The Rolling Stones American Tour 1972, often referred to as the
S.T.P. Tour (for Stones Touring Party), was a much-publicized and much-written-about
concert tourSince 1963, the English rock group The Rolling Stones has performed hundreds of concerts around the world, being one of the world's most popular live music attractions....
of The United States and
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in June and July 1972 by
The Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
. Noted rock critic
Dave MarshDave Marsh is an American music critic, author, editor and radio talk show host. He was a formative editor of Creem magazine, has written for various publications such as Newsday, The Village Voice, and Rolling Stone, and has published numerous books about music and musicians, mostly focused on...
would later write that the tour was "part of rock and roll legend" and one of the "benchmarks of an era."
History
The tour followed the release of the group's album
Exile on Main St.Exile on Main St. is the tenth British and 12th American studio album by English rock band The Rolling Stones. Released as a double LP in May 1972, it draws on many genres including rock and roll, blues, soul, R&B, gospel and country. The release of Exile on Main St. met with mixed reviews, but is...
a few weeks earlier on 12 May. But this was far more than a rock band's typical promotional tour following the release of a new recording. Rather, it became a major pop cultural event of the time. It came at the height of the Stones' reputation as "The Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band in the World," and attention was focused on the group's multi-edged visibility in popular consciousness: as purveyors of raw R&B carnal energy, and as the epitome of bohemian decadence, the band were seen as the opposite of the now-defunct, and relatively wholesome Beatles. At the same time, singer
Mick JaggerSir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
was by now a glamorous celebrity who had moved into the
jet set"Jet set" is a journalistic term that was used to describe an international social group of wealthy people, organizing and participating all around the world in social activities that are unreachable to ordinary people...
of high society. These aspects were all intertwined, and so the tour attracted much attention from observers of both
high cultureHigh culture is a term, now used in a number of different ways in academic discourse, whose most common meaning is the set of cultural products, mainly in the arts, held in the highest esteem by a culture...
and
low cultureLow culture is a term for some forms of popular culture. Its opposite is high culture. It has been said by culture theorists that both high culture and low culture are subcultures....
.
Press coverage
Several well-established writers were assigned to cover the Stones jaunt, a first for a rock tour.
Truman CapoteTruman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...
, who had not published any significant new work since 1966's
In Cold BloodIn Cold Blood is a 1966 book by American author Truman Capote detailing the brutal 1959 murders of Herbert Clutter, a successful farmer from Holcomb, Kansas, his wife and two of their four children. Two older daughters no longer lived at the farm and were not there at the time of the murders...
but was still considered a celebrity of the highest caliber, was dispatched to cover the tour for
Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine with good friend and
Kennedy familyIn the United States, the phrase Kennedy family commonly refers to the family descending from the marriage of the Irish-Americans Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald that was prominent in American politics and government. Their political involvement has revolved around the...
member Princess
Lee RadziwillCaroline Lee Bouvier Canfield Radziwill Ross best known as Lee Radziwill, is an American socialite, public relations executive, and former actress and interior decorator. She is the younger sister of the late First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis...
and her companion, the artist
Peter Hill BeardPeter Hill Beard is a photographer, artist, diarist and writer.-Personal life:Peter Beard's photographs of Africa, African animals, and the journals that often integrate his photographs have been widely shown and published since the 1970s...
. Capote, who was frequently drunk and high on tranquilizers, did not mesh well with the group and along with his entourage abandoned the tour in New Orleans, only to resurface for the final shows in
New YorkNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's
Madison Square GardenMadison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
. Capote did not complete his feature, tentatively entitled "It Will Soon Be Here", out of boredom with the subject.
Rolling Stone recouped its stake by interviewing Capote about the tour in 1973. More palatable was
Terry SouthernTerry Southern was an American author, essayist, screenwriter and university lecturer, noted for his distinctive satirical style...
, who covered the tour for the
Saturday Review and was good friends with Stones guitarist
Keith RichardsKeith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
. Ultimately, the defining document of the tour came to be
Robert Greenfield-Career:Greenfield began his career as a sports writer. He has published book reviews in New West magazine and The New York Times Book Review.From 1970 to 1972 Greenfield was employed as an associate editor with Rolling Stone magazine's London bureau...
's
S.T.P.: A Journey Through America With The Rolling Stones, published in 1974. Greenfield had already covered the band's
1971 British TourThe Rolling Stones' 1971 UK Tour was a brief concert tour of England and Scotland that took place over two weeks in March 1971.-History:The Stones had not staged a tour proper in their homeland since autumn 1966...
for
Rolling Stone and was granted unlimited access to the band's affairs. Greenfield was initially assigned as the magazine's sole correspondent on the tour, but then was relegated to "additional reporting" status by publisher
Jann WennerJann Simon Wenner is the co-founder and publisher of the music and politics biweekly Rolling Stone, as well as the owner of Men's Journal and Us Weekly magazines.-Childhood:...
(akin to
Timothy Crouse-Family:Timothy Crouse's affinity for campaign reporters and the theater took root thanks to his father, Russel Crouse, who was a career newspaperman and playwright. "The stories he told me of his newspaper days—especially traveling around the country with prankish sports teams—had a fatal tinge of...
's status during the concurrent
1972 U.S. presidential electionThe United States presidential election of 1972 was the 47th quadrennial United States presidential election. It was held on November 7, 1972. The Democratic Party's nomination was eventually won by Senator George McGovern, who ran an anti-war campaign against incumbent Republican President Richard...
) after a last-minute deal was reached with Capote.
Such coverage was not limited to the print media.
Dick CavettRichard Alva "Dick" Cavett is a former American television talk show host known for his conversational style and in-depth discussion of issues...
hosted a one hour special shot before the concluding New York engagement of performances, that depicted a sheepish Stones bassist
Bill WymanBill Wyman is an English musician best known as the bass guitarist for the English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1992. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings...
smoking marijuana on national television. Capote, a regular on
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny CarsonThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
and several other talk shows, regaled audiences with his misadventures on the road. New York radio host Alex Bennett breathlessly reported on the first Madison Square Garden show as soon as he got back from it.
Altercations
Showing that the Stones' bad boy reputation was not just marketing hyperbole and actually had some effect on their fan base, a fair amount of physical conflict surrounded the tour. It started with the first show of the tour, on 3 June in
VancouverVancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
,
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, where 31 policemen were treated for injuries when more than 2,000 fans attempted to crash the
Pacific ColiseumPacific Coliseum is an indoor arena, at Hastings Park, in Vancouver, British Columbia.Completed in 1968, at the former site of the Pacific National Exhibition, the arena currently holds 16,281, for ice hockey, though capacity at its opening was 15,713....
. In San Diego on 13 June there were 60 arrests and 15 injured during disturbances. In
Tucson, ArizonaTucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
on 14 June, an attempt by 300 youths to storm the gates led to police using tear gas. Unable to secure a hotel to their standard in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, the group decamped in
Hugh HefnerHugh Marston "Hef" Hefner is an American magazine publisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises.-Early life:...
's
Playboy MansionThe Playboy Mansion is the home of Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner. Located in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles, California, the mansion became famous during the 1970s through media reports of Hefner's lavish parties.-History:The house is described as being in the "Gothic-Tudor" style...
, described by most sources as a four day
orgyIn modern usage, an orgy is a sex party where guests engage in promiscuous or multifarious sexual activity or group sex. An orgy is similar to debauchery, which refers to excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures....
interrupted by the occasional performance; Hefner, who did not attend any of the concerts out of what Greenfield described as "Manson paranoia," did not permit film crews into the mansion during the Stones' stay.
As the tour continued into July, so did the bedlam. There were 61 arrests in the large crowd at RFK Stadium in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
on the Fourth of July. On 13 July police had to block 2,000 ticketless fans from trying to gain access to the show in Detroit. On 17 July a visit to the
Montreal ForumThe Montreal Forum was an indoor arena located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Called "the most storied building in hockey history" by Sporting News, it was home of the National Hockey League's Montreal Maroons from 1924 to 1938 and the Montreal Canadiens from 1926 to 1996...
saw all sorts of trouble: a bomb blew up in the Stones' equipment van, and replacement gear had to be flown in; then it was discovered that 3,000 forged tickets had been sold, causing a fan riot and a late start to the concert. The next day, 18 July, was no better. The Stones' entourage got into a fight with photographer Andie Dickerman in
Rhode IslandThe state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
, and Jagger and Richards landed in jail, imperiling that night's show at the
Boston GardenThe Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928 as "Boston Madison Square Garden" and outlived its original namesake by some 30 years...
. Boston Mayor Kevin White, fearful of a riot if the show were cancelled, had to intervene to bail them out; the show went on, albeit with another late start.
Mayor White pleading to the Garden crowd to remain calm. Dickerman would later file a £22,230 lawsuit against the band. The tour ended with three consecutive nights at
New YorkNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's
Madison Square GardenMadison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
, the first night of which saw 10 arrests and two policemen injured.
To a lesser extent, this pandemonium extended to the touring party as well. The glamorous, jet-setting spouse
Bianca JaggerBianca Jagger is a Nicaraguan-born social and human rights advocate and a former actress and model...
often engaged in verbal fisticuffs with
Anita PallenbergAnita Pallenberg is an Italian-born actress, model, and fashion designer. She was the romantic partner of Rolling Stones multi-instrumentalist and guitarist Brian Jones and later the partner of the guitarist of the same band Keith Richards, from 1967 to 1979, by whom she has two surviving...
, Keith Richards' longtime companion. Altamont continued to haunt the band from every visage; a process server attempted to serve Jagger with papers relating to a lawsuit stemming from the concert while on the tarmac in San Francisco. Due to a rumored bounty from the
Hells AngelsThe Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Their primary motto...
calling for Jagger to be assassinated, Richards carried a .38 caliber revolver during the tour.
Sideman
Bobby KeysBobby Keys is an American saxophone player, and has performed with other musicians as a member of one of the notable horn sections of the 1970s. He appears on albums by The Rolling Stones, The Who, Harry Nilsson, Delaney Bramlett, George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, Eric Clapton and Joe...
, a seasoned sessionman who had played with
Buddy HollyCharles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
in his teens (providing a vital spiritual link to the 1950s rockers who the band and especially Richards admired) was one of the "stars" of the tour, with prominent saxophone parts in many of the songs' arrangements. According to Greenfield's account, Keys was accorded "Inner Circle" status alongside Jagger, Richards and the other Stones. In spite of this perception, Keys was dismissed during the subsequent 1973 European Tour when he failed to make several shows due a growing dependency on
heroin.
The last show on 26 July, Jagger's birthday, was relatively peaceful; a party was held in Jagger's honor by
Ahmet ErtegunAhmet Ertegün was a Turkish American musician and businessman, best known as the founder and president of Atlantic Records. He also wrote classic blues and pop songs and served as Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum...
afterwards that included
Bob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
,
Woody AllenWoody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
,
Andy WarholAndrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, the Capote entourage, and
Zsa Zsa GaborZsa Zsa Gabor is a Hungarian-born American stage, film and television actress.She acted on stage in Vienna, Austria, in 1932, and was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936. She emigrated to the United States in 1941 and became a sought-after actress with "European flair and style", with a personality that...
amongst the throng of attendees, with music from
Count BasieWilliam "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
. When prodded for reaction by an interviewer, the then-reclusive Dylan half-jokingly referred to the event as "the beginning of an all encompassing consciousness": rock and roll was now elevated by the "in crowd" to a heretofore unseen pedestal, with the Stones regarded as its avatars.
After-effects
Many of the Stones' associates and collaborators did not survive the atmosphere of the tour.
Marshall ChessMarshall Chess is the son and nephew of the founders of Chess Records, the Chicago-based independent record label that first recorded an unprecedented list of African-American, blues and early rock and roll artists such as: Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy...
, the band's de facto manager and head of
Rolling Stones RecordsRolling Stones Records is the record label formed by The Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman in 1970, after their recording contract with Decca Records expired. They were first distributed in the United States by Atlantic Records subsidiary...
, lapsed into heroin addiction and lost over thirty pounds; he continued to work for the Stones at a diminished rate before leaving and detoxing in 1977. The rigors of the road exacerbated
Nicky HopkinsNicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins was an English pianist and organist.He recorded and performed on noted British and American popular music recordings of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s as a session musician....
' frail health; he too would battle drug addiction before undergoing the Church of Scientology's
Purification RundownThe Purification Rundown, also known as the Purif or the Hubbard Method, is a controversial detoxification program developed by Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard and used by the Church of Scientology as an introductory service. Scientologists consider it the only effective way to deal with the...
several years later. Publicity coordinator Gary Stromberg, "one hundred percent fucked up" as per Greenfield's account at the conclusion of the New York run, was left on a boat off Fire Island to clean up; a "thirty percent fucked up" Stromberg would replicate his duties for T.Rex's first tour of America. Lighting director
Chip MonckChip Monck is a Tony Award winning lighting designer, most famously serving as the Master of Ceremonies at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Personal History:...
's experimental projection system proved to be a convoluted mess and major embarrassment, decimating much of his reputation of being at the vanguard of the field.
Record and film releases
No
live albumA live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
was released from the tour, although one was planned as far as having a front and back cover designed and studio touch-ups being made on several recorded tracks. Eventually, the album was shelved due to contractual disputes with
Allen KleinAllen Klein was an American businessman, talent agent and record label executive. His clients included The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.- The accountant :...
.
Two films of the tour were produced. The
concert filmA concert movie, or concert film, is a type of documentary film, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by a musician ....
Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling StonesLadies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones is a concert movie featuring the British rock band The Rolling Stones that was first released in 1974...
! only saw a limited theatrical release in 1974. Aside from an Australian VHS release in the early 1980s, it wasn't officially available on home video until 2010.
Robert FrankRobert Frank , born in Zürich, Switzerland, is an important figure in American photography and film. His most notable work, the 1958 photobook titled The Americans, was influential, and earned Frank comparisons to a modern-day de Tocqueville for his fresh and skeptical outsider's view of American...
's (of
Pull My DaisyPull My Daisy is a short film that typifies the Beat Generation. Directed by Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie, Daisy was adapted by Jack Kerouac from the third act of his play, Beat Generation; Kerouac also provided improvised narration...
fame)
Cocksucker BluesCocksucker Blues is an unreleased documentary film directed by the noted still photographer Robert Frank chronicling The Rolling Stones' North American tour in 1972 in support of their album Exile on Main St..-Production:...
is an unreleased
cinema veriteCinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
documentary depicting concert footage, interaction with Warhol and the Capote entourage, flagrant drug use, Jagger masturbating, and staged group sex. Among the more placid scenes within the film was the sight of Richards and sideman
Bobby KeysBobby Keys is an American saxophone player, and has performed with other musicians as a member of one of the notable horn sections of the 1970s. He appears on albums by The Rolling Stones, The Who, Harry Nilsson, Delaney Bramlett, George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, Eric Clapton and Joe...
heaving a television set out the window from the tenth floor of a hotel. As Jagger felt that the band would not be granted work visas in the future if the documentary was released, it was shelved. As per court order, the film can only be screened publicly in the United States if Frank or an agent acting on his behalf is present. Nevertheless,
Cocksucker Blues has been widely bootlegged over the years.
The shows
Fans of the band tend to divide the tour into three parts: the first part (Vancouver to Long Beach) features an under-rehearsed band, and the performances were still a bit rough. The second part (Los Angeles to Montreal) features some of the best shows of the tour, the band melding as a well-oiled machine and delivering highly energized performances. Many fans of the tour feel that the remaining part of the tour is somewhat marred by inconsistent performances resulting from exhaustion on the part of the band.
The rock critic
Robert ChristgauRobert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
would write that the mood of the shows was surprisingly friendly, with Jagger "undercut[ting] his fabled demonism by playing the clown, the village idiot, the marionette."
Tour band
- Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
- lead vocals, harmonica
- Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
- guitars, backing vocals
- Mick Taylor
Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...
- guitars
- Bill Wyman
Bill Wyman is an English musician best known as the bass guitarist for the English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1992. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings...
- bass guitar
- Charlie Watts
Charles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...
- drums
Additional musicians
- Ian Stewart
Ian Andrew Robert Stewart was a Scottish keyboardist, co-founder of The Rolling Stones and inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
- only as a road manager, not on stage
- Nicky Hopkins
Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins was an English pianist and organist.He recorded and performed on noted British and American popular music recordings of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s as a session musician....
- piano
- Bobby Keys
Bobby Keys is an American saxophone player, and has performed with other musicians as a member of one of the notable horn sections of the 1970s. He appears on albums by The Rolling Stones, The Who, Harry Nilsson, Delaney Bramlett, George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, Eric Clapton and Joe...
- saxophone
- Jim Price
Jim Price was, together with Bobby Keys and Jim Horn, one of the most in demand horn session players of the 1970s. He toured extensively with The Rolling Stones from 1970 until 1973, including their 1972 American Tour, and appears on the albums, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St. and Goats Head Soup...
- horns
Tour support acts
Opening for the tour's shows was
Stevie WonderStevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
; this placement, along with his hard-edged hit of the time "
Superstition"Superstition" is a popular song written, produced, arranged, and performed by Stevie Wonder for Motown Records in 1972, when Wonder was 22 years old. It was the lead single for Wonder's Talking Book album, and released in many countries. It reached number one in the USA, and number one on the soul...
" (released October 1972), did much to increase Wonder's visibility to rock audiences, at this the beginning of his classic period. Wonder would also sometimes join the Stones at the end of a night's performance.
Tour set list
The standard
set listA set list, or setlist, is a document that lists the songs that a band or musical artist intends to play, or has played, during a specific concert performance...
for the tour was:
- "Brown Sugar
"Brown Sugar" is a song by The Rolling Stones. It is the opening track and lead single from the English rock band's 1971 album Sticky Fingers...
"
- "Bitch
"Bitch" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones from their 1971 album Sticky Fingers.Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "Bitch" was recorded during October 1970 at London's Olympic Studios, and at Stargroves utilising the Rolling Stones Mobile studio.The track was featured on...
"
- "Rocks Off
"Rocks Off" is the opening track on the Rolling Stones' 1972 double album Exile On Main St..Recorded between July 1971 and March 1972, "Rocks Off" is one of the songs on the album that was written and recorded at Villa Nellcôte, a house Keith Richards rented in the south of France during the summer...
"
- "Gimme Shelter
"Gimme Shelter" is a song by English rock band The Rolling Stones. It first appeared as the opening track on the band's 1969 album Let It Bleed. Although the first word was spelled "Gimmie" on that album, subsequent recordings by the band and other musicians have made "Gimme" the customary spelling...
"
- "Happy"
- "Tumbling Dice
"Tumbling Dice" is a rock song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for The Rolling Stones' 1972 double album Exile on Main St., and was the album's first single. The single peaked at #7 on the US charts and #5 in the UK....
"
- "Love in Vain
"Love in Vain" is a 1937 blues song written by Robert Johnson.The song is noted for its sad lyrics, tone, and style. In the 1991 documentary film The Search for Robert Johnson, John P. Hammond plays Robert's recording of "Love in Vain" for the elderly Willie Mae Powell, the woman for whom it was...
"
- "Sweet Virginia
"Sweet Virginia" is the sixth track on the Rolling Stones' 1972 double album Exile On Main St..Recorded between 1971 and 1972, "Sweet Virginia" is a slow country inspired song, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards...
"
- "Loving Cup
"Loving Cup" is a song by The Rolling Stones featured on their 1972 album Exile on Main St.An early version of this song, with a completely different piano intro, was recorded between April and July 1969 at Olympic Sound Studios in London, during the Let It Bleed sessions...
"
- "You Can't Always Get What You Want
"You Can't Always Get What You Want" is a song by The Rolling Stones released on their 1969 album Let It Bleed. Written primarily by Mick Jagger with assistance from Keith Richards, it was named as the 100th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone in its 2004 list of "500 Greatest Songs of All...
"
- "All Down the Line
"All Down the Line" is a song by rock band The Rolling Stones featured on their 1972 album Exile on Main St..-Background:Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "All Down the Line" is a straight ahead electric rock song which opens side four of Exile on Main St....
"
- "Midnight Rambler
"Midnight Rambler" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, released on their 1969 album Let It Bleed.The lyrics take the point of view of a roaming rapist/murderer; some of the words are reportedly quotes from Albert DeSalvo's confession to the Boston Strangler's crimes. Keith...
"
- "Bye Bye Johnny
Rockin' At The Hops is a Chuck Berry album which was released in 1960 under Chess Records. Its opening track, "Bye Bye Johnny", was a sequel to Berry's earlier hit, "Johnny B. Goode".- Songs :...
"
- "Rip This Joint"
- "Jumpin' Jack Flash
"Jumpin' Jack Flash" is a song by English rock band The Rolling Stones, released as a single in 1968. Called "supernatural Delta blues by way of Swinging London" by Rolling Stone, the song was perceived by some as the band's return to their blues roots after the psychedelia of their preceding...
"
- "Street Fighting Man
"Street Fighting Man" is a song by English rock and roll band The Rolling Stones featured on their 1968 album Beggars Banquet. Called the band's "most political song", Rolling Stone ranked the song #295 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.-Inspiration:Originally titled and recorded...
"
- Encore: often none, sometimes "Honky Tonk Women
"Honky Tonk Women" is a 1969 hit song by The Rolling Stones. Released as a single on 4 July 1969 in the UK and a week later in the US, it topped the charts in both nations.-Inspiration and Recording:...
, a few times "Uptight (Everything's Alright)"Uptight " is a 1966 hit single recorded by Stevie Wonder for the Tamla label. One of his most popular early singles, "Uptight " was the first Stevie Wonder single to be co-written by the artist....
"/"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" Satisfaction" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, released in 1965. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and produced by Andrew Loog Oldham. Richards's throwaway three-note guitar riff — intended to be replaced by horns — opens and drives the song...
" medley performed jointly by the Stones and Stevie WonderStevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
and his band
Only a few minor set list variations occurred from this, the exact number of which are subject to ongoing research. For instance, at least one of the shows in Denver opened with "Happy". Notably absent was anything from before 1968 in the Stones' catalog (excepting in the occasional encore medley), perhaps to showcase
Mick TaylorMichael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...
's guitar work. This tour also marked the banishment of their dark epic "
Sympathy for the Devil"Sympathy for the Devil" is a song by The Rolling Stones which first appeared as the opening track on the band's 1968 album Beggars Banquet. It was written by Mick Jagger credited to Jagger/Richards...
," which had been wrongly associated with the
killing at AltamontMeredith Curly Hunter was a male spectator at the Altamont Free Concert. During the performance by The Rolling Stones, Hunter pulled out a gun after being punched by a Hells Angel and was then stabbed to death by a Hells Angel serving as a security guard...
, from Stones' American performances for much of the 1970s.
Tour dates
| Date |
City |
Country |
Venue |
| 3 June 1972 |
Vancouver, British Columbia |
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
|
Pacific ColiseumPacific Coliseum is an indoor arena, at Hastings Park, in Vancouver, British Columbia.Completed in 1968, at the former site of the Pacific National Exhibition, the arena currently holds 16,281, for ice hockey, though capacity at its opening was 15,713....
|
4 June 1972
2 shows |
Seattle, WashingtonSeattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
|
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
|
Seattle Center Coliseum |
6 June 1972
2 shows |
San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
|
Winterland Palace The Winterland Ballroom, often referred to as Winterland Arena or simply Winterland, was an old ice skating rink and 5,400-seat music venue in San Francisco, California...
|
| 8 June 1972 |
| 9 June 1972 |
Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
|
Hollywood PalladiumThe Hollywood Palladium is a theater located at 6215 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. It was built in a Streamline Moderne, Art Deco style and includes an 11,200 square foot dance floor with room for up to 4,000 people.-History:...
|
| 10 June 1972 |
Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
|
Long Beach Arena |
11 June 1972
2 shows |
Los Angeles, California |
The Forum |
| 13 June 1972 |
San Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
|
International Sports Arena |
| 14 June 1972 |
Tucson, ArizonaTucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
|
Tucson Convention Center The Tucson Convention Center , previously named the Tucson Community Center, is a large multi-purpose convention center located in downtown Tucson, Arizona...
|
| 15 June 1972 |
Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
|
The Pit Arena |
16 June 1972
2 shows |
Denver, ColoradoThe City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
|
Denver Coliseum Denver Coliseum is an indoor arena, owned by the City and County of Denver, operated by its Theatres and Arenas division and is located in Denver, Colorado...
|
| 18 June 1972 |
Bloomington, MinnesotaBloomington is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota in Hennepin County. Located on the north bank of the Minnesota River above its confluence with the Mississippi River, Bloomington lies at the heart of the southern...
|
Metropolitan Sports CenterThe Met Center was an indoor arena that stood in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The arena, which was completed in 1967 just to the north of Metropolitan Stadium, seated 15,000. It was best known as the home of the Minnesota North Stars of the NHL from 1967-1993...
|
| 19 June 1972 |
Chicago, Illinois |
International Amphitheater |
20 June 1972
2 shows |
| 22 June 1972 |
Kansas City, MissouriKansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
|
Municipal Auditorium |
24 June 1972
2 shows |
Fort Worth, TexasFort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
|
Tarrant County Convention Center |
25 June 1972
2 shows |
Houston, TexasHouston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
|
Hofheinz Pavilion Guy V. Lewis Court at Hofheinz Pavilion, often known as simply Hofheinz Pavilion, is an 8,500-seat multi-purpose arena on the University of Houston campus in Houston, Texas. Located at 3875 Holman Street, it is home to the University of Houston Cougars men's and women's basketball teams as well as...
|
| 27 June 1972 |
Mobile, AlabamaMobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
|
Municipal Auditorium |
| 28 June 1972 |
Tuscaloosa, AlabamaTuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010...
|
Coleman ColiseumColeman Coliseum is a 15,316-seat multi-purpose arena in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and is home to the University of Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball and gymnastics teams. It has also been home to the Alabama women's basketball and women's volleyball programs in the past.Before 1988, the building...
|
| 29 June 1972 |
Nashville, TennesseeNashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
|
Municipal AuditoriumThe Nashville Municipal Auditorium is an indoor sports and concert venue in Nashville, Tennessee...
|
| 4 July 1972 |
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
|
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium, in Washington, D.C., United States, and the current home of MLS's D.C. United....
|
| 5 July 1972 |
Norfolk, VirginiaNorfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
|
The Scope Norfolk Scope is a multipurpose culture, entertainment, convention and sports arena at the northern perimeter of downtown Norfolk, Virginia, designed by Italian architect/engineer Pier Luigi Nervi in conjunction with the local firm of Williams and Tazewell...
|
| 6 July 1972 |
Charlotte, North CarolinaCharlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
|
Charlotte ColiseumThe Charlotte Coliseum was a multi-purpose sports and entertainment arena in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was operated by the Charlotte Coliseum Authority, which also oversees the operation of Bojangles' Coliseum, the Charlotte Convention Center, and Ovens Auditorium...
|
| 7 July 1972 |
Knoxville, TennesseeFounded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
|
Civic Arena General James White Memorial Civic Auditorium and Coliseum is a 7,141-seat multi-purpose arena, in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was built in 1961....
|
9 July 1972
2 shows |
St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
|
Kiel Convention Hall Kiel Auditorium was an indoor arena, in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It was the home of the Saint Louis University basketball team and hosted the NBA's St. Louis Hawks, from 1955-1968....
|
| 11 July 1972 |
Akron, Ohio Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
|
Rubber BowlThe Rubber Bowl is a stadium in Akron, Ohio primarily used for American football. From 1940 to 2008, it served as the home field of the University of Akron's Zips football team...
|
| 12 July 1972 |
Indianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
|
Indiana Convention Center The Indiana Convention Center is a convention center located in Downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. It contains over of open exhibit space and almost of group meeting space. It was finished in late 1983 along with the Hoosier Dome , which it was connected to prior the Dome's deconstruction in 2008....
|
| 13 July 1972 |
Detroit, MichiganDetroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
|
Cobo Hall Gavin Hamilton memorial arena is a major convention center situated along Jefferson Ave. in downtown Detroit, Michigan, USA. It was named for Albert E. Cobo, mayor of Detroit from 1950 to 1957. Designed by Gino Rossetti, opened in 1960. Expanded in 1989, the present complex contains of exhibition...
|
| 14 July 1972 |
15 July 1972
2 shows |
Toronto, Ontario |
Canada |
Maple Leaf GardensMaple Leaf Gardens is an indoor arena that was converted into a Loblawssupermarket and Ryerson University athletic centre in Toronto, on the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto's Garden District.One of the temples of hockey, it was home to the Toronto Maple Leafs of the...
|
| 17 July 1972 |
Montreal, Quebec |
Montreal Forum The Montreal Forum was an indoor arena located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Called "the most storied building in hockey history" by Sporting News, it was home of the National Hockey League's Montreal Maroons from 1924 to 1938 and the Montreal Canadiens from 1926 to 1996...
|
| 18 July 1972 |
Boston, Massachusetts |
United States |
Boston GardenThe Boston Garden was an arena in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third iteration of New York's Madison Square Garden, it opened on November 17, 1928 as "Boston Madison Square Garden" and outlived its original namesake by some 30 years...
|
| 19 July 1972 |
| 20 July 1972 |
Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
|
The SpectrumThe Spectrum, formerly known as the CoreStates Spectrum , First Union Spectrum , and Wachovia Spectrum was an indoor arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
|
21 July 1972
2 shows |
| 22 July 1972 |
Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
|
Civic Arena Civic Arena is an indoor arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that is currently undergoing demolition. It was the first retractable roof major sports venue in the world, covering 170,000 sq. feet and constructed with just shy of 3,000 tons of Pittsburgh steel...
|
| 24 July 1972 |
New York City, New York |
Madison Square GardenMadison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
|
25 July 1972
2 shows |
| 26 July 1972 |
External links