An artcile by De Standaard (Belgium newspaper) - July 16, 2007

(The article could contain mistakes, since it was translated out of Dutch)

The performance of Sly Stone Saturday night at the Blue Note Records Festival created irritation from the audience and the organizers. The organization of the Blue Note Records Festival will investigate if they can claim damages to Sly Stone, due to the fact that the concert started 40 minutes too late and most of all, that Sly himself stood barely twenty minutes on stage.

Bertrand Flamang, director of the Blue Note Record Festival, calls the concert of Sly and The Family Stone a mockery. The 64 aged Sly Stone is a legend who gave popular music new inversions at the end of the sixties. He was the top act on the poster of the festival.

The concert had to start at 11:00 PM, but the announcer and a Dutch tour manager had to calm down the crowd. There was some misunderstanding about the show time and Sly was still on his way. Eventually around 11:45 PM The Family Stone started to perform. After a number of songs, when it was already past midnight, Sly emerged on stage. After a long introduction of the band, Sly himself with some interludes stood barley twenty minutes on stage. Flamang: He had no respect at all. This living legend seems entirely been declined. By drugs, sickness, who will tell? Really, We even had to obtain him from his hotel room. A part of public had been very annoyed and some required their money back. We also feel betrayed.

There can always go something wrong with a living legend, but this was just lack of professionalism. Fortunately his band played very well! But still we were a bit lucky, cause on the Montreux Jazz festival they had to carry him of stage. I have already contacted my colleague at the North Sea Jazz Festival, where he also will perform. Due to local restrictions we also had to reduce the volume round 1:00 AM. We will examine how we can take actions to get a refund; we will not let this be. We will contact Nation live, who booked the group for us, which actions can be taken.

This concert confirmed the rumors about Sly’s recent performances in the US, because he also made bad headlines over there as well.

i've wondered how long his people were going to get away with this. it will be interesting to see how this works out.

If he's in such bad shape WHO is dragging out to perform? Better to leave him in obscurity w/ his legacy intact than to damage it w/ all this mess

Then again, I'm not some greedy promoter (or whoever would push this guy out onstage @ this point) He doesn't seem to be able to make the decision for himself, unfortunately...



,
[Edited 7/17/07 11:30am]

I felt the same at North Sea Jazz Festival. The article put it right: the legend has turned into a mockery... such a shame. He should have stayed in hiding imho. The worst part was he didn't even know the lyrics and didn't know when to start singing his line in 'Sing A Simple Song'. Embarrassing, the creator of Sing A Simple Song don't know anymore how to sing a simple song...And the re-arrangements of Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey and Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) and Thank You For Talking To Me Africa. What the fuck was that? Why didn't the band kill their urges to show off (which failed in my ears) and let good songs be what they should sound like...

I didn't ask my money back because Candy and Snoop (surprisingly good) gave me the funk. Unlike my past hero

Now I forget all about it and stop moaning...

snoop? as in, dog?

sosgemini said:

yep him. I am not particularly keen on him, but I was pleasantly surprised with the show he put on... (not that I am keen on him now - too much 'heard that before')

roverlo said:

what the heck was he doing at a "jazz" festival?

Can you sue the mentally ill?

sosgemini said:

"Jazz Festivals", in many instances, no longer exist based on the list of performers.
They should honestly be just called Music Festivals.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

Well the red flag should've been raised last year when Sly came out on the AMA's. Sang two lines then left the stage. One thing is very clear. He's just not ready to perform right now.

After watching the North Sea Jazz clips, it's obvious that the incident (he described in the recent Vanity Fair article) where he "fell off a cliff" or something has left him with some physical issues. Whether that's a contributor, along with general gig rust, to his stage tentativeness only he knows. The band itself sounds pretty good when they're in Sly-less mode. And Sly's voice sounds surprisingly good.

My take is that the Sly-is-back and actually showing up goodwill they've received up until now has stopped paying dividends.
The band should probably decide to become a competent Sly-Tribute band with possible assistance from Sly as a writer.

Right now, it looks as if he's being used as a sideshow carnival freak. He deserves better than that.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

Yeah I thought Sly's voice sounded fine on the Grammys. If he could just stay onstage & contribute here & there I think people wouldn't complain. It's always been a family affair, right?

I saw Little Richard in concert on PBS recently, and he was barely playing the piano (another guy in the band played most of it) But Richard sang, and held the spotlight, despite some phyical (and possibly mental) issues of his own.

I love your comment NDRU - 'can you sue the mentally ill?' Am not sure if humour was intended here but it made me laugh out loud!

Joking and flippancy aside - it saddens me to think of Sly in such a decrepit state, I have a ticket for the Bournemouth show and in the age of the internet...it's kind of been killed long in advance.

I'd also point out that Sly's a big boy and am sure he made this decision for himself. He's had 30 years to make a proper comeback or tour Europe with a band, and he was at least in better 'physical' health then.

I think the last decent footage I saw of Sly was on the David Letterman show in the US in 1983...it wasn't perfect but there was still a flicker of the old magic buried somewhere.

It's sad to see...and I guess we can rule out a Prince / Sly get together in London!! Sly's now making Larry G look cutting edge!!
[Edited 7/17/07 15:16pm]
[Edited 7/17/07 15:16pm]
[Edited 7/17/07 15:17pm]

theAudience said:

"Well said"

His voice is pretty good considering the lapse in time since he's performed on a regular base's. Probably since he has a recording studio and is still writting material helps. I thought the band had their own thang and were going to record some new songs at the start and should have continued that way; sly can hook'em up on some songs.


but as is, .....Que Sara, Sara.
[Edited 7/18/07 6:35am]

I was afraid this was gonna happen