The Brussels Affair 1973: How Mick Taylor’s Swansong Show Became the Rolling Stones’ Holy Grail Bootleg

The Rolling Stones’ October 17, 1973 show in Brussels is often called the best bootleg of their entire career — not just because of the setlist, but because it captures Mick Taylor at his absolute peak. The band was touring behind Goats Head Soup, and they were furious. They’d been booed at a previous show in Germany for refusing to play old hits, so they came out swinging in Brussels with a take-no-prisoners set that opened with “Brown Sugar” and rarely let up.

What makes this recording legendary is the way Mick Taylor’s leads weave through the songs. His solo on “Midnight Rambler” stretches into a 15-minute blues odyssey, and his slide work on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” sounds like it’s bleeding directly from the amp. The whole thing was professionally recorded by the Stones’ mobile truck for a planned live album that never happened. Keith Richards later called Taylor’s performance “frighteningly good” — and then, two years later, Taylor quit the band, making the Brussels show the last great document of that classic five-piece lineup.