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stonesrule
How many of you posting on this thread ever actually saw Stu playing piano at a live concert?

Glad to say I saw him twice - In 1978 and in 1981.

I've talked to Billy and Mac about that. They said he played when he wanted to.
Acoustic piano. I never bought the "I don't play minor chords" thing. If you watch the Texas gig from 1978. there's Stu on Miss You (which is minor chords pretty much all the way through). IF he's telling the truth, he's faking it pretty good for the cameras.

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tomk
I've talked to Billy and Mac about that. They said he played when he wanted to.
Acoustic piano. I never bought the "I don't play minor chords" thing. If you watch the Texas gig from 1978. there's Stu on Miss You (which is minor chords pretty much all the way through). IF he's telling the truth, he's faking it pretty good for the cameras.

I think it was the black keys, not the minor chords

I sat on a flight case 5 or 10ft away from him on stage at Glastonbury in 1981 when he was playing in Ronnie Lanes Band.(I think I posted this years ago). After the set I got his autograph and had a chat with him. He told me all about Tattoo You, old songs etc. meeting up to rehearse for the up and coming tour.When I asked him for his autograph he said "Who me?" and I said you're one of the Stones and he said "Yes I suppose I am". At the end of our chat I asked him what the Stones were really like and he said: "They're barmy absolutely bloody barmy".

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stonesrule
How many of you posting on this thread ever actually saw Stu playing piano at a live concert?

Yeah i did of course

Stu did not play much piano on TOTA. Usually On Star Star.

I don't believe Stu used a roll during TOTA....



or during TOTOCs for that matter....



However, he may have relied on a Jelly Roll from time to time, but I can't be certain....

Never understood the point of Ollie being there.

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TheGreek

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stonesrule
How many of you posting on this thread ever actually saw Stu playing piano at a live concert?

Yeah i did of course

yeah, of course I didn't as he had sadly past away before my first show.

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treaclefingers

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TheGreek

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stonesrule
How many of you posting on this thread ever actually saw Stu playing piano at a live concert?

Yeah i did of course

yeah, of course I didn't as he had sadly past away before my first show.

I did.

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OzHeavyThrobber
Never understood the point of Ollie being there.

He turned a show into a party, kicked Charlie up the ass and added groove and funk.

That's quite a point.

Mathijs

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71Tele

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treaclefingers

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TheGreek

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stonesrule
How many of you posting on this thread ever actually saw Stu playing piano at a live concert?

Yeah i did of course

yeah, of course I didn't as he had sadly past away before my first show.

I did.

The 1981 Seattle show was the first opportunity I would have had to see a Stones show, but my parents wouldn't let me travel cross the line to the US of A to se a rock concert.

I did however see the Kinks in Vancouver, I think it was the following year and the next evening Let's Spend The Night Together in a theatre.

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treaclefingers

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71Tele

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treaclefingers

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TheGreek

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stonesrule
How many of you posting on this thread ever actually saw Stu playing piano at a live concert?

Yeah i did of course

yeah, of course I didn't as he had sadly past away before my first show.

I did.

The 1981 Seattle show was the first opportunity I would have had to see a Stones show, but my parents wouldn't let me travel cross the line to the US of A to se a rock concert.

I did however see the Kinks in Vancouver, I think it was the following year and the next evening Let's Spend The Night Together in a theatre.

I had the same problem in 1982 for the Gothenburg-shows.

I have the bootlegs, but I definitely should have been there...

No Stu for me, unfortunately.

I saw Stu (or Stew?) roll many times back in the day.

In Syracuse 1981 (Thanksgiving weekend), I was hanging out in the Stones hotel on the afternoon of the second show. I wandered into the lobby giftshop/news stand, and there was Stu flipping through the girly mags all by himself. I waited a few moments deciding what I would say to him, then complimented his piano work on 20 Flight Rock and requested that they play Down the Road Apiece that night. He said that Mick would make that decision. They played 20FR again that night.

HBK

I believe Stu's role during that decadent tour was much more than musical. He was probably one of the only people in the inner circle who wasn't stoned out of his head the entire time. He was likely a pillar of normalcy which the others could grab onto whenever they started to get a bit out there. He also seemed to keep them from letting their egos get the best of them. A grounding presence.

I've always thought they Stones were somewhat less without him and think his role was generally understated and underestimated in many ways. peace

Stu's role during TOTA...

"Come on you little shower of sh*t, you're ON!"

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j.b.goode

Oh look! What is that I see Stu playing? Yes, an actual piano. Apparently all of the many reasons why it is so difficult to tour with and mic an actual piano now didn't exist 40 years ago.

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71Tele

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j.b.goode

Oh look! What is that I see Stu playing? Yes, an actual piano. Apparently all of the many reasons why it is so difficult to tour with and mic an actual piano now didn't exist 40 years ago.

It must be an optical illusion. Either that or as you say they figured it out somehow, or in those
days they used whatever piano was avaiable at a particular venue? but ultimately the Stones'
control freakatude prohibited their being that spontaneous?

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swiss

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71Tele

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j.b.goode

Oh look! What is that I see Stu playing? Yes, an actual piano. Apparently all of the many reasons why it is so difficult to tour with and mic an actual piano now didn't exist 40 years ago.

It must be an optical illusion. Either that or as you say they figured it out somehow, or in those
days they used whatever piano was avaiable at a particular venue? but ultimately the Stones'
control freakatude prohibited their being that spontaneous?

Well it is probably super sideman Billy Preston's piano, or possibly the venues as swiss suggests. Besides they didn't have electronic piano's with decent piano sounds in 1975. They are getting pretty damn close to the real sound these days, I doubt most people could tell the difference with the high end models from Roland and Yamaha. peace

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Naturalust

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swiss

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71Tele

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j.b.goode

Oh look! What is that I see Stu playing? Yes, an actual piano. Apparently all of the many reasons why it is so difficult to tour with and mic an actual piano now didn't exist 40 years ago.

It must be an optical illusion. Either that or as you say they figured it out somehow, or in those
days they used whatever piano was avaiable at a particular venue? but ultimately the Stones'
control freakatude prohibited their being that spontaneous?

Well it is probably super sideman Billy Preston's piano, or possibly the venues as swiss suggests. Besides they didn't have electronic piano's with decent piano sounds in 1975. They are getting pretty damn close to the real sound these days, I doubt most people could tell the difference with the high end models from Roland and Yamaha. peace

True. But they did use real pianos. I don't mean to belabor the point though.

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swiss

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71Tele

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j.b.goode

Oh look! What is that I see Stu playing? Yes, an actual piano. Apparently all of the many reasons why it is so difficult to tour with and mic an actual piano now didn't exist 40 years ago.

It must be an optical illusion. Either that or as you say they figured it out somehow, or in those
days they used whatever piano was avaiable at a particular venue? but ultimately the Stones'
control freakatude prohibited their being that spontaneous?

Swiss, I believe the standard procedure "back in the day" was to rent a piano from a reliable local outfit. The company would have the piano delivered and tuned and take it away after the gig. Fairly standard deal.

Nicky Hopkins even used a good ol' upright piano on the '72 tour.

if i had to venture a guess as to the white baby grand piano ,i would say that it belonged to Stu , not billy preston .the hammond B 3 organ was billy's and the synth. , so not rented , i believe the stones trucked that around with the rest of the gear .from town to town on the tour i think it would have been different one night a white one ,maybe the next town might have a black baby grand .i cannot see the stones using whatever was around from town to town .to big of an outfit to just settle for that !

<Besides they didn't have electronic piano's with decent piano sounds in 1975.>

They still don't have that.

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DandelionPowderman
<Besides they didn't have electronic piano's with decent piano sounds in 1975.>

They still don't have that.

+1...I can always tell the telltale "plink-plink" from the real thing, no matter what kind of digital sample is used.

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71Tele

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DandelionPowderman
<Besides they didn't have electronic piano's with decent piano sounds in 1975.>

They still don't have that.

+1...I can always tell the telltale "plink-plink" from the real thing, no matter what kind of digital sample is used.

very good ears !

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TheGreek

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71Tele

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DandelionPowderman
<Besides they didn't have electronic piano's with decent piano sounds in 1975.>

They still don't have that.

+1...I can always tell the telltale "plink-plink" from the real thing, no matter what kind of digital sample is used.

very good ears !

You can fake some of the atmospherics of an acoustic piano with samples, but you really can't capture the entire sound of the piano's hammers, combined with the wood box, combined with the sound waves moving through the air. You can only get what I would call a "snapshot" of it. I don't want to start Chuck-bashing again, but it is a sound I miss from the Stones' recent performances. Even on the upper range notes that Stu plays on Ya Yas (which are way down in the mix) you can tell it's a real piano.