The wild horses will therefore never tear them from the scene. Almost octogenarians (Mick Jagger celebrates his 79th birthday this Tuesday) and after 60 years of career, the rock grandpas gave their 35th concert in Paris. No doubt the twenty-something who writes these lines does not quite realize. How many other artists can or will be able to boast of such longevity on stage? Certainly very little. And even less of such vitality.
The first time was at the Olympia in 1964. Among the 55,000 spectators who split the Bois de Boulogne to reach the Longchamp racecourse on Saturday, a few rockers in canes or crutches remember it. The tour t-shirts seen here and there allow us to appreciate even more the intergenerational dimension of the event. Urban Jungle 1990 or Voodoo Lounge Tour 94 /95 for the more seasoned. No Filter Tour or Sixtythat of this summer, for the less experienced.
In the crowd, while waiting for the arrival of Mick, Keith and Ron, a spectator with three shows on the clock warns the novice that I am. They would not move as much on stage for a few years. A doubt hangs over the time of the introductory tribute to Charlie Watts, who died last year. But the veteran Jagger immediately denies it with a Street Fighting Man boosted. Throughout the concert he will not stop gesticulating. Multiply the leaps, gallops and entrechats from one point to another of the huge stage.
What could be his elixir of youth? Between two songs, Mick speaks on the microphone: «Thank you heroin !» we think we hear, amazed. And to pull himself together: he thanked Ayron (Jones), who provided the first part. Yet when we hear Keith playing the guitar, we almost come to wonder if his fingers, made crooked – perhaps – by the quantities of drugs swallowed (he had boasted about it in his memoirs) did not not made to subscribe with age…
The recital of Stones is punctuated by interludes to the tunes of a one-man show. “Do you know how I came to the racetrack? By bike, with Anne Hidalgo!” tries Mick Jagger in perfect French. The joke is not to everyone’s taste, part of the public gives a few boos. Second trial. The rocker, who owns a castle in Touraine, sometimes goes to the races at Longchamp. He knows the place well, he even lost a thousand euros there once. “I bet on the wrong horse!” This attempt is more successful than the previous one, the public already captivated by the musical performance now laughs out loud.
Finally, all we can regret about this show is the price of the beer, 11.50 euros. You Can’t Always Get What You Want… But the mythical riff of Keith Richards to close the recall will end up satisfying us. We got Satisfaction.