Agree on all points. In my defense, I think of Yardbirds work, which was telecaster too, so maybe it’s like a Babe Ruth thing, he is all at once one of the great pitchers and great sluggers…
Agree on Keith and his mind-meld with Charlie.
Side note, I was living in the city when Ronnie opened his bar on (I think) second avenue, down by the Kiev. I went to the opening - like walking through a dream seeing Stones guys up close. Also met Bill Graham, flanked by a pair of women 40 years his junior. What a night.
Dude, that’s awesome.
I grew up in the Bay Area, so Bill Graham Presents shows were a fixture for me from the time I went to my first rock show in 1980.
Speaking of the Stones, I don’t remember which tour, but they were playing at the Oakland Coliseum and we had field seats in the second section back, second row. There was a ruckus in the first row, all this arguing about seats and stuff and this guy comes up with a flashlight and says “show me your tickets, now!”. He looks at all of them and tells a handful of troublemakers to beat it out of there. It was Bill Graham in a yellow BGP windbreaker (that’s what the ushers wore) enforcing the rules.
One time at a Springsteen show inside in Oakland (The River tour, I believe) it was seated on the floor and people were itching to rush the stage because they knew the main set was close to over but there was Bill Graham, standing there on the audience side of the barricade with his hand up. No one dared.
When the band went into Born to Run, the audience got a little itchier and Bill made the “go ahead” hand move and everyone rushed the stage. Not daring to jostle him. He just walked away.
So cool! He was totally “The Man” and radiated same. Used to hang with his kid a bit (more of a hanger-on than a friend, truth be told) when he was managing bands in the late 80’s early 90’s.
Everything I internalized about how to behave backstage and how to manage getting backstage in the first place I learned from watching those guys.
