Rolling Stones ( The ) - Gimme Shelter

First performance: 21/10/1995

Coverinfo

Bruce covered the song 2 times (soundcheck included) in full and used it 50 times as a snippet during 'cover me':
 
 
With Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers. Show features the only known full Springsteen performance during a show of "Gimme Shelter".
 
1995-10-16 Stone Pony (The), Asbury Park, NJ
The song was also covered during an extensive (three-to-four-hour) private rehearsal to prepare for the start of the Joe Grushecky-Springsteen October Assault mini-tour starting the following night. 
 
  • Snippets
during COVER ME 
 
1988-04-01 Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY
Cover Me includes "Gimme Shelter" for the first time
 
 
 
1988-04-02 Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY
1988-04-04 Capital Centre, Largo, MD
1988-04-05 Capital Centre, Largo, MD
1988-04-12 Summit (The), Houston, TX
1988-04-13 Summit (The), Houston, TX
1988-04-15 Frank Erwin Center, Austin, TX 
1988-04-17 St. Louis Arena, St. Louis, MO
1988-04-20 McNichols Sports Arena, Denver, CO 
1988-04-22 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA
1988-04-23 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA
1988-04-25 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA 
1988-04-27 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA
1988-04-28 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA
1988-05-02 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA
1988-05-03 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA
1988-05-05 Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, WA
1988-05-06 Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, WA
1988-05-09 Met Center, Bloomington, MN
1988-05-10 Met Center, Bloomington, MN
1988-05-13 Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, IN
1988-05-16 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
1988-05-18 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
1988-05-19 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
1988-05-22 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
1988-05-23 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
1988-06-11 Stadio Comunale, Turin, Italy
1988-06-15 Stadio Flaminio, Rome, Italy
1988-06-16 Stadio Flaminio, Rome, Italy
1988-06-19 Hippodrome De Vincennes, Paris, France
1988-06-21 Villa Park, Birmingham, England
1988-06-22 Villa Park, Birmingham, England
1988-06-22 Villa Park, Birmingham, England
1988-06-25 Wembley Stadium, London, England
1988-06-28 Stadion Feijenoord, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
1988-06-29 Stadion Feijenoord, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
1988-07-02 Stockholms Stadion, Stockholm, Sweden
1988-07-03 Stockholms Stadion, Stockholm, Sweden
1988-07-07 RDS Arena, Dublin, Ireland
1988-07-09 Bramall Lane, Sheffield, England
1988-07-10 Bramall Lane, Sheffield, England
1988-07-12 Waldstadion, Frankfurt, West Germany
1988-07-14 St. Jakob Stadion, Basel, Switzerland
1988-07-17 Olympia-Reitstadion Riem, Munich, West Germany
1988-07-19 Radrennbahn Weissensee, East Berlin, East Germany
1988-07-25 Københavns Idrætspark, Copenhagen, Denmark
1988-07-27 Valle Hovin Stadion, Oslo, Norway
1988-07-30 Weserstadion, Bremen, West Germany
1988-08-02 Estadio Vicente Calderón, Madrid, Spain
1988-08-03 Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain
 

Songinfo

"Gimme Shelter" is the opening track to the 1969 album Let It Bleed by the Rolling Stones. Although the first word was spelled "Gimmie" on that album, subsequent recordings by the band and other musicians have made "Gimme" the customary spelling. The recording features Richards playing in an open tuning on electric guitar. The recording also features vocals by Merry Clayton. "Gimme Shelter" was written by the Rolling Stones' lead vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards. Richards began working on the song's signature opening riff in London whilst Jagger was away filming Performance. As released, the song begins with Richards performing a guitar intro, soon joined by Jagger's lead vocal. Of Let It Bleed's bleak world view, Jagger said in a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone magazine:
 
"Well, it's a very rough, very violent era. The Vietnam War. Violence on the screens, pillage and burning. And Vietnam was not war as we knew it in the conventional sense. The thing about Vietnam was that it wasn't like World War II, and it wasn't like Korea, and it wasn't like the Gulf War. It was a real nasty war, and people didn't like it. People objected, and people didn't want to fight it ... That's a kind of end-of-the-world song, really. It's apocalypse; the whole record's like that."
 
 
 

Other cover versions

  • The original backing singer, Merry Clayton, recorded her own version in 1970
  • Sisters of Mercy
  • Patti Smith 
  • U2 covered the song at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame benefit concert on 30 October 2009, with Mick Jagger sharing lead vocals with Bono and featuring the Black Eyed Peas members Fergie, singing Merry Clayton's vocal part, and will.i.am, playing piano and synthesizer.

Bruce on the artist

Bruce covered 21 songs of the Rolling Stones and had 3 performances with them : 
 
Bruce joins The Rolling Stones on the World Stage at the "Rock in Rio" Festival, performing "Tumbling Dice" together.  
 
 
 
Bruce's last public action in 2012 is a scheduled appearance as a special guest with The Rolling Stones on their 50th anniversary tour in Newark. A somewhat starstruck Bruce shares lead vocals with Mick Jagger. This is the first time Springsteen has played "Tumbling Dice", from the Rolling Stones' 1972 album Exile On Main St. 
 
 
 
1989-01-18 Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City, NY 
Springsteen attends the fourth Annual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremonies. The night's inductees are The Rolling Stones. Bruce jammed with an all - star band, including The Stones. 
 

Lyrics

Oh, a storm is threat'ning
My very life today
If I don't get some shelter
Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away
War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
Ooh, see the fire is sweepin'
Our very street today
Burns like a red coal carpet
Mad bull lost its way
War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
Rape, murder!
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
Rape, murder yeah!
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
Rape, murder!
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away yea
The floods is threat'ning
My very life today
Gimme, gimme shelter
Or I'm gonna fade away
War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
I tell you love, sister, it's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away
Kiss away, kiss away