– Ike & Tina Turner – Live At L’Olympia, Paris – January 30, 1971 – RTL – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Ike & Tina Turner, live at the legendary Olympia in Paris from January 30, 1971. They always said James Brown was the hardest working man in show business – but the hardest working Woman in show business was, hands-down Tina Turner.
The Ike & Tina Turner Revue was wall-to-wall energy; it was non-stop. And realizing they maintained this fever-pitch night after night, and during the early days sometimes several times a night, only added a level of respect and admiration, not just because they were amazing as artists, but they were so completely dedicated as performers.
I saw them several times over the years and they never phoned it in – and this concert is further evidence of just how audiences truly appreciated and loved them.
With a string of hits going back to 1960, it really wasn’t until the mid-60s where they achieved mainstream success, that the audience truly appreciated who was in their midst. Prior to that, it was the Chitlin Circuit – tiny clubs and venues all through the South; the grind. But this was also the place to hone skills, and no doubt that endless succession of backwater towns proved to be a key ingredient in their eventual success. But they had an easier time of it in Europe than in the States, even in the early days. And this performance in Paris gives you an idea of just how popular they had always been in Europe, ever since the Rolling Stones first booked them as an opening act for a UK tour in 1966.
But this is 1971, and Ike & Tina Turner have been household names for a while. Still, as always, they gave 110%. If you aren’t familiar with them in this context, here is a great opportunity to hear what everybody else heard over 50 years ago. Although Ike is gone and he and Tina divorced many-many years earlier, Tina Turner went on to a whole other career as a solo artist, the music and the presentation from 1971 is still fresh and the music is still vital. And Tina Turner is, and always will be, unforgettable.
And I would definitely crank this one up, if I were you.
And while you’re here . . .you know we don’t run ads – stopped running them more than a few years ago. The ads were noisy and pretty awful and they were a huge distraction, having to wade through a lot of useless barking in order to get to the good stuff. But we still have to pay the bills, and there’s a ton of them and they don’t like to wait. And so we ask you consider becoming a subscriber and support all the stuff we do every day by kicking in what amounts to being an Americano Grande every month to be part of the solution and not the problem. In todays bizarre economy it ain’t much – but it means a ton to Past Daily. All you have to do (and we make this as simple and pain-free as possible) is head over to Patreon (that red box just below that says “Become A Patron” that you click on) and check us out. You can do 7 days free just to kick the tires and take a test drive. And if you like us, hit the subscribe button and become part of our rather haywire little family. Not bad, considering we just want you to like us.
