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July 19, 1978: Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, TX, USA Let It Rock/All Down The Line/Honky Tonk Women/Star Star/When The Whip Comes Down/Beast Of Burden/Lies/Miss You/Just My Imagination/ Shattered/ Respectable/Far Away Eyes/Love In Vain/Tumbling Dice/Happy/Sweet Little Sixteen/ Brown Sugar/Jumping Jack Flash *All photos taken from the Rockininhouston site
From Chron.com: You may recall that one of the first blog posts at Bayou City History 2.0 was about a radio spot advertising the Rolling Stones’ July 11, 1966, show at the Sam Houston Coliseum. Well, while digging through the Houston Chronicle photo archive last year, I came across a few photos from some of the Stones’ later concerts in Houston.
The above photo was from the band’s July 19, 1978, tour stop at the Sam Houston Coliseum. At that time, Mick and the boys were close to wrapping up their tour to promote the “Some Girls” album. For the most part, it wasn’t too different from any other show on the tour, except that Mick Jagger joined opening act Peter Tosh during his closing number.
But once the Stones took the stage, it became clear the band was having an off night, according to Houston Chronicle music critic Dale Adamson. “All I know is Wednesday night’s show was one of the most painful disappointments I’ve ever encountered in live rock ‘n’ roll — aggravated all the more by the fact that the Rolling Stones rank very close to the top of the list of my all-time favorite bands,” according to the paper’s July 20, 1978 edition. “It was a dismal experience — to be endured, not enjoyed.” What went wrong?
“After an almost hour-long intermission, the Stones hit the stage to a deafening ovation matched only by the band’s subsequently overloaded decibel level,” Adamson wrote. “Starting off a bit sloppy, that’s exactly how they continued for the duration of the show — 18 songs back-to-back in an even 100 minutes.”
