The Rolling Stones - Are They Stupid?

Yes, going for controversy in my title today clearly! And yes this will be a rant. This is all to do with the bands arguments to do with how much of their set will be showed at Glastonbury (a set I shall not be watching...). Initially the pensioners went and said they would only allow 4 songs to be shown by the BBC, the official broadcasters of a festival that has before claimed to be the biggest festival in the world. Now what the hell is going on here? Glastonbury surely has a contract and surely these pensioners are aware if this? Unless their drug use and age has made them beyond demented.

The other point is this band in my eyes are a bunch of con artists. Now I understand their success and longevity gains a lot of fans, I also understand that many of these fans are in an older generation than myself. However I also know bands that have had multiple hit albums and also have gigs in similar venues. But did anyone see the prices of the two gigs at the O2? For anyone who doesn't want to open the article there, here is a quote from the article of the ORIGINAL prices "Tickets - originally priced between £190 and £400 - sold out within seven minutes, however many were bought by resellers such as Via GoGo, Seatwave and Double8 Tickets to sell at an inflated price." Now I don't care what the Rolling Stones have to say for the price and they can sue me if they feel insulted by my comments because there are no legs to stand on but when the cheapest ticket is £190, you're not showing you care about the fans, it more or less feels like you're telling the average fans to "fuck off" and not to bother. Just regarding ticket prices, I have been to see the Arctic Monkeys at the same venue, tickets were priced at less than £40, as were Green Day at the LG Arena (the two massive bands I've seen at arenas). And with this economic climate I would love to know how Mick Jagger, already living the best lifestyle possible thanks to all this money can justify these ticket prices. Apparently I hear he can, by claiming ticket touts have made tickets "not so cheap". For £190 I can pretty much buy a ticket to Reading Festival, little bit better than seeing pensioners way past their best sing songs they wrote before Britain ever considered a female Prime Minister!

So they announce they're to play at Glastonbury and people are excited, to see them at the festival and as with all headliners previously in my memory on the box. But then they tell us they're only to play four songs. So clearly people like myself, oblivious to the days when they were the biggest rock band by a mile on this planet can't make our judgements on them live. Well Mick, that's not good enough, that's not giving yourself a legacy to my generation, we have the Foo Fighters, The Strokes, Blink-182, Arctic Monkeys, Mumford And Sons, Green Day, Eminem, Biffy Clyro, Arcade Fire, My Chemical Romance, Muse...even Rihanna to create legacy through their sets in the last few years (and upcoming summer) to influence us and create a festival legacy. Missing the Rolling Stones isn't like missing a World Cup in England, there are now many artists on a parity (and to the youth of today bigger) regarding the Rolling Stones and every year there will be the chance to see various bands who are on this level. I'm perfectly fine with missing a band that charge more than 4 times the amount that the Arctic Monkeys do! They should be boycotted until tickets are affordable. 

Now they've agreed to play an hour for the BBC, but have arguments regarding it being broadcast abroad, I urge the BBC to grow some guts, you have the rights to Glastonbury, as you do for Reading and various other events, show the full set. If it annoys them, let them sue. Glastonbury rights include the headliners however old and prehistoric they may be! And to the Rolling Stones, let people of my age see what you're about and play on TV, if it's that good, it'll go down in history, like Nirvana at Reading 1992. 

What do you think? Leave a comment or tweet me! If you're the Rolling Stones and feel insulted at what I regard the truth you can also leave me a tweet, or send me a fax, seeming that is probably new to you!