‘Dazzling Feistiness’: How The Rolling Stones Rocked Newark For ‘GRRR Live!’

The Rolling Stones’ GRRR Live!, out today in multiple formats and featuring their all-star 2012 show at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, has been hailed as a “fantastic compilation of the band’s classic hits.” Reviewers have showered praise on the unique concert, which featured guest appearances by Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen, the Black Keys, Gary Clark Jr., and John Mayer. The show is now available for the first time since its original airing on pay-per-view television.

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“Truth be told,” writes Emma Harrison in Clash, “this isn’t just a fantastic compilation of the band’s classic hits, but a barnstorming performance of some of the most iconic songs in rock music.” Riff’s Sam Richards adds: “The performances here are better than almost anything on any of the earlier live albums…this album’s purpose of lasting significance may well be as a document of [Charlie] Watts’ late-career playing, and how it can noticeably lift a band with the time-honed skill and power of the Stones to ever-greater heights.”

Here we offer an exclusive excerpt from journalist, author and uDiscover Music contributor Paul Sexton’s liner notes for GRRR Live!, beginning with a quote from just before the 50 & Counting tour began.

“We’d been on the treadmill for quite a while,” said Keith Richards. “There was obviously going to be a few years off. We didn’t know if it was going to be two, three, four or five. It turned out to be five. But this band is younger now than it was five years ago. It’s got a lot more energy in it.”

In May, the band reconvened for rehearsals in Weehawken, NJ. “Four or five days in New Jersey, we were rocking,” said Keith, “and everyone’s going ‘Yeah, the energy’s there, the ‘I wanna do this, I gotta do this’ was there. So all of the other stuff went under the bridge, and the Stones are going forward. It’s like it’s our duty.

“That’s the point about music,” Richards went on. “It takes you over and above any of the petty little things, the bickering and all that crap. There we go, this is what we do. Play ‘Midnight Rambler’ with Charlie, and Mick on harp, and we all look at each other and go, forget about it. Whatever went on, went on. This is what we do, and this is what they want.”

Later in the notes, Sexton writes: “27,000 lucky souls in the room – small enough by the band’s standards to rate practically as a club date – were joined by millions more watching via pay-per-view across the States. All of them were to witness not just a show of dazzling feistiness and masterful polish by the greatest masters of the art, but some guest appearances that they’ve talked about ever since.

The elegant stage was framed by gigantic red lips ready to devour those at the front of the congregation, as gorilla-masked drummers, reflecting the ‘GRRR’ album artwork, banged and gyrated their way through the aisles. As they reached the front of stage, the sense of expectation was overwhelmingly palpable, and then, ker-boom: launching into ‘Get Off Of My Cloud,’ these Stones were match-fit and at cruising altitude from minute one.

Black and white images from their back pages peered out from inside the lips as the band hit an immediate sweet spot that combined a lean, relaxed demeanour with a scintillating aura. Debonair in black, Mick told us once and told us twice about ‘The Last Time’ with Keith and Ronnie out for fun and Charlie charging down the tracks like a 71-year-old teenager.

Then to the jaw-dropping appearance of Lady Gaga, palpably the world’s biggest pop star of the day, to channel Merry Clayton (and Lisa Fischer) by stomping and screaming her way through an undeniable ‘Gimme Shelter.’ No fading away here.”

GRRR Live! is available on vinyl in 3LP black, 3LP coloured white (exclusive to independent stores) and 3LP red (exclusively via d2c), as well as 2CD, DVD + 2CD, BluRay+ 2CD formats. The Blu-ray and digital versions include Dolby Atmos.

Buy or stream GRRR Live!