Don’t call local ensemble the Beggar Kings a Rolling Stones tribute band; they do something completely different. Rather than recreate the Rolling Stones on stage, they bring to life two of the group’s best albums: Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street, both from the early ’70s—a fertile time for the band.
“It’s just musicians doing this, not unlike a symphony doing Mozart. We’re trying to reproduce an album that is a work of art, as opposed to the haircuts and the costumes,” says band leader and multi-instrumentalist Dale Ockerman. “It’s just based on the albums. We don’t say, ‘let’s start with ‘Satisfaction’ and end with ‘Start Me Up,’ or whatever’s popular.’”
The idea to bring classic albums to life is nothing new for Ockerman. He’s already been doing it as part of the White Album Ensemble, who bring the Beatles famous White Album to a live setting, something the Beatles never did. It only makes sense to move on to the other big groups from the ’60s British Invasion, but of course, the early ’70s was when the Stones were pushing boundaries.
Sticky Fingers (1971) was a hard-rocking, catchy record, and considered one of the Stones’ best. However, Exile On Main Street (1972) was a flop in its time due to its lack of pop hooks and a heavier blues and American roots influence. Critics nowadays cite this record as the Stones doing their most cutting-edge work.
“I look at Exile on Main Street as them going, ‘we’re really successful, let’s go make our own record.’ I don’t think they were going, ‘what’s going to be the hit? We need another ‘Satisfaction.’’ There were no suits and cigars telling them what to do. It was freeform in their crazy Stones way. By the time they hit Exile, it was the whole new thing,” Ockerman says.
INFO: 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21. Don Quixote’s, 6275 Hwy 9, Felton. $18/adv, $20/door. 603-2294. Photo: Michele Benson
