had been tacitly promised to them (to
some of us he was more than silently
promised), and the stories of his being
somewhere in the area never let up: a
friendof a friend of mine saw him being
followed by photographers in Detroit
the day before the show, and a pair of
friends swore he was backstage eating
dinner right before the concert.
Besides that mega-rumor there was
all the talk that Jeff Beck-Neil Young-
Jake and Elwood-Ringo-Peter Tosh-
John Lennon (I swear I heard it!)
would at one time or another formulate
a late-seventies Rolling Thunder
Revue, beginning by appearing with the
show in Ann Arbor. Well, none of it hap-
pened (duh ), but if the Crisler audience
didn't even remotely get what it wanted,
it was not handed a letdown either.
BUT WHAT does it matter? For me.
the high point of the show was the very
beginning: tottering into each other
from the beginning, all over the
colossal stage, Rolling Stones guitarists
Richards and Woods launched the show
as the Stones would, with a racy Chuck
Berry song. It was sheer madness at
fhst, and the connection between the
adlience and the performers on stage
was never stronger-slashing into an
ageles piece of music by an artist
crucial to the Stones, the two (but
especially Richards) cap-
tured-divined!-as much dynamism
and single-minded attention as was
imaginable in Crisler Arena. The im-
pact of that moment was monumental.
Here were two true rogues, a pair of
derelict and wasted British dropouts
who can do as much of what they want
to on this earth as anyone.
But the problem was that this was
true even before they had played a
single note. As time went on it wvas clear
that the Barbarians only wanted to be a
loose )extremely), good-time bluesy
band more suitable for the Second
Chance than for Crisler Arena. They
were satisfying simply because they
are Rolling Stones, and much less so
for what they played. As a bar band I
would rather see the Barbarians than
George Thorogood and the Destroyers,
but I would have swapped it all for a
hint, even, of the Rolling Stones' ex-
citement.
Of course Richards would never lead
a band, and that was one of the biggest
problems. Although some would hav it
that Jagger is the heart of the Stones, I
think he is only more overt, while
Richards has a silent, perhaps even
more intense grip on the action. But
Richards is Huck Finn to Jagger's Tom
Sawyer. He'll run harder and faster
than anyone, but he works far better
for someone, than in tandem with
others. Since Richards would never
shape a band's sound around him, and
since Woods really doesnt have that
3150 Carpente o
97 30

es, but Barbarians rock
kind of charisma either, the Bar- AS THE prpmo people told all the although all our prayers were answ
barians' show lacked much definition radio stations and newspapers we when God made Ringo too sick to t
They played a mix-of old rock and roll would, we heard loads from Woods' new about coming to Ann Arbor, the dr
songs, a lot of blues, and one swell solo album Gimmee Some Neck. mer the Barbarians used, that of
regge tune. They banged out a pair of New Orleans group the Meters, wa
Rolling Stones songs, "Honkey Tonk The songs as they are heard on the at ease with the band.
Women" and "Before They Make Me album tend toward a dull homogeneity. The Barbarians sound more like
Run", which may have been a mistake At Crisler the best of these, "In- loving blues brothers than like
fekshun," "Seven Days," and "Buried Midnight Rambler. It was aln
Alive," like the worst-"F.U.C. always a really fine show, with a
Her" -became fleshed-out jams and inspired interplay between the
much lessi similar. Woods' raspy, igitarists, and a chance to glir
Dylanesque voice also faredbtter live severaI new sides of a pair of Rol
thanit does on vinyl. Stones. It was a good perfo
Most of the band members were quite ance, but I don't think anyone
good. Although Bobby has a limited much remember it in a year..
vocabulary of riffs, it's a damned good everyone would have felt a whole
one. Stanley Clarke played in a very bette~.r sh ab siio i' the nms cfK

ered
hink
'um-
the
s ill
fun-
The
most
iome
two
npse
ling
rm-
will
And
- lot
eith
een

for the simple reason that they
heightened the shouts for Mick.
hill Concert
John McLaughlin, alumnus of the
Mahavishnu Orchestra and of Shakti, a
smaller group of Indian-oriented
musicians, will headline a concert
tonight at Hill Auditorium, beginning at
8:00.
McLaughlin has largely given up the
acoustic guitar in favor of the electric,
and he will be appearing with his new
One Truth Band, a quintet including
him, a violinist, a bass man, drummer,
and ex-Mahavishnu member Stu Gold-
berg on keyboards.
Larry Coryell, another guitarist of
note, will warm the audience up.
Coryell will be-playing alone on
acoustic guitar.

refined, unjazzy way, and his one solo
(why only one?) was a highlight. And

Richards and Ron Woods had not b
on the bill.


Witers!f
Just as Ann Arborites have been
coming down out of the grandstands
and getting actively involved in sports
themselves, we invite armchair culture
vultures to come makea contribution to
the Daily Arts page.
There are reviews and features just
waiting to be written about every art:
music, dance, prose, poetry, fine arts,
and theater.
If that sounds like fun, call Joshua
Peck at 764-0553. We're waiting to hear
from you.

McLaughlin

AVAILABLE AT YOUR FAVORITE RECORD STORE

-,.,