This past Saturday night found me rolling south on a Red Line train on my way to Lincoln park to see Hot Rocks do their Rolling Stones tribute show. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I have seen other bands attempt the Stones thing before, and it always seemed to come off flat. I mean, the Stones aren’t the most theatrical band in the world, so to do a tribute show an act has to be in tune with the finer points of Mr. Jagger & co.‘s career. To do it any other way is just too bar-band-lame. But, I figured that since I love the Stones anyway, how bad of a time could I really have?

Well, I am happy to report that Hot Rocks more than surpassed my expectations of the kind of show I was in for that evening. The band put on a tight, focused, entertaining show to a pretty-much packed house. Frontman Crazy Eddie Bloom does a pretty fair Mick Jagger. He bears a strong facial resemblance but is also just as manic a performer as his English counterpart. Bloom has Jagger’s stage moves down cold and was, truthfully, a lot of fun to watch. The rest of the band played skillfully behind Bloom, and while the set list held no surprises (Brown Sugar, Not Fade Away, etc), the tunes were well played and energetic.