29-years ago this evening, the Rolling Stones (a few of them) ventured into Chicago on a night off to the Checkerboard Lounge to check out Muddy Waters. The in house cameras caught the magic. One of my favorite bootlegs of all time. Fast forward to 6:30 in this clip to see Keith Richards make his way to the stage, utterly priceless and legendary.
When I started going to record shows in my early teens, I immediately grabbed this bootleg on cassette and acquired it on CD many years later. This is why bootlegs exist; so people can revel in the glory of this moment where a bunch of British lads join their idol on stage. It was after all a Muddy Waters song that the band took their name from ("Rollin' Stone").
What you see below is a band who is there out of their own want, their own desires and they let the exuberance overtake them in one of their greatest moments ever. Thank god for the house feed at the Checkerboard.
