The Shepherds Bush show (my second club gig) was the most exciting Stones concert I've ever been to. The band's energy was sky high (even higher than usual, if you can imagine that), they were clearly having an absolute blast, and their sound was great. We heard two songs never played before and others played only rarely in recent years.
As if all that wasn't enough, I landed one of the guitar picks Keith threw into the crowd. What a night!
All of us right in front of the stage got royally squashed, the crowd almost constantly swaying back and forth uncontrollably. I haven't been in a crowd this tight since the San Diego show in 1981. I was only one person from the front rail, and every time Mick or Keith came by, arms waved in front of my camera from the front, from the back over my shoulders, and from both sides--and keeping the camera still was impossible.
Under these conditions, I was sure I would get nothing interesting, but these pictures do seem to capture, in a strange way, the wonderful nonstop frenzy of a Rolling Stones club gig.
Of course, since I just happened to be in London, I wandered over to Wembley for both shows, so there are a few shots from there, too. That hand Keith is shaking on the catwalk at Wembley 1 is my friend Ruediger's.
