The Rolling Stones in Paris, France 2014

Music brought us here...to Paris, that is...

Chuck, Tim Ries, Caroline Clements, Bernard Fowler

We got the call that the Stones would do a “Pan-Asian” tour about 2 months ago. It totally disrupted our February plans, as we had been told there would be nothing before spring…and we had booked lots of hunts and other activities through all of the month. We had to scramble and do our best to shift some of the hunts to Jan, keep some on the books for Feb that didn’t require Rose Lane and me being there, and in the end, we lost some business that we couldn’t change. I also had to cancel a speech I had on the books to the Georgia Organics Society.…but what were we to do? We just had to deal with it all as best we could and make plans to leave for Paris to rehearse. Of course Rose Lane and I were excited to hook back up with our Stones family….and I was buzzed about getting into the rehearsals and preparing for the upcoming shows.

Rehearsals began on Feb 3rd with the core band….the four Rolling Stones, Darryl Jones and myself. I made up a fairly easy list for the first couple of days, knowing that we would mainly want to just get things going again. That went well, and as the days progressed, the lists of songs I made got more and more challenging.  While we had to remind ourselves of some of the arrangements of various tunes, it all came back to us rather quickly and the band sounded great. We probably touched on 45-50 songs the first week, getting more adventurous as the days passed. One interesting one was "Till The Last Goodbye", which Mick asked me to check out and prepare to do. It is one that I had forgotten about….on the "Only Rock and Roll" album. I gave it a couple of listens and made a chart for it and learned it on my own before trying it with the band. Then when the time came, I played it over the sound system for everyone and we got to work on it. It sounded quite good and gives us an interesting tune in the arsenal that we might pull out somewhere along the line. 

At the end of the first week, Keith's daughter Angela, who was pregnant and overdue for her birth, went into labor. So Keith missed the rehearsal Friday to go and be with her…and to see his new grandson, Orson. Mick Taylor had come in on Thursday, so we took Friday to get him in on the rehearsals and try some things with him. The weekend was off…Keith staying with Angela and family and the rest of us taking some time to enjoy Paris. Rose Lane and I enjoyed some nice walks around the city and some fine dinners together. 

During the weekend, the other players and singers came in….Bobby Keys, Tim Ries, Lisa Fischer and Bernard Fowler. Great to see them all and to get them in the game. So the beginning of the second week, I make the lists of songs with ones that would include them, getting them into the groove. Every day we made progress, and by the end of the second week we were all feeling our oats and the band was tightening up nicely. During both weeks, there were quite a lot of fans that were hanging out outside the rehearsal facility…greeting us with smiles and shouts of our names when we arrived every day and waving goodbye to us as we left to go back to the hotel. Very sweet, and seeing them gave us all a lift. Since we decided not to do a club show to warm us up this time, we decided to let as many of them in as we could on the last day of rehearsals (which happened to be Valentine's Day…and our grandson Miles' 8th birthday) to give them a little "Mini Show".They were truly excited and grateful and it made us feel good that we could say "thanks" in our way for the loyalty they showed us. Great fun all the way around!

So…with two weeks of rehearsals under our belt and a short set for a select number of fans, we were ready to pack up and head to Abu Dhabi for our first show. Rosie and I had the weekend to enjoy Paris before we left and to pack up our own bags for the trip. Then on Monday, Feb. 17th,  it was time to put the show on the road…we would have a long flight to Abu Dhabi, leaving just after mid day….

We got the call that the Stones would do a “Pan-Asian” tour about 2 months ago. It totally disrupted our February plans, as we had been told there would be nothing before spring…and we had booked lots of hunts and other activities through all of the month. We had to scramble and do our best to shift some of the hunts to Jan, keep some on the books for Feb that didn’t require Rose Lane and me being there, and in the end, we lost some business that we couldn’t change. I also had to cancel a speech I had on the books to the Georgia Organics Society.…but what were we to do? We just had to deal with it all as best we could and make plans to leave for Paris to rehearse. Of course Rose Lane and I were excited to hook back up with our Stones family….and I was buzzed about getting into the rehearsals and preparing for the upcoming shows.

Rehearsals began on Feb 3rd with the core band….the four Rolling Stones, Darryl Jones and myself. I made up a fairly easy list for the first couple of days, knowing that we would mainly want to just get things going again. That went well, and as the days progressed, the lists of songs I made got more and more challenging.  While we had to remind ourselves of some of the arrangements of various tunes, it all came back to us rather quickly and the band sounded great. We probably touched on 45-50 songs the first week, getting more adventurous as the days passed. One interesting one was "Till The Last Goodbye", which Mick asked me to check out and prepare to do. It is one that I had forgotten about….on the "Only Rock and Roll" album. I gave it a couple of listens and made a chart for it and learned it on my own before trying it with the band. Then when the time came, I played it over the sound system for everyone and we got to work on it. It sounded quite good and gives us an interesting tune in the arsenal that we might pull out somewhere along the line. 

At the end of the first week, Keith's daughter Angela, who was pregnant and overdue for her birth, went into labor. So Keith missed the rehearsal Friday to go and be with her…and to see his new grandson, Otto Reed. Mick Taylor had come in on Thursday, so we took Friday to get him in on the rehearsals and try some things with him. The weekend was off…Keith staying with Angela and family and the rest of us taking some time to enjoy Paris. Rose Lane and I enjoyed some nice walks around the city and some fine dinners together. 

During the weekend, the other players and singers came in….Bobby Keys, Tim Ries, Lisa Fischer and Bernard Fowler. Great to see them all and to get them in the game. So the beginning of the second week, I make the lists of songs with ones that would include them, getting them into the groove. Every day we made progress, and by the end of the second week we were all feeling our oats and the band was tightening up nicely. During both weeks, there were quite a lot of fans that were hanging out outside the rehearsal facility…greeting us with smiles and shouts of our names when we arrived every day and waving goodbye to us as we left to go back to the hotel. Very sweet, and seeing them gave us all a lift. Since we decided not to do a club show to warm us up this time, we decided to let as many of them in as we could on the last day of rehearsals (which happened to be Valentine's Day…and our grandson Miles' 8th birthday) to give them a little "Mini Show".They were truly excited and grateful and it made us feel good that we could say "thanks" in our way for the loyalty they showed us. Great fun all the way around!

So…with two weeks of rehearsals under our belt and a short set for a select number of fans, we were ready to pack up and head to Abu Dhabi for our first show. Rosie and I had the weekend to enjoy Paris before we left and to pack up our own bags for the trip. Then on Monday, Feb. 17th,  it was time to put the show on the road…we would have a long flight to Abu Dhabi, leaving just after mid day….

The Sheiks gifts