Why the Rolling Stones' 1973 Brussels Concert Was a Collector's Holy Grail

The 17-minute version of “Midnight Rambler” alone would be reason enough, but the real prize is that this 1973 Brussels show was recorded on the Rolling Stones’ mobile studio — the same truck that captured Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!. That means it’s not a wobbly audience tape or a hissy soundboard snippet; it’s a full, multitrack professional recording with the band in peak form during a tour that only hit a handful of European cities.

At the time, the Stones were deep into the Goats Head Soup era — dark, swaggering, and still riding the post-Exile momentum. The Brussels Forest National gig from October 17, 1973, circulates among diehards as one of the best-sounding boots from that era, because the mobile unit captured the room’s natural reverb and the band’s loose-but-tight interplay. It was long rumored to exist, but the tapes sat in the vaults for 47 years until the Super Deluxe edition of Goats Head Soup finally released it in 2020. For collectors, it was the holy grail because it wasn’t just another live recording — it was a missing link between the ragged glory of the early ’70s and the polished stadium act they’d become.