It's the spirit that counts

By Robert Hilburn

Nov. 2, 2002 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

On the way into Staples Center for the Rolling Stones concert on Thursday, it was amusing to see a stack of tiny replicas of the band’s famous tongue logo for sale at lobby souvenir stands.

Tucked in between the $450 leather jackets and $35 T-shirts, the tongues, which are designed to flash in the dark, are the Stones equivalent of the souvenir glow sticks that thousands of kids wave gleefully at Britney Spears concerts.

Surely the Stones brain trust must be joking.

Loving parents may buy the Britney batons by the handful to bring out the smiles in their 8-to-14-year-olds, but, hey, there aren’t any kids at Stones concerts. And what adult is going to pay $10 for these silly little lighted tongues? You could imagine crates of them socked away in some Iowa warehouse at the end of the tour.

So what happened Thursday?

Thousands of forty- and fiftysomethings bought the red-and-blue tongues, which flashed constantly during the two-hour concert, a symbol of the long-standing bond between the Stones and their audience.

In all the head-scratching lately over why the Stones continue to excite fans, the answer may be something as simple as the fact that they still make us all feel like teenagers.

“If you start me up, I’ll never stop,” an energetic, still trim Mick Jagger sang Thursday during one of the Stones’ signature hits, and the line pretty much defines the promise that the band made to its audience decades ago.

Jagger and Keith Richards aren’t especially artful or deep as lyricists a la Bob Dylan, another rock veteran who continues to touch us deeply. But it’s not the words that matter with the Stones. It’s the guitar-driven music.

As teenagers in the ‘50s, Jagger, Richards and the other Stones absorbed the rich, stirring strains of such American R&B; and blues artists as Chuck Berry, Elmore James and Muddy Waters so fully that their own music has been a virtual road map to that classic sound.

The purity of that vision has a forever-young quality that has enabled the Stones to be immune to advancing age, the shifting of images and the loss of their songwriting powers.

They didn’t connect with every number Thursday. Some of the choices felt arbitrary, especially the O’Jays hit “Love Train,” and the funk jam during “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” took the group on a tedious detour.

But they hit home runs as easily as Barry Bonds when they stuck to their strength. In fact, there was a feeling at times that the crowd would have been just as excited if the Stones had put aside their 21-song set list and just played the same four songs over and over.

Between “Honky Tonk Women,” “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Tumbling Dice” and “Start Me Up,” you can find pretty much everything about the Stones that has made them stars for four decades--mystery, rebellion, cockiness and self-affirmation.

It’s not an especially wide emotional or musical wavelength, but every piece connects to a sound so soulful and stirring that it has become as important a part of pop culture as Dylan’s lyrics or Superman’s cape.

“Street Fighting Man” and “Rocks Off” also mirrored the energy and rejoice of the basic Stones approach.

On stage, Jagger still prances with his trademark panache, and he sings every lyric as if it were as meaningful as when the song was first recorded. But it is Richards who truly ignites a spark every time his right hand hits the strings. It’s no accident he’s in the spotlight at center stage cradling his guitar virtually every time the group goes into one of its classic tunes.

The man who pretty much defined the gunslinger guitarist image certainly doesn’t generate that core Stones sound alone. He has had some superb six-string partners over the years, from the late Brian Jones and Mick Taylor to Ron Wood, who interacts marvelously with him now. And Charlie Watts’ masterful, economical drumming and Darryl Jones’ sensual bass lines frame the guitar touches commandingly. Still, Richards serves as the band’s musical compass.

For the group’s first tour in three years, the focus is on ‘70s material--including four songs from “Exile on Main Street” -- rather than the ‘60s catalog that first brought the group fame. Besides Jones, the supporting cast this time around includes Chuck Leavell on keyboards, three backup singers and a four-piece brass section. Sheryl Crow, whose music draws on many of the classic values of ‘60s rock, was the well-received opening act.

The visuals here were limited to a giant video screen above the rear of the stage, mostly devoted to shots of the band members. There is also a second stage at the opposite of the arena where the band played a few numbers before returning to the main stage for a final burst of that guitar spectacle in “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”

The fact that scores of fans came in Halloween costumes added to the evening’s youthful tone--as did the unguarded enthusiasm of couples who danced and hugged in their excitement. By concert’s end, it was nearly midnight. But the audience could have danced on and on. It shows what revisiting youth can do for you.

Rolling Stones

Where: Edison International Field, 200 S. State College Blvd., Anaheim, (714) 254-3100

When: Tonight

Price: $50-$350

Time: 7 p.m.

Also

Where: The Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., (213) 380-5005

When: Monday

Price: Sold out

Time: 8 p.m.

Thursday Set List

“Street Fighting Man”