Boot Camp: The Last Time Mick Taylor Sat In With The Stones

Last night The Rolling Stones kicked off a celebration of their 50th Anniversary at the 02 Arena in London, where they filled the 23-song performance with rarities and guest spots. One of those guests was former Stones guitarist Mick Taylor who joined the band in 1969 before resigning in 1974. Yet yesterday wasn’t the first time Taylor performed with his old mates since he quit as he sat in for a large part of the Stones’ December 14, 1981 show at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City.

Taylor was in Kansas City for a gig with Alvin Lee leading to his guest spot at the Kemper. Ronnie Wood explained in his autobiography, “On the ’81 tour in Kansas City, we heard that Mick Taylor was in town we invited him up on stage for a few numbers. Perhaps the reunion over excited him. He seemed to refuse to realize how much the band had changed since his departure. He shocked us with how loud he was blasting it. Bulldozing through parts of songs that should have been subtle, ignoring the breaks and taking uninvited solos. And the volume! I thought me and Keith play loud, but he was easily three times louder than us. I was standing next to him, passing along messages from Keith who would say, ‘Tell that @#$%& to turn it down!’ I was a little more diplomatic: ‘Um, Mick, the song is finished’ or ‘It’s in E, not F.’ Afterwards, Keith told me, ‘It’s a good thing you were standing in between us or I’d have flattened him.’ But he’s a lovely man and it was great to see him.”

Rolling Stones @ Kemper Arena – December 14th, 1981

Set: Under My Thumb/When The Whip Comes Down/Let’s Spend The Night Together/Shattered/Neighbours/Black Limousine/Just My Imagination/ Twenty Flight Rock/Going To A Go Go/Let Me Go/Time Is On My Side/ Beast Of Burden/Waiting On A Friend/Let It Bleed/You Can’t Always Get What You Want/Band introduction/Little T & A/Tumbling Dice/She’s So Cold/Hang Fire/Miss You/Honky Tonk Women/Brown Sugar/Start Me Up/ Jumping Jack Flash/Satisfaction

Note: With special guest Mick Taylor on guitar. Probably from Black Limousine
up to You Can’t Always Get What You Want and also on Satisfaction

[Info via Complete Works of The Rolling Stones]

Despite what Wood said, the soundboard recording that circulates tells a different story. When you can make out Taylor’s guitar licks, he adds to the songs, he doesn’t take away from them. Mick T. stayed on stage during a number of tunes from after his tenure in the group and he must’ve turned his volume down as you can’t hear his distinctive tone on those songs. Taylor especially shines on You Can’t Always Get What You Want. Head over to Soundaboard to download the liberated soundboard bootleg “Mick Taylor, We Love You and We’ll Always Do” in either FLAC or MP3 format.

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