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Anorak News | Gently Rock & Roll

Gently Rock & Roll

by | 18th, August 2006

THOSE who are about to rock gently to and fro on shaky legs and mumble to yourselves, we salute you.

The Mail reports that tickets for the UK leg of The Rolling Stones world tour are being offered through Saga, the company the deals exclusively with the over 50s.

And mindful of the restraints imposed on the aged by the basic pension, tickets are being offered at a discount.

Saga spokesman Paul Green tells the Mail: “It’s an indication of what a lively bunch of today’s older people are that we can encourage them to go to stadium rock concerts.”

Yes, “encourage”. You can encourage the aged to play the castanets, watch Holby City and buy a timeshare by a golf course in Portugal, but it don’t mean they will.

At a time when most big bands from the Sixties are being remembered in tribute bands formed by younger people, the Stones are playing on. (There is no tribute band for the Stones as they are now. Just as Elvis Presley acts are always based on Vegas Elvis, tribute bands aim to emulate their idols in their heyday, and for the Stones that was long ago.)

Having grown into their faces, Stones are still standing. (How drummer Charlie Watts must laugh as he sits on a stool and crashes the cymbals like a sherry-raddled Val Doonican.

You’d need encouragement to watch this lot play. Indeed, adverts for the concerts might care to emphasise the stadiums’ plus points, like warmth, dryness and paramedics on stand by.

But even as the Stones struggle to sell all tickets to their gigs, the promoters have discontinued the scheme. As a spokesman for the band says: “When we found out what was happening, we put a stop to it. Saga members will have to pay the same price as everyone else.”

The Mail says the promoters grew concerned that the crowd may become “embarrassingly” full of pensioners.

And old people at rock concerts is just so very wrong…



Posted: 18th, August 2006 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink