THE ROLLING STONES : WELCOME TO SHEPHERD'S BUSH

 

Disc One (41:09)

  1. Shattered
  2. It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)
  3. Respectable
  4. All Down The Line
  5. Some Girls
  6. Melody
  7. I Got The Blues
  8. Brand New Car
  9. Moon Is Up

Disc Two (44:01)

  1. Saint Of Me
  2. Honky Tonk Women (with Sheryl Crow)
  3. Band Introductions
  4. You Got The Silver
  5. Before They Make Me Run
  6. Route 66
  7. You Got Me Rocking
  8. Tumbling Dice
  9. Brown Sugar
  10. Jumpin' Jack Flash

Label : The Rolling Stones Records

Venue : Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, UK

Recording Date : June 8, 1999

Release Date : December 6, 2024

Review (AllMusic) : Never ones to lose touch with their roots, the Rolling Stones developed a sporadic habit of playing unannounced gigs at smaller venues to warm up for their stadium concerts. Over the years, these secret shows have become a thing of legend, with the band letting loose, straying from their usual set list, bringing up unexpected guest stars, and just generally having tons of unregulated fun. Recordings of some of these shows have made it onto different live releases (1977's Love You Live included a few blues cover tunes from a tiny club show in Toronto, and the entire performance was later released as an album of its own, for example), and Welcome to Shepherd's Bush captures one such surprise show from 1999. The Stones were gearing up for a stint at London's Wembley Stadium and booked a night at Shepherd's Bush Empire, a 2,000-capacity club in their old stomping grounds nearby. Rolling Stones shows are usually electrified regardless of the stage size, but there's a heightened sense of excitement throughout this 18-song set. The band's most recent studio albums at that point were 1997's Bridges to Babylon and 1994's Voodoo Lounge, but the set list was fairly light on tunes from those records, with only a shambling take on the sneering rocker "Saint of Me" representing Bridges to Babylon. Instead of trotting out the usual hits or reminding the crowd of their most recent album, the Stones used the night to go a little bit off the beaten path. The band plays the late-night blues stroll "Melody" from 1976's Black and Blue for the second time since it was debuted at another secret club show in 1977, and the Voodoo Lounge track "Moon Is Up" is played live for the first (and possibly only) time. These rarities are great for Stones historians and superfans, but the main objective on Welcome to Shepherd's Bush seems to be the band and the audience enjoying themselves as much as possible. Sheryl Crow takes the stage to sing guest vocals on "Honky Tonk Women," and a full horn section and host of backing vocalists make live favorites like "Tumbling Dice" and "Brown Sugar" crackle with energy. It's a stadium show meant for 70,000 crammed into a street-level venue, but with none of the excitement toned down. If anything, Welcome to Shepherd's Bush is more exciting for its live and direct close-up on one of the greatest rock & roll bands ever.

Review (Goldmine) : The Stones’s penchant for warming up for major gigs and tours by playing not-so-secret smaller shows has, over the years, produced some of the most remarkable legends, not to mention live recordings, in their catalog. Albums like 1971’s Marquee gig, the 1981 Checkerboard Lounge show, or October 2023’s Hackney Diamonds unveiling at Racket, New York, are often regarded as far more of an immediate go-to than the live releases recorded in vast stadia and arenas — for all their success, The Rolling Stone remain, at heart, a club act, at their best when the audience is crammed against the stage, and the venue is smaller than the average “major tour” dressing room. Welcome to Shepherd’s Bush is a more than welcome addition to that catalog. The band’s first London show in four years, it was recorded at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire on June 8 1999, on the eve of the Stones’ two nights at Wembley Stadium. And Jagger sums up the band’s attitude when he warns the audience, “if you want to hear the hits, go to the big place down the road.” Of course, a few of the hits are here — having opened with “Shattered” (a U.S. hit, but unreleased as a single in the U.K.), they follow through with “It’s Only Rock’n’Roll” and “Respectable”; later in the set, Sheryl Crow appears for “Honky Tonk Women”; and the evening concludes with “Tumbling Dice,” “Brown Sugar” and “Jumpin' Jack Flash.” And it’s also possible to argue that there’s very little that the Stones have ever recorded that does not fit the definition “hit” in some way — songs like “Before They Make Me Run,” “Some Girls,” “All Down the Line,” “Saint of Me” and “You Got The Silver” are scarcely obscurities. But then they drop in “Melody” and “I Got The Blues,” or reel back the years with a fabulous “Route 66,” and you know exactly what Jagger meant. This is the Stones at their most relaxed, feeding off the audience that is feeding off them, and there are moments across this two LP set where you wish every Stones live album could sound this involved, this intimate. As always with the Stones’s archive releases, the packaging here is the weakest element, all blacks and grays with four color photos in the gatefold. Look closer, though, and it is kind of clever, revealing itself as a street map with the names of the roads replaced by song titles. Entertaining liners and full credits devour the inner bags. So, yet another Stones live album; yet another 90 minutes to spend in the company of what many people still revere as the greatest rock snd roll band in the world. But listening to this, you will probably find yourself agreeing with them.