Wild Horses at the Racetrack ...

by Keith Hansen
Revisiting the Rolling Stones as they play
Randwick Racecourse Sydney in the early 70's.
To be more exact..26th February 1973, a very good year!
The Rolling Stones ....Pacific Tour!
The air in midwinter Sydney had a briskness to it, as the cue lined up for their dose of Rock
satisfaction. Filing past the ticket gate, at the main entrance in to Sydney's, Royal Randwick
Racecourse. The eager beavers of rock music, apprehension awaited the fans of the, living icons
of rebellious English youth, to peruse upon the stage, set before the grandstand, and electrically
generate a music specter, that defied the conventions of a class structure, imbedded into British
society, inflicted on the world for centuries. Now an empire lost, unto its own ambiguity.
Who, in living memory could claim, a British music ensemble, an Electric Rock Band, minced
with American black rhythm and blues, juiced with jazz rock fusion, dished out on a platter of
circus frivolity and vaudeville showmanship, had the chance to conquer the ears of a fickle
audience, post 50's...60's ; music boppers, hippies, and decibels of a new world where the
establishment, doomed to fall, finding 'no satisfaction' in consumerism, as if Daumier himself at
work 'paint it black'....itself a melodic tune based on a medieval chant, with demonic overtones.
Spotlights hit the cluttered stage, assembled beneath the members pavilion, invisible curtains
arose, and the Stones appeared on stage, taking predestinated positions behind tuned,
glittering, chromed instruments. Only in recent years, have modern amplification systems,
allowed a four piece band to pump out enough volume of sound, to fill a stadium. They had
overridden the realm of the 'big band era', pumping the pulsing beat, Jagger screaming a
belated plea, for his 'little red rooster, to come home.'
Not a Stones original, swized, Anglo copy of delta blues, transposed into the realm of the 'Brit
Iles', as 'under the boardwalk', is inductive of a Bodgies afternoon under Brighton Pier, holding
the powdered hand of the Widgie. Many believe the Rolling Stones invented 'the blues,'....; they
reinvented, by reconstructing a version of the Blues. Which composer has not used
constructivism as a valid vehicle for art? Which artist has not? Fill out the boxes?
'Time is on your side,' much like 'Ruby Tuesday' are revamps of English folk music, simplistic
in construction, relying on harmonies and counterpoint, modern lyrics, to carry the popular tune
across to the thronging audience, gathered beneath the stage, swaying as if in a hypnotic trance,
as a near full moon beamed across the rotunda field of Randwick Racecourse.
Mick, ranting how he could no 'satisfaction,' rebelling, and in 'sympathy for the devil,' the
boys in the band, drifted down on a riverboat to New Orleans, sliding with maestro Richards in
Robert Johnson classics, visions of Ragtime and brakemen waving lanterns, as steam trains draw
away saloon parlors, where Maverick gunmen shuffle cards, the 'honky tank piano' pounding as
the painted hooker sells her wares on the ' 'boulevards of Paris'. Blues imagery, no doubt at its
finest. Ellington and Scott Fitzgerald, would be astounded how British lads, had grasped the
southern American concept.
Mick, strutting the duck walk, gyrating, as Presley took Big Boy Crudup to hand, Watts
conjuring a pulsating, cacophony of sound, nothing too stable, as African rhythms provide the
lush texture of rhythms, beats, drum rolls, fills and silence. Wymans electric throbbing bass,
providing the pulse, movement of bass riffs, that carried the 'southern soul, blues band' into the
modern, electric Rock Band Era.'
Angie, an interpretation of a misguided youth, resonated from suspended chords expelled
from Keithy Richards guitar, held in melodic limbo by Jaggers dulcet tones, a true example of

how the structure of English classicism in music, differentiates from its colonial, colorful cousin,
the USA. The former; relying more towards the refinement of classical and romantic music,
whereas the latter is constructed in the vein of 'Gospel and Church choir music', creating the
'soul gospel sound', so defining of American music of the 50's era.
No doubt, one of the key factors for the Stones popularity, is that they played and
constructed music that never went over the head of the common person. Just average guys
doing well. Rebelling against authority, and how things, have 'always been done.'
Bobby Keys blew rock sax, cutting above the grinding chainsaw of the Stones, 'you can't
always get what you want', summing up a crowd who called for their favorite Stones track, to be
played for them. 'Brown Sugar' sweetened the mood as a violent undertone, overtook the
crowd 'crush,' amongst the throng beneath the stage.
Hysteria overtook the evening, as the performance by the Stones drew to a close. No doubt
the Brit lads had drawn the, basic roots of musical experience, from the audience, inhibitions
losing repression as the raw grunge of primitive sounds released repressions. Louder enough to
scare the nesting bats into oblivion, and flight.
'Wild Horses' finished the event, concert, a fine example of showmanship, and how pulsating,
loud rhythm and blues, could fulfil expectations of the 'Stones Fans', a generation who would
continue to indulge in collecting vinyl, and for that matter, a paraphernalia of the 'subliminal
pop blues'. The boys left the stage.
The 'Sticky Fingers' track, 'Wild Horses' began playing through the sound system. This song
had not been on the playlist, perhaps its needed an open tuned guitar, in G.
Or the focus could have settled on the Stones Rock hits, nothing too folky or acoustic.
On the round of the racecourse, fireworks exploded, specters of phosphorescent sparklers
burning the damp air at Randwick Racecourse...Handle played on the PA as a herd of white
horses, were released, to run around the track, free as Brumbies, no bets taken on 'Kentucky
Derby Day', the 'Wild Horses' finished the night, and won the crowd over, crying for more, alone
in the crowded racecourse at Royal Randwick.
NB. As I recall, also being informed by 'Frosty', on the night of the 27th, after the 26th, the 'wild
horses and the fireworks' were banned on the grounds of cruelty and excessive noise.