Fort Worth
Saturday, June 24 (2 shows)
Unlike the notoriously tape-starved
Houston shows, the twin gigs in Fort Worth are now gloriously endowed with
quality recordings: an audience for the matinee, two audiences plus an almost complete
soundboard for the evening, and assorted prior Ladies and Gentlemen
song clips from both concerts. With all
this documentation available for starters, it may seem rather pointless to
track down 1972 press reviews for song revelations beyond the major tour
singularities already known to have been laid down here (Sweet Black Angel,
Dead Flowers, Don’t Lie To Me).
After all, how could anything extra slip through the multi-layered,
presumably definitive audio and film evidence already on hand?
Well, the scribes of old try to throw a
scare into the Fort Worth process with oddball references to “We’ve Got To
Move” and Wild Horses, but these would-be ultra-rarities lack
independent press corroboration and fly in the face of extensive recorded
evidence that they were not performed on June 24. I chalk them up as just mistaken identifications, innocently (and
perhaps hastily) committed to posterity by first-time observers of the band’s
STP output.
The local reviews are also less-than-ideal
for purposes of this historical exercise because of their hazy show
attributions, leaving it unclear if the descriptions refer to the first show
alone, the second show alone, or both shows together. My guess is they are based largely, if not exclusively, on the matinee,
but judge for your self from the clippings.
One reviewer gets Jagger’s first show garb absolutely right, and another
recognized the afternoon-only rendition of Dead Flowers (plus the
“purple-pink” neck scarf visible on film), but otherwise the Metroplex press
cannot compete with our recordings.
Some misplaced descriptions also afflict
Richard Elman’s lengthy account of the evening show. Specifically, he attires Jagger in the purple jumpsuit instead of
the true white one, quotes band introduction words not actually spoken that
night, and appears to place the introductions right before Midnight Rambler
rather than just after it. Considering
Elman’s over-the-top writing style, and his multi-show tour visitation, perhaps
a few conflated stage details should be expected.
The Dorothy Norwood Singers begin a
five-city opening act run in Fort Worth.
All of these performances (Fort Worth, Houston, Mobile, Tuscaloosa,
Nashville) are unacknowledged in Karnbach & Bernson’s It’s Only Rock
‘N’ Roll, despite easy-to-gather newspaper references in each locality,
plus additional mentions by national press outlets.
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Fort Worth Star Telegram |
Dallas Morning News |
Dallas Times Herald |
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Brown Sugar |
Brown Sugar |
Brown Sugar |
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Bitch |
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Gimme Shelter |
Gimme Shelter |
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Dead Flowers |
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Happy |
Happy |
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Tumbling Dice |
Tumbling Dice |
Tumbling Dice |
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“We’ve Got To Move” = LIV? |
“Wild Horses” = LIV? |
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Sweet Virginia |
Sweet Virginia |
Sweet Virginia |
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YCAGWYW |
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Midnight Rambler |
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Midnight Rambler |
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JJF |
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SFM |
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Jagger: “dressed in silver lame jacket, sequined
T-shirt and skin-tight hip-huggers” |
Jagger: “purple-pink silk scarf” and “puffed cap
giving off sparks” of glitter Opening: Dorothy Norwood Singers, Stevie Wonder |
Jagger: “a more tailored look” than 1969 tour |
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STP: “Richard Elman
is arriving from New York to write a piece for Esquire that
will eventually appear in Oui.” Elman, Uptight With The Stones: “As
a matter of fact, the Rolling Stones’ most effective PR arm continues to be
the correspondent of the newspaper of that same name, a certain Robert
Greenfield, who looks like a youthful Jewish version of the late Buffalo
Bill, files copiously, often, uncritically, was quick to inform me that he
regarded himself much more as a member and friend of the gang than as a mere
writer and that, moreover, he regarded all writing as positively decadent.” Fort Worth Star Telegram:
“Possibly because of the presence of movie cameras, Mick Jaggar put his best
theatrical foot forward during the Tarrant County Convention Center stopover
of the Rolling Stones tour Saturday.” Elman, Uptight With The Stones:
“Mick grabbed the microphone with one hand, like a shilelagh, at about
mid-length, prancing all around it, like a leprechaun, his face all powdered
and silver-sequinned in the corners of his eyes. He was wearing a purple silk
jockey cap, a blue denim jacket over his purple perforated velvet jump suit,
a scarlet sash, and what you would have to call white soccer boots.” Amusement Business:
“Leader Mick Jagger showed polish and tremendous delivery, keeping the
audience – mostly youngsters from several states – in a frenzy. He was a
superstar from his harmonica rendition of Sweet Virginia to tossing
rose petals into the crowd at show’s close...Opening act was gospel group,
Dorothy Norwood Singers, followed by Stevie Wonder.” Dallas Morning News:
“Adding a dash of jet-set glamour to the event was author Truman Capote, who
could be seen backstage and running about the front of the Convention Center
stage.” Elman, Uptight With The Stones: “The
last number was played with the house lights glaring and Jagger leaping up
and down strewing rose petals on everybody out of Leroy’s big tub, and the
mylar mirrors tilted so as to flash upon the audience, with everybody
standing up and freaking in unison, and then Mick said “Thank you,” for the
boys and they raced off as rapidly as they had entered onto the waiting
camper without so much as an encore to be driven back out through thirty
miles of dark freeway again to the Hyatt House in Dallas.” |
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Selected
Press Clippings
