Rolling Stones Eternal Touring Thread

[dalsh327]

New Maron interview - Keith Richards

http://www.wtfpod.com/

Edited April 7, 2015 by dalsh327

[Powerage5]

So will they be doing the $85 mystery tickets again? If so, may just get those for Philly instead of trying for field tickets, which will likely be ridiculous anyway.

They are apparently - the TM page for Orlando mentions Lucky Dip tickets. No details yet though.

[Daedalus]

Mick Jagger: 'I'm Not Thinking About Retirement'
The Rolling Stones singer on the band's upcoming North American tour, new 'Sticky Fingers' box set and the possibility of a new album

Mick Jagger may be a great-grandfather just three months away from his 72nd birthday, but slowing down doesn't seem to have crossed his mind. He's spent the past two and a half years on the road with the Rolling Stones and he's gearing up for a 15-date North American stadium tour this summer. Hours after the tour was announced, Jagger called up Rolling Stone to discuss plans for the show, the new Sticky Fingers box set and the possibility of a new Stones album.

What made you guys decide to go with stadiums this summer?
I enjoy playing stadiums in a way, and I had a good time last summer playing them in Europe.

The stages are so much bigger than arenas, so that must make them more physically demanding for you.
Yeah, a little bit. [Laughs] Well, you could make it a smaller stage. It's my own fault, really, if it's big. It is quite large, maybe 150 feet wide and then the runway is quite large, too.

How do you prepare for a tour like this? Do you have a personal trainer?
I just up the whole fitness thing, and I do have a trainer that I've had for years. I'm always working out. I don't really stop between tours, but then I do have to take it up to another level about three months before one begins. You have to prepare for what you're going to do. You don't prepare for running a marathon. You do start and stop stuff. You train for the quick burst. It's really hard to do the singing at the same time. I'll be doing cross-training and my trainer is going, "Try and sing during this!" That's not really possible in a gym in front of other people. [Laughs]

Are you building a new stage for this tour?
Let me think…It's different, I think. Some of it is the same and some is different. It hasn't been seen in North America, but it's somewhat similar to some of the European gigs.

How involved do you get in the stage design and other technical aspects of a tour?
I pretty much go through the design and run through different options. It's a video-based stage with lots of screens, so it's important what goes on them. We've got some new pieces for the video. I'm pretty involved in all that. The actual playing surface is more or less standard and we worked it out a while ago; how much room you need for this and that.

Then there's the other variable of the width of the stadium. A baseball stadium, for instance, is normally much wider than a football stadium. Each one is a bit different, so I have to look at all those as well and say which is which. Stadiums really aren't uniform like arenas, which tend to all be the same. With stadiums, you have to tailor the stage design each night.

Are you going to play more Sticky Fingers songs than usual because the album is being re-released?
Maybe, yeah, or at least playing the ones we don't normally play. But I haven't really gotten to that yet. We're floating the idea of doing the whole album. I played it - and it's a really great album - but it's got a lot of slow songs. I'm just worried that's a bit problematic for a stadium. So, I don't know. I'm sure we'll think about it. I'm just working on that now, but I'm sure we'll feature some of the more unusual ones. I think that'll be good.

I would love to hear "Moonlight Mile" or "Sister Morphine."
Yeah, exactly, and we haven't played those for a bit. I think that's a good idea, and we definitely will feature those.

Do you think you might play the whole album straight through at least once?
Maybe. [Laughs.] Maybe in the same running order, but normally in a whole show, we might do one ballad. Maybe Keith might do a ballad, but maximum two. Sticky Fingers has, like, five slow songs.

But they're really good slow songs.
I know they're good. I think the album is all good. I just don't know how it would work. Maybe we'd play it and everyone would say, "Great." But maybe they'll get restless and start going to get drinks. [Laughs]

So you'll figure this out at rehearsals?
Yeah. We play a lot of the tunes in there and know them pretty well. But the ones you mentioned we don't play as much. I mean, we've played all of them I think once before. It's not like doing Their Satanic Majesties Request. So, I'm sure we'll have a go at playing the whole thing. I mean, [laughs], I'm not sure it's gonna work.

There used to be long gaps between tours. You'd go out for two years, and then disappear for the next four or so. But you've been on tour since 2012, though doing far fewer shows with long gaps between legs. What's changed?
As you say, we do less shows. It's still the same in that we go around the world and then start again. [Laughs] We ended in Australia in December and then we're back where we started. The 50th anniversary tour started in England. But now we did the whole shebang and we're starting again. I've really worked out the philosophy for it. People seem to be enjoying touring every year.

Do you see this as the final leg or just another one?
It's the beginning of another one. As I said, when we finished Australia we'd done everything. We did England, North America…We haven't done South America for a bit. We were gonna do it, but it's kind of difficult to put together. We did Europe, Asia and then we're about to do North America again.

Are you bringing Mick Taylor on this tour?
I don't think so. We're not. Not on this tour.

Why did you pick Sticky Fingers as the next archival release?
I think it was planned years ago when we had a release schedule. The record company put together this sequence of release that we're doing, so that's fine.

I don't see any unreleased songs on the track listing.
No, there isn't. [Laughs] I looked very hard, but I didn't find any. The truth of the matter is…Now I'm not the greatest Rolling Stones historian, but Exile on Main Street is the one after Sticky Fingers, right?

Right.
So then, in the Exile period, we used quite a few tracks that were recorded in the Sticky Fingers sessions. When we re-released Exile on Main Street, we found others that were not released and we put them on the new package, which was a bit stupid, really. I should've really kept some back, but I didn't really think about it at the time. There was nothing that was unreleased left, unfortunately. I think that's really the truth of the story.

Do you think the Stones are going to record a new album at some point?
I knew you were going to ask me that! [Laughs] But I don't know. It would be very nice and I've got a lot of new songs and songs I've written over the last couple of years. I've done really good demos for all of them, which I would love to record. So, let's hope so.

Are you thinking about making another solo album?
I haven't, really. I'd love to record a Stones album. If that doesn't happen, then yes. That's a truthful answer. I've got songs that would be great for the Stones, and I've got songs that wouldn't be perfect for the Stones.

Do you envision an end date for this tour?
Well, after the U.S. tour, there's nothing booked. But there are plans for what we'll do in the autumn for gigs, maybe. I don't know about the early autumn, but in the late autumn there's a lot of talk. I haven't booked it yet, but…

Does retirement ever cross your mind?
Nah, not in the moment. I'm thinking about what the next tour is. I'm not thinking about retirement. I'm planning the next set of tours, so the answer is really, "No, not really."

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/mick-jagger-im-not-thinking-about-retirement-20150407

Edited April 7, 2015 by Daedalus

[ZoSoRose]

Do you think the Stones are going to record a new album at some point?

I knew you were going to ask me that! [Laughs] But I don't know. It would be very nice and I've got a lot of new songs and songs I've written over the last couple of years. I've done really good demos for all of them, which I would love to record. So, let's hope so.

Ah... yes.... you know Keef is down for that!

[dalsh327]

1. Don't expect them to do Sticky Fingers but don't be surprised if they do.

2. New Stones album...I'll say 2016.

3. Mick Taylor may join them here and there. that's why he didn't give a definite no.

4. Hoping they make a visit to Muscle Shoals, it's a 2 1/2 hour drive from one of the shows they're playing.

[RNRS]

I quite enjoyed the festival performances. Massive crowd, band geared up, and lower ticket prices + more bands for your money. Fingers crossed for more of that next summer.

[DieselDaisy]

It seems as certain as we can be that there will be a new Stones album.

[username]

I loved reading that. It gets my Stones blood pumping again! I love the attitude towards a new album. And I do think Keith would be up for it too! But I also still think the best Stones songs are Jagger/Richards co-written. Hell, I'll take any new record though!

Loved them at Pinkpop last year! I was standing about 20 ft. or so from the front of the runway, so that was the closest I'd ever gotten to the stage. The Stones still got it!

YAY STONES!

[Black Sabbath]

Pulled up 3 tickets for section F8, Row 37 for Pittsburgh. $183 each. Shew. I let them go.

Will see if the mystery tickets are available during the public sale.

[Powerage5]

Really hope they give us the info on the Lucky Dip tickets soon.

[username]

For some reason, this isn't in the Deluxe Edition

That's fucking awesome.

[MrBrownstone531]

Got club level seats for Pittsburgh and lower level seats for Columbus. And now I'm putting my American Express in the paper shredder.

[James Bond]

There's no way I'm paying $158 per ticket for back of the lower bowl at a place as big as the Ralph Wilson. That's all that kept popping up. Hopefully they give us some Lucky Dip information soon so I can consider that. Otherwise, I may sit this one out.

[Daedalus]

Another archaeological discovery from their archives is going to be released:

In addition to celebrating their 1971 masterpiece Sticky Fingers, the Rolling Stones will release a concert film of a London club gig they played the year that record came out. The release, From the Vault: The Marquee – Live in 1971, will be available on DVD, Blu-ray and digitally, and some configurations will feature numerous Stones rarities. The Marquee Club video release is due out on June 23rd.

More here: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/rolling-stones-to-issue-rare-1971-club-concert-on-video-20150408

Edited April 8, 2015 by Daedalus

[dalsh327]

I have the Marquee boot but I'm glad they're putting the whole thing out.

[Powerage5]

This will be a cool one. Wish they'd do a BD/CD combo too, I really don't want to have to buy the DVD just to get the CD.

[classicrawker]

I have the Marquee video on bootleg DVD in decent quality and I am interested to see it in master tape quality but IMHO the show itself is not very good. The band is very flat and under rehearsed but I will take any release from the Mick Taylor era I can get.

[dalsh327]

This came out before "Sticky Fingers" so it's not quite a cover version, but it was an album cut.

"I remember we sat around originally doing this with Gram Parsons" - Mick Jagger

There's always going to be a "did Gram Parsons co-write this" hanging over the song. He was a good and bad influence on Keith. Supposedly Mick was jealous that he made the Maysles brothers film the Burritos from the back (supposedly Keith was pissed but not surprised). But there were also people having problem with their camera equipment at Altamont. One of them being some aspiring filmmaker named George Lucas.

This also came out before "Sticky Fingers", in 1969.

Jagger on acoustic guitar, Ry Cooder on slide guitar and bass, Jack Nitzsche on piano and organ, and Charlie Watts on drums.

Years later she'd take Mick and Keith to court for songwriting credit, and Keith took sides with her, so she gets a piece of the album royalties

Marianne with rasp. I wonder how the audience would react if she sang this with the Stones. Either "this is fucking awesome" (because of her history with Mick) , or "get the lady from Unforgiven II off the damn stage and let Mick sing it".

And from the Let It Bleed sessions (this is why some of the albums have lack of bonus cuts, the songs get used on the next album, but at least put the demos on there). Ry Cooder playing slide.

[Powerage5]

Just got our tickets for Indianapolis. Silver level GA, $119 after fees - not too bad.

[Daedalus]

UPDATE: Universal Music announced today a slight delay in the re -release of the Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers album, as some of the formats contain a hand-made zip which is taking a bit longer to manufacture - the new release will be 8th June, and for those in North America 9th June.

http://www.rollingstones.com/2015/04/09/sticky-fingers-rerelease-out-89-june/

Following the Mick Jagger interview, here is another one with Keith Richards:

Keith Richards: 'I Want to See How Far the Stones Can Go'
The Stones guitarist on their summer tour, playing 'Sticky Fingers' and his upcoming solo album

If everything goes according to plan, the next year is going to be a busy time for Keith Richards. He's about to begin rehearsals for a 15-date North American stadium tour with the Rolling Stones, he's got a new solo album roughly slated for September and he may even support it with his first solo tour since 1993. We spoke about all this and more with Richards, who phoned up Rolling Stone after our talk with Mick Jagger.

I just spoke to Mick and he said you guys were thinking about playing Sticky Fingers straight through on this tour. What's your take on that?
Well, it wasn't my idea. It was kicked around. I don't know if that would be every night. We might do it in places. First off, we've got to rehearse it all. When it came up, I said, "Yeah, it's not Exile on Main St. We could do that."

Mick was worried there were too many ballads for a stadium audience.
I don't know. It was just an idea. When we get to rehearsals, we'll give it a try.

I'd love to hear "Moonlight Mile" and "Sister Morphine."
It's very rare we play them. Playing them in order is an interesting idea. We'll see how it goes. I'd like to give it a try.

When do rehearsals begin?
I think by the end of April we'll go down to Los Angeles for a couple of weeks and then take it down to San Diego to work on the stage.

Do you think they'll be any sort of public rehearsal show?
I've seen no plans for that yet. Usually, those things happen much closer to the event, so I don't know nothing about that yet.

From your perspective, is playing a stadium much different than an arena?
Not drastically. It's just a lot bigger. And with stadiums you've always got the weather to deal with. God joins the band in one form or another.

Your tours used to last about two years followed by long breaks. Why has this one been so different?
I think everybody's really been enjoying the last few years on the road. The last break was really long; about five years. I think everybody really missed it because we came back energized.

Do these shows feel different to you than previous tours?
It's really difficult to say. Once you're up onstage, it's very familiar ground to me. All audiences are different slightly, but what I go up onstage for is the fact that things are not different. Things stay the same.

Beyond the Sticky Fingers stuff, are there any rare songs you hope to bring back on this tour?
It's early days. We'll be talking about it. I guess I'm going to be seeing Mick next week. I have no doubt the subject will come up.

Are you bringing Mick Taylor on the tour?
Um, I'm not sure. The last I heard…I'm not sure if he's available or what his condition is at the moment. I'm waiting to hear about that.

That's a shame because he's all over Sticky Fingers.
Yeah, it's just one of those things. I'm not sure. I just haven't gotten into that thing, but I heard he was sick. [Through a representative, Taylor says he is not sick and was not invited onto the tour.]

Do you see Sticky Fingers as a pivotal record in the band's evolution?
Well, it was one of them. Beggars Banquet was another. But with Sticky Fingers, we were working very much with [producer] Jimmy Miller, which was a very fruitful period.

And you were on a new label and thus had a little more freedom, right?
Yeah, yeah. That was the first one on the label. So we did pretty much whatever we wanted to do. Mind you, we always did anyway. What happened after Sticky Fingers? Was it Goats Head Soup or something?

It was Exile.
Of course. I'm getting them mixed up. Sticky Fingers was the last one we made in England at our old haunt, Olympic Studios. Right after that, we moved.

I imagine this tour will be bittersweet since it's the first one since Bobby Keys passed away.
Man, he'll certainly be missed, especially backstage. He was a good, good friend of mine. But he would be the first to say, "The show must go on."

Do you think they'll be a new Stones album at some point?
We're talking about doing some recording after this tour, but there's nothing definite. We just threw out the idea. I'd like to get the boys back in the studio again, yeah. Anything can happen.

What's the status of your solo album?
I think that's coming out in September.

Is it totally done?
Just done, yeah. We're looking for the right time slot to bring it out. The Stones have been working so much lately that I've been holding off until we could find a reasonable time. I think it's September, but I don't know for sure.

Who plays on it?
[Drummer] Steve Jordan and me. We're joined here and there by [guitarist] Waddy Wachtel and [Rolling Stones backup singer] Bernard Fowler. Steve and I put it together.

Are you thinking about doing solo shows to promote it?
That's being kicked around. At the moment, I'm just getting my head into the Stones and I haven't really thought about what I'm going to do afterwards. But usually if I put a record out, I do some road work. So, it's possible.

Is the thrill of playing live the same as it always was for you?
Yeah. It's a unique feeling, really, and you kind of miss it. I'm ready to get up there. I've been looking forward to it.

I know you've been asked this a million times, but do you see a point in the future when the band will stop touring?
No, I never think about that. I leave that to other people.

I guess if Chuck Berry is nearly 90 and still doing this…
Exactly. As long as I feel like it and there's people to listen to it, we'll do it.

What do you hope to see The Stones accomplish before you guys wrap it up?
That's a good question. I'd like to see just how far they can evolve. I have no demands or particular visions for them, but you're just part of this thing and I want to see how far it will go.

I'm always so impressed by Charlie. He just seems to get better and better.
Yeah, man. He's an incredible drummer, man. A very, very cool customer.

I remember a few years ago, Johnny Depp was shooting a documentary about you. There was even some sort of performance he filmed. What happened with that?
We shot some stuff, but I don't think there's anything in the cards about it. I don't think he's going to use the footage and I don't think I've seen Johnny for a couple of years.

To wrap up here, I just want to ask again about "Moonlight Mile" since I've always wanted to see that live. Do you think you guys are going to do it?
Yeah, I think we'll give it a bash, yeah. I'll tell you what: I'll play it for you right now. [Laughs]

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/keith-richards-i-want-to-see-how-far-the-stones-can-go-20150409#ixzz3WqInKv5c

[Powerage5]

Got our Buffalo tickets this morning too - about halfway back in the lower bowl. Gonna try fro $85's for Columbus on Monday.

[dalsh327]

They should definitely get Chuck Berry as a special guest.

[ZoSoRose]

Nervous for the 13th. Hope my dad gets tickets...

[Powerage5]

Won't be any issues getting tickets for stadiums. Last night in the Pandora presale I could still pull up 3 tickets together for Buffalo within the first 25 rows on the field, 12 hours after the presale started. Plus, look at AC/DC; their tickets have been on sale for 2 months and not a single gig is sold out, and their tickets are a quarter of the price. The Stones will be giving tickets away by the week of the gig.

[Dr. Who]

I wish I could go to the Buffalo show. No ride, though.