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 tour dates as announced during the press conference:
A total of 32 shows are confirmed
Sun Aug. 21 Boston, MA Fenway Park
Fri Aug. 26 Hartford, CT Rentschler Field
Sun Aug. 28 Ottawa, ON Frank Clair Stadium
Wed Aug. 31 Detroit, MI Comerica Park
Sat Sep. 03 Moncton, NB Magnetic Hill Concert Ctr.
Tue Sep. 06 Saint Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
Thu Sep. 08 Milwaukee, WI Bradley Center
Sat Sep. 10 Chicago, IL Soldier Field Stadium
Thu Sep. 15 East Rutherford, NJ Giants Stadium
Sat Sep. 24 Columbus, OH Nationwide Arena
Mon Sep. 26 Toronto, ON Rogers Centre
Wed Sep. 28 Pittsburgh, PA PNC Park
Sat Oct. 01 Hershey, PA Hersheypark Stadium
Mon Oct. 03 Washington, DC MCI Center
Thu Oct. 06 Charlottesville, VA Scott Stadium @ Univ. Of Virginia
Mon Oct. 10 Philadelphia, PA Wachovia Center
Sat Oct. 15 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
Mon Oct. 17 Miami, FL American Airlines Arena
Wed Oct. 19 Tampa, FL St. Pete Times Forum
Fri Oct. 21 Charlotte, NC New Charlotte Arena
Fri Oct. 28 Calgary, AB Pengrowth Saddledome
Sun Oct. 30 Seattle, WA KeyArena at Seattle Center
Tue Nov. 01 Portland, OR Rose Garden Arena
Fri Nov. 04 Anaheim, CA Angel Stadium Of Anaheim
Fri Nov. 11 San Diego, CA PETCO Park
Sun Nov. 13 San Francisco, CA SBC Park
Sun Nov. 20 Fresno, CA Save Mart Center
Tue Nov. 22 Salt Lake City, UT Delta Center
Thu Nov. 24 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
Sun Nov. 27 Glendale, AZ Glendale Arena
Tue Nov. 29 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
Thu Dec. 01 Houston, TX Toyota Center
More shows will be added to this list.
What a drag it is getting old.
Tour sponsors: Viagra and AARP
Got to give them credit..Thats some heave tour..Better than %99 of the crap out there that passes itself off as rock-n-roll...
Where do we get tickets???!!
Great, another sucky album a la Voodoo Lounge!
(ducks)
Jeeeeez, Mick. Tuck in those lips.
They last came thru Fresno in 1965 at Ratcliffe Stadium...tickets were $3.50 and $1.00. I hear the tickets for the Nov. 20 show in Fresno are about $100. Rock on! ;-)
LOL! There will also need to be Senior Citizen discounts for tickets.
I had a mental picture of Mick on a walker doing songs. Then I saw your post. Ha!
my buddies called them The Groaning Bones ,in the late 70's ?!?!?!?!?!?
What in God's name is keeping Keith Richards alive??
The shows are a little shorter than they used to be, because they can only keep Keith Richards unhooked from the machines for so long.....
The Rolling Stones LIVE! Plus Keith Richards.
Funny! V's wife.
I may have to go to the Anaheim show, last time I saw them was in the mid 1970's.
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