Rolling Stones
The Center at
Chicago, Illinois
January 23, 2006

Lineage: Sonic Studios DSM-6 => Sony D-7 DAT (side stage)
Transfer: Sony ES DAT => Stand-alone Pioneer CD burner => EAC => Magix Audio Cleaning Lab => WAV => FLAC Front-end (level 8)

Disc one (57:16):
(1) Intro (1:02)
(2) Jumping Jack Flash (4:02)
(3) Let's Spend The Night Together (4:24)
(4) It's Only Rock and Roll (4:49)
(5) Oh No, Not You Again (4:31)
(6) As Tears Go By (4:15)
(7) Rain Fall Down (5:45)
(8) All Down The Line (5:13)
(9) Tumbling Dice (5:30)
(10) Gimme Shelter (6:25)
(11) Band Introductions (3:24)
(12) This Place Is Empty (3:58)
(13) Happy (3:52)

Disc two (52:39):
(1) Miss You (6:00)
(2) Start Me Up (4:47)
(3) Get Off Of My Cloud (3:32)
(4) Honky Tonk Women (4:34)
(5) Sympathy For The Devil (7:30)
(6) Paint It Black (5:00)
(7) Brown Sugar (5:27)
(8) Encore break (1:29)
(9) You Can't Always Get What You Want (7:14)
(10) (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (7:03)

Fingerprint file is included. Sorry, no artwork - perhaps someone can create some

Comments: The Rolling Stones money machine rolled into the United Center for the first of two nights in early January, and despite the fact that it appeared Mick was fighting a cold, the band delivered the goods. The band was tight and well-rehearsed, and aside from Mick periodically forgetting the words when he strayed too far from the Teleprompter, the performance was very solid. I felt like I was watching the 5000th performance of "Cats." "All Down The Line" and "Tumbling Dice," for some reason, sounded better to me than I'd ever heard them play; recent introductions like "Let's Spend the Night Together" and "Happy" seemed like they'd been in the set the whole tour.

Setlist surprises: Zero. After seeing the New York setlists, I'd been hoping for more . . . I'm sure there were many like me who were baffled that Mick thinks that "Miss You" is still a good choice for a 20-song set. I also wonder how satisfied the $450 ticket buyers were with their purchase ($450 / 110 = $4.09 per minute! Which means "Miss You" cost about $25).

However, if you have a friend who's been living in a cave since 1971 and wonders what the Stones have been up to, this would be a good recording to share. I'm very proud of this tape -- I was next to the PA beside the stage and had almost no crowd noise around me (except for a guy commenting loudly between D1T12 and T13: "Well, at least it wasn't 'Infamy' -- that song SUCKS!!!"). Despite my not having the best of equipment, I think this came out on par with some of the better recordings from this tour.

Enjoy it! Just don't give it to a bootlegger, put it on ebay, or convert it to mp3 for trades.