Sticky Fingers
Enmore Theatre
Sydney, Australia
February 5, 2022
It has been five decades since Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers was incepted and as far as their discography is concerned, I deem it to be one of their four masterpieces that really mattered.
If the designation that was attributed to the Stones regarding being one of the greatest rock’n roll bands ever held in any water, it is epitomized with their records that were released in this era as they not only sonically document the zeitgeist and transition from a relative innocent band of the 1960as to the valley of hedonism only to be spat out in in the mid-1970s to lick their wounds.
Essentially, Sticky Fingers is one of the Stones’ most consistent and densest albums as far as the hits-to-duds ratio is concerned and the peak of the Richards-Jagger songwriting partnership upping the ante by celebrating their hard-hitting appreciation for blues, R&B and even country with an unprecedented lyrical filthiness, aesthetically all nicely wrapped up in packaging conceptualized by Andy Warhol.
Given the aforementioned, it is needless to say when I learned about some of Australia’s most iconic trailblazers in the realm of rock, i.e. Text Perkins, Tim Rogers, Adalita and Phil Jamieson backed by a band the individual constituents of which read like the who-is-who of virtuosi, announcing that they would team up to interpret and pay homage to the Stones by getting their fingers sticky to perform the album in its entirety in all its beauty and darkness, framed by some of the Stones’ classics.
The two-chaptered live incarnation of what already sounded fantastic on paper did not disappoint:
Without merely covering, imitating or replicating the respective tracks, each of the protagonists added their own idiosyncratic flair and swagger to the wasted and weary beauty of the original album, thereby creating an immensely enjoyable evening for all parties involved, most prominently an audience that revelled in the contemporary translation of a fifty year old landmark in good music and accomplished ode to raw and sleazy rock’n roll.
I can only hope that it will be considered by all protagonists involved to convene to celebrate other classic albums that inspired them to channel their alchemy in the realm of rock’n roll with similar fervour.
