Rolling Stones: Immortality secret revealed by Peter Tregear

Few may be aware that long before there was Australia's Got Talent or The Voice, there was the Banyule Primary School Grade 3c end-of-year concert. There I and a group of friends delivered what I can only optimistically describe as a "cover" version of Wild Thing by The Troggs. If I remember correctly, we were inspired to do this after watching an episode of the BBC comedy series, The Goodies, in which this song had appeared prominently. Our audience also had a model to emulate. For a brief moment the classroom was reduced to something akin to Beatle-mania, albeit (in every sense) in miniature.

Flash forward too many years to bear mentioning here, however, and I have, indeed, experienced something like it again. It came about as a result of having been asked to provide a chamber choir to accompany the Rolling Stones in performances of their 1969 hit You Can't Always Get What You Want.

Right up to the moment I, and the 23 singers of the Consort of Melbourne, stepped on stage for a pre-show rehearsal, it had not seemed particularly special. Or perhaps our enthusiasm had been tempered by the logistics of negotiating an extraordinarily high level of security backstage, and also ensuring we did not fall foul of rather strict confidentiality clauses. In truth, however, I am sure it was in part because none of us who were performing could have described ourselves as "Stoners". We had all chosen paths to musical fulfillment that had bypassed (often by a significant margin…) the rough, raucous and rude form of rock'n'roll the Rolling Stones exemplify.

That all changed, however, when we got on stage for the rehearsal. Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, in particular, were having none of us just coming on "doing our job" and leaving – they were quick to draw us into their show, above all to their overwhelming sense of mischievous fun. We were totally disarmed!

And of course, later that evening, when we stepped up to perform what was to be their first encore, the wave of energy that enveloped us from the 24000-strong crowd at the Rod Laver Arena was simply intoxicating. Humanity acting in concert, not least in a concert (!), conveys a special kind of energy. While the uses to which it can be put are not always benign, here it seems almost wholly positive. Is this not part of the secret of the Rolling Stones longevity? Does not an audience such as this have the capacity to grant if not eternal life, then at least a sizeable extension to those fortunate enough to attract such attention? I mean, how else does one explain Keith Richards?

I have only been to one big stadium music concert before – the appearance at the MCG in Melbourne by Madonna in November 1993 (her Girlie Show World Tour). At that time it was considered de rigueur for any young student interested in cultural studies to go and witness her first-hand. In part because of the intercession of then fashionable intellectuals like Camille Paglia, but also in part because of her own clever self-projection, Madonna was received at this time not just as a pop music icon, but also a cultural talisman, a prophetess of a new, positive, post-modern, sense of self.

If I were honest, however, the effect the concert had on me, was much less esoteric (at least to my undergraduate self..). What I did learn, however, was something perhaps more fundamentally important for a musician. Firstly, I gained respect for the extraordinary level of musical craftsmanship that makes these events possible. Secondly, I came to appreciate the ability of the music itself in live performance to draw you into its universe, to make you appreciate its significance. Is that not what all musicians, whatever the genre, seek to do when they play?

So it was for all of us in the choir to appreciate in the wake of the Stones concert. There is no doubt they remain a class act. A small but (for us at least) significant proof of that is that they can now also count among the millions who appreciate them, an additional 24 fans.

Peter Tregear is head of the ANU School of Music.