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.
Heh. :-)
Yah know what's *really* funny... was that I camped out in the parking lot of the Kingdome in Seattle for the *82* tour... 'cuz the rumor was (a new rumor at the time) that it was going to be their last tour.
Heh. Now... children conceived in the tents in that parking lot can legally drink beer in the beer garden at this tour.
I think these guys will still be touring in another twenty years.
No kidding. With all the heavy metal concerts I saw, I should be deaf, too.
Not sure what this question means.
This could be the last time. Looks like they are going to be reunited Brian Jones real soon.
SHE'S A MAN, BABY!!!!!
They are in their sixties now ... the only way they will be touring 2 decades from now will be virtually.
Certainly an arguable point but Bob Dylan has put out some pretty good albums lately. His concerts are nothing special however.
OMG. Yer hurtin' me here...
Last album I heard from him was "Saved".
He did some good stuff with the Traveling Wilbury's though.
Well... Keith Richards has been pretty "virtual" for the last couple decades. I figure Mick will someday be about 105 and still doing "satisfaction" on the old folks home tours... :-)
Oh... I know... believe me I know... [ouch] :-)
...only matched by Bob Dylan in longevity...
The Stones break out there "farewell tour" every couple of years. Bob is still playing 100's of shows a year. The Stones will play a cookie cutter tour, same set list, arrangement every night. Bob is still mixing it up every night, playing a different set every night, a lot of similiar shows but he will mix it up a lot, and he is constantly changing the arrangements of his songs.
Good points.
"Nothing against Bob, but I think the Stones passed him decades ago."
Dylan has something going on health wise, like Parkinson's. He doesn't play guitar anymore and he shakes a lot on stage.
Love them both but Dylan has recorded some of his best work ever in the last 20 years. Can't say the same for the Stones... 'Cept the X-pensive Winos.
Just look at Dylans Tour this year. It would kill the Stones...
Mick Jagger is quoted to say "My heart is Labour, but my money is Conservative".
Humor comes in many forms. I'm one, you have yet to understand.
My sincere hopes.... it will come to you in time.
With special consideration from GlaxoSmithKline, makers of Geritol.
Best bet is to spend the summer in Toronto and plug yourself into the rumour mill. They rehearse their shows here before every tour and they have a habit of playing local clubs with about half a day's advance notice- the regard the club gigs as a dress rehearsal with an audience.
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