When your face looks like it needs "Preparation H".
Posted on 05/10/2005 7:47:04 PM PDT by John Lenin
Rock megastars Rolling Stones announce world tour
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By Ellen Wulfhorst
NEW YORK (Reuters) - It's only rock 'n' roll but they still like it.
The Rolling Stones, well into their fifth decade of playing rock 'n' roll, on Tuesday announced a global tour that will stretch into next year and laughed off suggestions that it would be a farewell tour.
"We never say this is going to be our last tour. We never think about it. We take each tour as it comes," singer Mick Jagger, 61, told a news conference at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
"I think that's a trap to try and get people to buy your tickets and say, 'Well, I'll never see them again."
Reminding the cheering crowd that not only are they far from elderly but one of the greatest bands in rock 'n' roll, the Stones kicked off the event with live performances of "Start Me Up" and "Brown Sugar" and a new song Jagger called "Oh No, Not You Again."
The wiry Jagger wriggled and strutted, while Keith Richards, also 61, grinned mischievously over his guitar licks in front of Lincoln Center's Juilliard School.
It was a relatively low-key launch for a band that once landed in a blimp in a city park to kick off a world tour in 2002.
"This is one of the earliest concerts we've been to in a while, actually,," Jagger said of the mid-day event. "We're calling it the cornflakes concert."
The Stones, who burst onto the rock scene in the early '60s in England, are putting together a new album, still untitled, that is "85 percent" finished, Jagger said.
"We tried to make it very wide-ranging and we tried to make it very hard-hitting, but it's got its sensitive moments," he said.
"It kicks some ass," Richards added.
The first tickets go on sale to the public beginning Saturday for the tour which opens August 21 at Fenway Park in Boston and continues in North America through early 2006, said tour director Michael Cohl.
The tour travels to Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Japan and "hopefully" China before heading to Europe in summer 2006, he said.
"There's a lot of other fantastic bands and a lot of old rubbish out there, and we hope it's going to be a wonderful summer of rock 'n' roll and we're going to be right in there," Jagger said.
"May God have mercy on your soul," added Richards.
Prices will average about $100 per ticket, and the shows will take place in stadiums, arenas and theaters, Cohl said.
Asked how much they might make on the tour, while Jagger paused, Richards jubilantly shouted out: "Millions!"
The band, whose shows can sell out in minutes, last toured in 2002-03. The Stones hold the record for the top two most attended North American tours, promoters said.
Jagger said the Stones are likely to choose old songs, new songs, blues and covers of other artists' work.
"Sometimes they choose themselves," Richards said.
The band has a history of staging elaborate stage sets and Jagger said the coming stadium tour will have some 400 people on stage behind the band.
"You'll get a great view of our bums, so we'll have to work on them a bit," he said.
The Stones can still blow just about any rock band off the stage. They could play hits for two solid hours.
When your face looks like it needs "Preparation H".
Amen to that.
That's not to say that those performers who choose to pack it in sooner are wrong to do so. Everyone has to make that choice for themselves. The Stones still feel they can put on a good show and based on the demand to see them I'd have to say a good portion of the public agrees. So have at it, guys, just don't push it too hard. Don't want any of the boys not coming home after the tour.
Then again, what was it Jagger once said about rather being dead than doing that one song of his (Satisfaction?) after thirty? Guess that one went by the boards. Maybe they can add the one McCartney song about "will you still need me..." to their play list.
Cool about 'Yes' saying that. Guess I'll look more into them. I remember them back in the 'Roundabout' days, but haven't heard anything since 'Owner of a Lonely Heart'.
Ouch!
And stack up on the Depends.
cough, cough, wheeeeeeeeez
Don't forget Depends.....very important for those on stage jumps.
Once I heard Mick's prancing described as "the chicken dance," well, uh... kind of took the shine off the whole thing.
You think he's alive? I'd reserve opinion until I knew for sure that he has a reflection in a mirror.
They've officially changed their name to "The Rolling Gall Stones."
"...my friend took me to see the Stones at Madison Square Garden. 30 YEARS AGO!"
Outta sight, Hildy! Did the math and I'm older than you are. Guess we've "still got it going on," as the kids say today.
Am happy to announce that my daughter just sent me an invitation to the new Stones' concert. I'm flattered that she still thinks I'm young enough (in spirit) to go. Imagine I'll let her choose my attire. No sense embarrassing her, now is there?
But who doesn't love Keith?
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