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Rocking the Americas: The Rolling Stones’ Tour of 1975 in Photos

In the annals of rock ‘n’ roll, there are legendary tours that have taken on a life of their own, and The Rolling Stones ’ Tour of the Americas in 1975 is certainly one of them. It was a tour that saw one of the most iconic rock bands of all time taking on a new member, introducing a new stage persona, and embarking on a wild journey across North and South America. Let’s roll back the years and revisit this significant milestone in the history of The Rolling Stones.

A Band in Transition

The 1975 tour was a pivotal moment for The Rolling Stones. It marked the first time the band toured with guitarist Ronnie Wood, who had recently replaced Mick Taylor. While Taylor’s departure had initially caused some anxiety among fans, Wood quickly proved himself to be a more than capable replacement. His chemistry with the band, both on and off the stage, was palpable, and it wasn’t long before he became an integral part of the Stones’ sound and identity.

A New Stage Persona

The tour also marked the introduction of a new stage persona for lead singer Mick Jagger. Donning a series of elaborate costumes and embracing a flamboyant performance style, Jagger commanded the stage with an unprecedented level of theatricality. He was no longer just a rock singer; he was a performer in the truest sense of the word. This transformation added a new layer to The Rolling Stones’ live performances and made the 1975 tour a visual spectacle as much as a musical one.

Touring the Americas

The Tour of the Americas saw The Rolling Stones playing in stadiums across North and South America, bringing their unique brand of rock ‘n’ roll to hundreds of thousands of fans. From the concrete jungles of New York to the vibrant landscapes of Brazil, the Stones left no stone unturned.

Each concert was an event, with the band playing a mix of their greatest hits and new songs from their then-recently released album, “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll”. The response from the fans was overwhelming, further cementing The Rolling Stones’ status as one of the greatest rock bands in history.

The Legacy of the Tour

The Tour of the Americas ’75 was more than just a series of concerts; it was a defining moment in The Rolling Stones’ career. It helped to establish the band’s reputation as a dynamic live act and set a new standard for rock ‘n’ roll performances. Even today, the tour is remembered as one of the band’s most iconic outings.

Beyond its significance to The Rolling Stones, the tour also had a profound impact on the music industry. It demonstrated the potential of rock concerts as major events capable of filling stadiums, paving the way for the large-scale rock tours that have since become commonplace.

Relive the exhilarating energy and infectious rhythm of The Rolling Stones’ Tour of the Americas ’75 through these stunning stunning photos. These captivating images not only capture the electrifying performances of the iconic band but also showcase the vibrant and enthusiastic audiences that made each show an unforgettable experience.

#1 Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, Bill Wyman, and Charlie Watts perform live on stage , 1975.

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#2 Mick Jagger, draped in an American flag, performs with Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, and Ronnie Wood , 1975.

#3 Mick Jagger, draped in an American flag, performs with Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, and Ronnie Wood , 1975.

#4 Mick Jagger, with Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, performs with The Rolling Stones , 1975.

#5 Mick Jagger, wearing an American football shirt, performs with The Rolling Stones , 1975.

#6 Mick Jagger, wearing an American football shirt, performs with The Rolling Stones , 1975.

#7 Keith Richards, wearing a ripped vest, performs with The Rolling Stones , 1975.

#8 Keith Richards, wearing a ripped vest, performs with The Rolling Stones , 1975.

#9 Mick Jagger announces the ‘Tour of the Americas ’75’ on a flatbed truck on 5th Avenue, New York, May 1975.

#10 The Rolling Stones announce the ‘Tour of the Americas ’75’ on a flatbed truck on 5th Avenue, New York, May 1975.

#11 Mick Jagger performs on a flatbed truck to announce the ‘Tour of the Americas ’75,’ New York, May 1975.

#12 Mick Jagger announces the ‘Tour of the Americas ’75’ on a flatbed truck on 5th Avenue, New York, May 1975.

#13 The Rolling Stones announce the ‘Tour of the Americas ’75’ on a flatbed truck on 5th Avenue, New York, May 1975.

#14 Mick Jagger performs on a flatbed truck to announce the ‘Tour of the Americas ’75,’ New York, May 1975.

#15 Ronnie Wood, Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Bill Wyman perform on a flatbed truck on Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1975.

#16 Mick Jagger poses with a parasol, while Charlie Watts is visible, as The Rolling Stones perform on a flatbed truck on Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1975.

#17 Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Bill Wyman perform on a flatbed truck on Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1975.

#18 Ronnie Wood, Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Bill Wyman perform on a flatbed truck on Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1975.

#19 Mick Jagger and Billy Preston perform on a flatbed truck on Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1975.

#20 Charlie Watts and Keith Richards perform on a flatbed truck on Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1975.

#21 Billy Preston, Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, and Keith Richards perform on a flatbed truck on Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1975.

#22 Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards perform on a flatbed truck on Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1975.

#23 Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, and Bill Wyman perform on a flatbed truck on Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1975.

#24 The Rolling Stones perform on their tour in the United States, June 1975.

#25 Mick Jagger seated in a limousine car during the tour, June 1975.

#26 Mick Jagger and Keith Richards perform on stage during the tour, June 1975.

#27 Ronnie Wood and Mick Jagger perform on stage during the tour, June 1975.

#28 Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood perform on stage during the tour, June 1975.

#29 Mick Jagger and Keith Richards perform on stage during the tour, June 1975.

#30 Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, and Keith Richards perform on stage during the tour, June 1975.

#31 Mick Jagger and Keith Richards perform on stage during the tour, June 1975.

#32 The Rolling Stones perform on their tour in the United States, June 1975.

#33 The Rolling Stones perform at Arrowhead Stadium during their “Tour Of The Americas” on June 6, 1975, in Kansas City, Missouri.

#34 Mick Jagger performs on stage at Madison Square Garden during the band’s “Tour of America ’75” on July 23, 1975, in New York, New York.

#35 Mick Jagger performs on stage at Madison Square Garden during the band’s “Tour of America ’75” on July 23, 1975, in New York, New York.

#36 Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards perform on stage at Madison Square Garden during the band’s “Tour of America ’75” on July 23, 1975, in New York, New York.

#37 Mick Jagger performs on stage at Madison Square Garden during the band’s “Tour of America ’75” on July 23, 1975, in New York, New York.

#38 Billy Preston, Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood, Charlie Watts, and Keith Richards perform on stage at Madison Square Garden during the band’s “Tour of America ’75” on July 23, 1975, in New York, New York.

#39 Ronnie Wood and Mick Jagger perform on stage at Madison Square Garden during the band’s “Tour of America ’75” on July 23, 1975, in New York, New York.

#40 The Rolling Stones perform at Madison Square Garden with Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Billy Preston, and Ollie Brown on June 25, 1975, in New York, New York.

#41 Mick Jagger swings over the crowd at Madison Square Garden during the band’s “Tour of America ’75” on June 25, 1975, in New York, New York.

#42 Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Charlie Watts perform with percussionist Ollie Brown at Madison Square Garden during the band’s “Tour of America ’75” on June 25, 1975, in New York, New York.

#43 Mick Jagger swings over the crowd at Madison Square Garden during the band’s “Tour of America ’75” on June 25, 1975, in New York, New York.

#44 Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Charlie Watts perform with percussionist Ollie Brown at Madison Square Garden during the band’s ‘Tour of America ’75” on June 25, 1975, in New York, New York.

#45 Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, and Bill Wyman perform with percussionist Ollie Brown at Madison Square Garden during the band’s “Tour of America ’75” on June 25, 1975, in New York, New York.

#46 Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, and Keith Richards perform with percussionist Ollie Brown at Madison Square Garden during the band’s “Tour of America ’75” on June 25, 1975, in New York, New York.

#47 Mick Jagger performs at Madison Square Garden during the band’s “Tour of America ’75” on June 25, 1975, in New York, New York.

#48 Mick Jagger performs with Ronnie Wood at Madison Square Garden during the band’s “Tour of America ’75” on June 25, 1975, in New York, New York.

#49 Mick Jagger performs at Madison Square Garden during the band’s “Tour of America ’75” on June 25, 1975, in New York, New York.

#50 Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Mick Jagger, Ollie Brown, and Billy Preston perform at Madison Square Garden during the band’s “Tour of America ’75” on June 25, 1975, in New York, New York.

#51 Mick Jagger performs with Keith Richards at Madison Square Garden during the band’s ‘Tour of America ‘ 75″ on June 25, 1975, in New York, New York.

#52 Mick Jagger performs on one date of The Rolling Stones Tour of the Americas ’75 in July 1975.

Written by Heather Brown

Heather Brown is a writer and historian with a passion for all things vintage. She shares her knowledge of the past through her blog, with a particular focus on historical photos and the stories they tell.

© 2024 Bygonely

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THE "ROCKS OFF" ROLLING STONES SETLISTS PAGE

BY GARY GALBRAITH (with Gerardo Liedo)

1975 TOUR OF THE AMERICAS

with Ronnie Wood and Billy Preston as guests (Ronnie first public performance with the Rolling Stones)

1975 Tour of The Americas overview

The Stones didn’t tour in 1974 – after 1968, the only calendar year thus far in their career that they hadn’t done so, and the only one where they made no public appearances at all – but they weren’t exactly inactive in the 18 months between the end of the 1973 European Tour and the announcement of the grandly titled ‘Tour Of The Americas’ on May 1 st 1975 which was marked by a performance of ‘Brown Sugar’ on the back of a flatbed truck on New York’s Fifth Avenue.   In the interim period, they had recorded and released ‘It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll’ and then Mick Taylor had announced that he was leaving the band just before they assembled in Munich a couple of months later to start work on its follow up.   Much of the early part of 1975 was spent auditioning his replacement whilst recording the album that would eventually be released in April 1976 as ‘Black and Blue’.   With the band unable to settle on a replacement, Ronnie Wood was brought in ‘on loan’ from The Faces for the 1975 tour (he would go on to do a US tour with them after finishing his commitments with the Stones). A very different type of musician to Taylor and more of a showman his playing style met with Keith’s approval who was quoted as saying ‘with Ronnie, we seem to be able to get back to the original idea of the Stones, when Brian was with us, in ‘62-63. Two guitars have always been my particular love because I think there’s more that can be done with that particular combination than almost any other instrument….’.   A somewhat funkier sound was brought to the band’s sound with a more prominent role in the show for Billy Preston – who was also afforded a two-song mini set of his own backed by the Stones each night – and the addition of percussionist Ollie Brown. Save for a brief cameo at the shows in LA in July, the band had dispensed with a brass section.

Ronnie’s opening night in Baton Rouge was a baptism of fire with two 135-minute shows in one day on his 28 th birthday.   It would be the only occasion on the tour where they played a matinee and an evening show. Most of the shows clocked in at anything from two to tour and a half hour in length – way longer than any concerts they’d played before – with songs like ‘Midnight Rambler’ and ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ (on the few occasions when it featured as an encore) being stretched out to 13-15 minutes at times.   With ‘Its Only Rock ‘n’ Roll’ having been released 9 months before the band hit the road, technically they weren’t really touring behind a new record (their record label had cashed in on the tour with a new compilation ‘Made in the Shade’, showcasing songs from the first four albums on Rolling Stones Records). Despite the title of the tour, it ended up merely consisting of 44 arena and stadium shows in the US plus two in Canada – plans to spend August 1975 touring Latin America were cancelled for mostly economic and security reasons, resulting in about 15 shows in Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela being pulled from the schedule.

Despite the claim on the sleeve that ‘Love You Live’ comes from performances in Paris 1976 and the 1977 club shows in Toronto, three of the songs are actually from 1975. ‘Fingerprint File’ (which was only ever played in 1975 and which exists as a raw soundboard as well as a near excellent audience source running for over 3 minutes than the heavily edited released version) and ‘Its only rock n roll’ were taken from the Toronto 17 th June concert and ‘Sympathy’ is from the 9 th of July show at the LA Forum.   In 2012, as part of the series of six archive releases to mark the band’s 50 th anniversary, the Los Angeles show from 13 th July was made available as a download. (Confusingly, they used the bootleg title ‘LA Friday’ which applied to the 11 th of July show). In 2014, a long available pro shot of the 11 th of July show was officially released as a DVD by Eagle Rock along with a 2-CD set of the 13 th of July concert.   The Sunday concert is the superior of the two performances.

Most of the 46 shows on the tour circulate amongst collectors in varying degrees of sound quality, with a few soundboard tapes being available.

Number of shows – 46

Number of shows in circulation – 39

Recommended shows –   aside from the official releases, Toronto 17 th June, New York 27 th June (probably the best show of the tour for me, featuring a rare and raggedly glorious ‘Cherry Oh Baby’ and an epic   encore of ‘Sympathy’ with Carlos Santana), the first and fourth Los Angeles shows (there’s also a very good partial soundboard of the first 70 minutes of the 12 th July LA show), San Francisco 15 th July, Fort Collins and the soundboard of the first 85 minutes of the show in Detroit on 28 th July.

Personnel - Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, and Bill Wyman with Ronnie Wood (guitar), Billy Preston (keyboards), Ollie E. Brown (percussion) and occasionally Ian Stewart on piano.

Concert Listing

(*) See ‘ Miscellaneous Non-Tour Appearances ’ for details

Part 1: 1 st June to 18 th June

Part 2: 22 nd June to 6 th July

Part 3: 9 th July to 20 th July

Part 4: 22 nd July to 8 th August

NOTE: The reason of the name "Tour of the Americas"

The tour was originally supposed to include shows in the following cities: August 7 - 10 México City, México - "Auditorio Nacional": 14 - 17 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - Maracanzinho : 19 - 21 Sao Paulo, Brazil : Convention Hall : 24 Sao Paulo, Brazil - Anhembi Hall : 28 - 31 Caracas, Venezuela - El Poliedro. This leg of the tour was cancelled due to currency problems, in addition, at that time all groups that dared to perform in México and South America had security problems and the audience always rioted.

© GARY GALBRAITH 1999 - 2022

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• 14 on Fire  ( 29 )
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• 50 & Counting  ( 27 )
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• Pacific Tour 1973  ( 13 )
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• Some Girls  ( 25 )
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• Tattoo You  ( 86 )
• Tour of Europe '76  ( 41 )
• Tour of the Americas '75  ( 46 )
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• Avg Setlist
• Concert Map

Average setlist for year: 1975

Note: only considered 46 of 47 setlists (ignored empty and strikingly short setlists)

• Honky Tonk Women Play Video
• All Down the Line Play Video
• If You Can't Rock Me / Get Off of My Cloud Play Video
• Star Star Play Video
• Gimme Shelter Play Video
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg ( The Temptations  cover) Play Video
• You Gotta Move ( [traditional]  cover) Play Video
• You Can't Always Get What You Want Play Video
• Happy Play Video
• Tumbling Dice Play Video
• Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) Play Video
• Fingerprint File Play Video
• It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (but I Like It) Play Video
• Angie Play Video
• Wild Horses Play Video
• That's Life ( Billy Preston  cover) Play Video
• Outa-Space ( Billy Preston  cover) Play Video
• Brown Sugar Play Video
• Midnight Rambler Play Video
• Rip This Joint Play Video
• Street Fighting Man Play Video
• Jumpin' Jack Flash Play Video

Show Openers

Main set closers, show closers, encores played.

This feature is not that experimental anymore. Nevertheless, please give feedback if the results don't make any sense to you.

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Tour of the Americas 1975

The Anniversary Copies feature a specially designed cover created to Ronnie Wood's approval, inspired by his metal 'disc front' Zemaitis guitar. The instrument remains one of Wood's go-to guitars for playing slide and, as well as being played throughout the '75 tour, has appeared on many Stones recordings. The book's aluminium cover is silkscreened with the same engravings that are etched onto the front of Wood's famous instrument.

Over 400 silver-edged pages are quarter-bound in leather and housed in a protective solander box. The tour's 'Access Backstage' silk armband serves as a pull ribbon for the large-format book. Recessed panels within the box contain facsimile memorabilia: backstage passes and even hotel room keys. The 'Starship' is silkscreened onto the outer box, with lenticular images of the Stones appearing in the aircraft's cut-away windows. Collector's Notes: THE ANNIVERSARY COPIES ARE SOLD OUT THE COMMANDER COPIES ARE VERY RARE Please contact us for availability information  

Request Price

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The best Rolling Stones 70s songs prove why the band were untouchable in a decade during which they shaped the course of rock’n’roll.

Published on

As a unit, The Rolling Stones were untouchable in the 70s. Their reputation as a live act was unrivalled, earning them the title of “The Greatest Rock’n’Roll Band In The World.” In the studio, they were creating classic albums like Sticky Fingers , Exile On Main St and Goats Head Soup . The best Rolling Stones 70s songs not only captured the band in their pomp, but shaped the course of rock’n’roll throughout the decade.

Although the Rolling Stones had a storied career before the 70s, with classic hits like the sitar anthem “Paint It Black” on Aftermath (which also featured “Under My Thumb”) “Gimme Shelter” and “Midnight Rambler” off of Let It Bleed , “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Street Fighting Man” on Beggars Banquet , and the psychedelia-tinged Their Satanic Majesties Request , the 70s cemented the Rolling Stones’ legacy as one of the greatest bands of all time alongside contemporaries The Beatles and Led Zeppelin.

Below are our picks of the timeless Rolling Stones songs that made the Stones such a force in the 70s. Think we’ve missed some? Let us know in the comments section.

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Listen to The Rolling Stones’ Honk collection on Apple Music and Spotify , and scroll down to read out pick of the 20 best Rolling Stones 70s songs.

20: Memory Motel ( Black And Blue , 1976)

The seven-minute ballad “Memory Motel,” which was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards , has been a favorite live song for The Rolling Stones for decades. It was inspired by a visit to the Memory Motel in Montauk, East Hampton, while the band were hanging out with artist Andy Warhol. Photographer Peter Beard, who took Jagger and Richards to the motel, said that the ageing couple who owned the establishment took a dislike to the musicians, but Jagger liked the name and used it anyway. The motel inspired their sweet song about an independent-minded, hazel-eyed, “peachy kind of girl.” Top session man Billy Preston played acoustic piano on the track.

19: Dance Little Sister ( It’s Only Rock’n’Roll , 1974)

Though one of the best Rolling Stones 70s songs, “Dance Little Sister” sounded like it could have been made at any time over the previous decade. The guitar-driven song was apparently triggered by Jagger’s happy memories of dancing with Bianca Jagger during a holiday in Trinidad (“On Saturday night we don’t go home/We bacchanal, ain’t no dawn”). It remains a crowd-pleaser at Stones concerts alongside other favorites like “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Ruby Tuesday,” and “Get Off My Cloud.”

18: Sweet Virginia ( Exile On Main St , 1972)

The Stones are known for their rousing rock songs like “Let’s Spend the Night Together” and blues covers like the Chuck Berry hit “Come On,” but on “Sweet Virginia” they showed they could do a country music shuffle. The band sound like they are having fun on the track, which features a neat harmonica solo by Jagger, a saxophone solo by Bobby Keys, and the lively backing singing of Dr. John and Shirley Goodman.

17: Sway ( Sticky Fingers , 1971)

Mick Taylor plays a fine bottleneck slide guitar solo on “Sway,” a slow, bluesy song. The lyrics by Jagger and Richards are dark – it is about a day that “… broke up your mind/Destroyed your notion of circular time” – and are propelled by some powerful drumming by Charlie Watts. The backing vocalists include Ronnie Lane of Faces and The Who ’s Pete Townshend .

16: Happy ( Exile On Main St , 1972)

“Happy” provided a minor hit for the Stones, reaching No.22 on the Billboard charts in 1972. It was one of their fastest turnarounds. Richards wrote most of the lyrics during an afternoon at his villa in southern France and then sang lead vocals. “It was cut and done in only four hours,” he said, using the famous Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. It’s a breezy, upbeat pop song featuring Nicky Hopkins on piano, who also featured on “Monkey Man,” “Tumbling Dice,” “Waiting on a Friend,” and other songs throughout the late 60s and 70s. “I was pretty happy about the song, hence the title,” added Richards.

15: Fool To Cry ( Black And Blue , 1976)

Mick Taylor had left the band and the Stones were trying out new guitarists during the recording of their 1976 album, Black And Blue . Wayne Perkins, whose credentials included being part of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio roster, added his own atmospheric sound to this sweet ballad. “Fool To Cry” is a favorite song of television star and writer Lena Durham, who commissioned a new version for her hit show Girls .

14: Fingerprint File ( It’s Only Rock’n’Roll , 1974)

“Fingerprint File,” the closing track from the 1974 album It’s Only Rock’n’Roll , was produced by Jagger and Richards under the pseudonym “The Glimmer Twins.” (“The Glimmer Twins” pseudonym began while on a vacation with their then-girlfriends Marianne Faithfull and Anita Pallenberg, and Jagger-Richards were the sole credited producers of Stones albums starting from It’s Only Rock’n’Roll until 1982’s Still Life .) “Fingerpint File” is an experimental song – an attempt to blend rock with dance/electronic music. The sound was influenced by Sly And The Family Stone; Richards used a wah-wah pedal to get the effect he wanted on his guitar parts. The lyrics reflect the tumultuous reign of President Richard Nixon, with lines about the FBI and a corrupt government “Listening to me/On your satellite.”

13: Dancing With Mr. D ( Goats Head Soup , 1973)

“Dancing With Mr. D” is the gnarly, funky opening track to the album Goats Head Soup , which was partly recorded at Dynamic Sound Studios in Kingston, Jamaica. (The Goats Head Soup recording sessions also included many songs that would be later released on Tattoo You , including “Start Me Up.”) The lyrics to “Dancing With Mr. D,” however – “Down in the graveyard where we have our tryst/The air smells sweet, the air smells sick” – were sung against a powerful beat that featured some brilliant percussion work from Ghanaian musician Rebop Kwaku Baah.

12: Angie ( Goats Head Soup , 1973)

The 1973 acoustic ballad “Angie,” also from Goats Head Soup , went to No.1. in the US. (It’s one of eight songs to achieve this distinction, including “Honky Tonk Women” and “Ruby Tuesday.”) The public was captivated by “Angie,” speculating on the subject of the song. Numerous theories circulated, including that the lyrics were about actress Angie Dickinson, David Bowie ’s first wife, Angie, or guitarist Richards’ daughter, Dandelion Angela Richards. The video for the song was shot by Sir Michael Edward Lindsay-Hogg, who had cut his teeth working with Ronnie Barker on television comedy shows.

11: Torn And Frayed ( Exile On Main St , 1972)

Texas-born Al Perkins plays pedal steel guitar on “Torn And Frayed,” a song, like many of the best Rolling Stones 70s songs, also recorded in the south of France. It is perhaps one of the most heavily Gram Parsons-influenced songs the Stones ever cut. Parsons was present when “Torn And Frayed” was being recorded and its country-soul atmosphere is reminiscent of the work of his band The Flying Burrito Brothers (for whom Al Perkins played), especially their 1969 debut album, The Gilded Palace Of Sin .

10: Before They Make Me Run ( Some Girls , 1978)

“Before They Make Me Run” is one of the most personal songs written by Richards, and followed the death of his friend Gram Parsons from a drugs overdose in 1973. Richards was arrested for possession of heroin in February 1977 and had sought medical treatment for his addiction problems. The song, written during a period when the guitarist did not sleep for five days, was originally called “Rotten Roll.” Cover versions have been recorded by Steve Earle and Great Lake Swimmers.

9: Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) ( Goats Head Soup , 1973)

“Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo” features some of Jagger and Richards’ angriest lyrics. The lines “You heartbreaker, with your .44/I want to tear your world apart” were written after the dramatic events of April 1973, when a 10-year-old boy called Clifford Glover was shot through the heart by plainclothes policemen in New York. The youngster had been mistaken for a suspect in an armed robbery.

8: Miss You ( Some Girls , 1978)

Richards said that “Miss You” was deliberately calculated for success as “a disco song.” It has a catchy beat and the simple lyrics were written by Jagger as he was jamming with keyboard player Billy Preston. Bill Wyman admitted that he worked hard on getting a memorable bass line for what became one of the best Rolling Stones 70s songs, and said he was so successful that “every band in the world copied it for the next year.” The title track to “Some Girls” was also excellent, and the Some Girls album , which reached No.1 on the Billboard charts, was nominated for Album Of The Year at the Grammy Awards.

7: It’s Only Rock’n’Roll (But I Like It) ( It’s Only Rock’n’Roll , 1974)

“The idea of the song has to do with our public persona at the time,” said Jagger. “I was getting a bit tired of people having a go, all that, ‘Oh, it’s not as good as their last one,’ business. The single sleeve for ‘It’s Only Rock’n’Roll (But I Like It)’ had a picture of me with a pen digging into me as if it were a sword. It was a light-hearted, anti-journalistic sort of thing.” This rock classic was recorded one night in a studio at Ronnie Wood’s home in Richmond and featured David Bowie as a backing vocalist, with Willie Weeks on bass.

6: Dead Flowers ( Sticky Fingers , 1971)

The dark, clever country-style song “Dead Flowers,” which was recorded in London, features some aching guitar work from Richards and Mick Taylor. It is one of the Stones songs that has been widely covered. The version by Townes Van Zandt was used in the Coen Brothers’ film The Big Lebowski .

5: Wild Horses ( Sticky Fingers , 1971)

“If there is a classic way of Mick and me working together, ‘Wild Horses’ is it,” said Richards of a song that easily earns its place among the best Rolling Stones 70s songs. “I had the riff and chorus line, Mick got stuck into the verses. Just like ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,’ ‘Wild Horses’ was about the usual thing of not wanting to be on the road, being a million miles from where you want to be.” The song has a real emotional pull and the version cut at Muscle Shoals in Sheffield, Alabama, near the end of their 1969 tour of America, reflected the depth of Richards and Jagger’s musical understanding. Pianist Jim Dickinson recalled them passing a bottle of bourbon back and forth as they sang together into one microphone.

4: Brown Sugar ( Sticky Fingers , 1971)

“Brown Sugar” was one of the two songs recorded on the Sticky Fingers album at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios. Others, like “Moonlight Mile,” were recorded at Stargroves. “The lyric was all to do with the dual combination of drugs and girls. This song was a very instant thing, a definite high point,” said Jagger, who was soon to become a father with singer-actress Marsha Hunt. The lyrics have been modified in live performances over the years, with the band removing some of the more controversial lines. Musically, Jagger’s energetic singing, the punchy tenor saxophone playing of Bobby Keys, the pulsating drumming of Watts and the wonderful guitar work of Richards (who had sought some advice from Ry Cooder) make “Brown Sugar” one of the best Rolling Stones 70s songs.

3: Can’t You Hear Me Knocking ( Sticky Fingers , 1971)

Mick Taylor rated “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” as one of the best Rolling Stones 70s songs, and went so far as to call it one of his favorite Stones songs of all time. There is a great riff from Richards, and Jagger sings with power and passion. The jam at the end was completely improvised in the studio and was the reason the song reached more than seven minutes in length. The band used percussionist Rocky Dijon on some of their 60s hits, including “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” and his fine conga playing adds to the appeal of this classic.

2: Beast Of Burden ( Some Girls , 1978)

Jagger called “Beast Of Burden” an “attitude song.” It was an allegorical way of Richards saying thank you to his musical partner for “shouldering the burden” while he was going through problems in the mid-70s. It is also a heart-breaking meditation on his disintegrating relationship with Anita Pallenberg. The song is a brilliant example of how Richards gelled with his new guitar foil, Ronnie Wood. “The track is a good example of the two of us twinkling felicitously together,” said Richards.

1: Shine A Light ( Exile On Main St , 1972)

Though “Shine A Light” had its origins in the 60s (when Jagger wrote some lyrics for the late Brian Jones ), the final and best studio version of the song was recorded in London at the end of 1971. This superb song, which features Leon Russell on piano, also inspired the title for the documentary Martin Scorsese made about the band in 2008. Cementing its place among the best Rolling Stones 70s songs, Jagger said it was his favorite song from the brilliant Exile On Main St album.

Looking for more? Discover the best Rolling Stones live performances .

February 12, 2020 at 11:07 pm

No Tumbling Dice? C’mon now.

Kirk Bonanny

May 16, 2020 at 12:14 am

No “Sister Morphine”? “I Got the Blues”?!?!?! I also agree with “Tumbling Dice”. The power and depth in the B side of “Sticky Fingers’ HAS TO BE the most powerful ‘Stones tunes of all time, let alone the ’70’s….

Andrew s Builder

March 1, 2021 at 5:44 am

Pretty good list here- I think you are confusing “Shine a Light” with “Let it Loose”. It is a far better song, but neither should be at number one. “Let it Loose” should probably be around 2 or 3. Heartbreaker has to be at number one. This is a good list, but throw out “Its Only Rock n’ Roll, and add in “When the Whip Comes Down”. You forgot a lot of stuff from Sticky Fingers like “I Got The Blues” and “Moonlight Mile”.

July 1, 2021 at 5:36 am

all great songs on that list, the one favorite of mine that’s missing is “Luxury”

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The Rolling Stones’ 1975 Tour: Baptized in Baton Rouge, Castrated in San Antone

By Chet Flippo

Chet Flippo

G oddammit,” Bill Carter growled as he raced through the lobby of San Antonio’s Hilton Palacio Del Rio. “Did you see this headline?” The former Secret-Service-agent-turned- Rolling-Stones -security-chief-and-visa-lawyer was waving the front page of the San Antonio News for June 4th, 1975. Splashed across the top, in bold black capital letters encased by a delicate pink box, the headline read “Stones Vice Raid Urged.”

“That’s all we need,” he spat out the words angrily, “to have Mick arrested onstage. There’ll be a goddamn riot like you never saw before. The kids’ll burn that damned building to the ground.” Spouting further visions of apocalypse, Carter stomped off to telephone the chief of police and anybody else who might be in on the gathering storm.

Only two cities into the Rolling Stones ‘ massive Tour of the Americas, ’75, Carter was earning his keep as the tour’s straight man, the tough-talking lawyer who could deal with local authorities on their own level. What he had not counted on so early in the tour was Rupert Murdoch, the San Antonio News’ Australian publisher, and his daily serving of dope, sex and violence. The Stones had not played this South Texas city since June 7th, 1964, when they performed before 65 persons at a disastrous affair called “Teen Fair.” This time around, the city, especially Murdoch’s News, was treating the two-concert appearance by the band as a major event. When the group touched down at the airport in the Boeing 720 Starship (which still bore Elton John ‘s red, white and blue paint job, in addition to two Stones eagle logos, one already peeling), a splotchy, mildly hysterical special edition of the News, headlined “Stones Roll into San Antonio,” was waiting for them.

The next day, after the first San Antonio show and after the city’s first glimpse of the giant inflated phallus white balloon that rises out of the stage during “Star Star,” the News pulled a classic strategem of yellow journalism. An unnamed cityside reporter called Municipal Court Judge Michael O’Quinn and informed him that dope smoking was going on in the Hemisfair Arena, and that this rock band there was using an obscenity as a stage prop, and what did the good judge have to say about that? The good judge immediately said that it seemed truly illegal and that, if it was indeed true, police should do something about it forthwith. That was all the News needed for a scoop.

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Carter, meanwhile, after hurried conversations with local authorities, huddled with Stones manager Peter Rudge and tour press representative Paul Wasserman. Grimfaced, they confronted the awful possibilities: Jagger & Co. being led off the star-shaped stage in handcuffs, vice squad officers deflating the 15-foot penile structure and tugging it along for evidence (“Your honor, I present Exhibit A: the world’s largest condom”), and meanwhile in the arena, seats already being wrenched from their fastenings and hurled at the stage, the four-foot plywood fence around that stage rapidly being rendered into splinters, wine bottles raining from the cheap seats, flames licking at the marvelous lotus-petal stage, blood running ankle deep in the aisles. Their worst fear, though, was the eternal nightmare of those who earn their livings from such tours : bad press. Police would be waiting at every airport on their itinerary of 28 cities to search each suitcase until the offending member, the billowy lingam, was found. Injunctions would be served at every turn, lawsuits would freeze tour monies for endless years, and the estimated $12-14 million gross from this tour would be pissed away into the wind. We’ll play it by ear, Carter and Rudge decided. If the vice squad shows up we’ll put the question to Mick: Will the cock rise tonight?

“Goddammit,” Carter exploded. “What’s the difference between Baton Rouge and San Antonio? Baton Rouge saw the cock twice in the same day!”

True enough. I began wondering about the difference and why the Stones opened in Baton Rouge. They said it was to escape the pressures of big cities, but it was more than that. Except for a mild traffic jam, Baton Rouge did not at all acknowledge the presence of a major rock & roll band. The audience was well behaved and receptive enough, but far from committing itself. That was why they’d picked a town like Baton Rouge: no physical or musical risk whatsoever. There were only two policemen on duty at Louisiana State University’s Assembly Center on the night of May 31st, when the Stones pulled in for their last rehearsal before the tour opened the next day with two performances in that same hall.

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And, as Charlie Watts said as he waited for the rehearsal to start, most earlier rehearsals had been just jamming and this was the last chance to put the show together. Watts, who appeared thinner than ever and sported a slowly growing skinhead haircut (“I cut it off because I was going bald”), was sitting with bassist Bill Wyman and trading stories with journalists. Ben E. King and Bianca Jagger were over in one corner with the upper crust of Atlantic Records; Keith Richards , with a sunburned belly and a massive turquoise belt, was picking out Charlie Rich tunes on a piano, and Mick Jagger and keyboard journeyman Billy Preston were off in a corner listening to tapes of rough cuts recorded by the Stones in Munich earlier this year for fall release.

T his cut,” said Wyman, “is Mick and Billy singing lead. It’s very jazzy. The working title for this one is ‘Vagina.’ Why? Someone called it ‘Cunt’ in the studio and we couldn’t write that.” Wyman, long identified as the “silent Stone” (“Only because no one ever asks me anything”), identified the next song as “Melody.” “It’s a very nice song,” he said. Tour percussionist Ollie Brown (whom the Stones met in 1972 when Brown filled in with Stevie Wonder) spoke up: “Is that blues?” Wyman laughed: “That’s Twenties blues. Come on, Ollie, do I have to play your roots for you?”

Ron Wood , rooster hairdo aflop, finally dragged in three hours late and the group straggled out into the hall. From the floor, their much heralded star stage was disappointing: just pointed runways for Jagger. “Go upstairs,” said Watts, who was instrumental in the design. “You really can’t see the star till you get up higher because the line of amps cuts it in two. But it’s marvelous, it’s the biggest stage we’ve ever had.” He was right. From the upper reaches, the stage resembled a deep porcelain dish with six gently curving star points, each outlined with a foot-wide strip of metal mirroring that formed a circle in the middle of the figure. Watts was directly at the center on a raised platform that had both air vents and spotlights under it. Ollie Brown stood directly behind him. To their right were Preston and Ron Wood; to their left, Richards and Wyman; and in front was Jagger’s mike stand. Jagger would stand just in front of the circular trap door that would emit the giant phallus, a confetti-spouting dragon (not used early in the tour) and Jagger himself via a hidden elevator. The stage itself, 71 feet in diameter, is raked so that the back is ten feet high and the front only five.

The 42-foot lighting ring with 300 lights was just beginning to be tested as Richards kicked off the rehearsal with a few bone-rattling licks from “Little Queenie.” Jagger, solemn faced, popped a Budweiser and pranced out onto each of the star tips to test the distances. He minced backwards down the front tip to see how far he could go before toppling over into the crowd. As soon as he spotted the mirror strip, he slowed down, just as an outfielder knows that once he hits the cinder track he has only microseconds to stop before hitting the wall.

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Then, after noodling for a while, Richards started “Honky Tonk Women,” and Wood could not keep up with his speed runs. After two minutes, it was obvious that Richards has not played better on an American stage and that, again, his image — the wasted pirate in dirty, drooping Levi’s and black shirt — and his musicianship and leadership are the very essence of the Rolling Stones. He ignored Jagger’s singing and practiced on coaching Ron Wood until they could easily defer leads to each other.

Richards was virtually carrying the band. “If everything’s working well,” he said later, “the general idea is that you should be able to hear what you want to onstage. Charlie wants to hear me; Mick needs to hear me, drums and himself, and the bass wants to hear the drums. The amps are so directional I basically just hear myself. I don’t care what I hear as long as I hear something.

“Over the years, you know, we’ve virtually lost control over our sound — now it’s some guy at a mixing board who we may never have met and has maybe never heard us play. Is there a way to beat that system? Sure, to beat that guy.”

He moved into “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” Jagger singing a falsetto lead, and Wood began to be more sure of himself. He took the guitar break and it sounded good enough until Richards came in under him to remind him just how hard the Stones’ sound should be. The difference was breathtaking. By three in the morning, on “Tumbling Dice,” Wood knew what was expected of him and was able to handle the guitar break.

By then, only a dozen hangers-on were left and Jagger picked up Wood’s silver Les Paul Gibson to play rhythm on “Fingerprint File,” Wood switching to bass and Wyman to keyboards. It was not entirely satisfactory. Shortly after 6:00 a.m. the rehearsal began to fall apart. The show was not totally ready but it still had to go on that day.

Less than 12 hours later, the Stones were back in Baton Rouge after a few hours’ sleep in New Orleans’s Royal Orleans Hotel. The Meters opened, finished and raced back for an unrequested encore in the face of raucous cries for the “fucking Rolling Stones. ” Finally, at 5:20 p.m., the houselights went down to great applause and Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” floated through the PA for two minutes and 15 seconds. Then the Stones walked onstage to a hoarse scream from the crowd: “Hooray for the Rolling Stones!” When the lights came up, Jagger was lying on his back on the top point of the star and slowly dancing his way downstage during “Honky Tonk Women.” He was wearing grotesque black eye makeup and a short black jacket over a loose, striped outfit that resembled a baseball uniform, with red ankle ties and white shoes.

He was already playing the audience to the hilt, waving and dancing and jumping and racing to the star points. But, curiously, only those in the first 15 or so rows were physically responding. The message from that Baton Rouge audience was clear: The Stones may be the best rock & roll band in the world but that in itself may not be such a big deal anymore.

H ey,” Jagger called after a not entirely successful version of “You Got to Move,” “this is the first show of our tour. We want to find out what we do good and what we’re doing terrible, so we’ll do a whole lot more.” The announcement was met with cheers and it was not at all a bad show; merely a show where the band was still finding its way. And after the second Baton Rouge set ended, Richards triumphantly holding his Fender overhead, the Stones were virtually whole again. Not since 1969 had they been such a metallic guitar band with such a forceful, if erratic, sound. In the space of 24 hours in Baton Rouge, they’d rehearsed for six hours, played two two-hour-plus sets and left the stage sounding stronger than when they first walked on to it. No matter that they have been around for a dozen years. No matter that Charlie Watts looks like an old man — he doesn’t play like it. No matter that Bill Wyman may still tap his foot only once during a show. No matter that they do not have a hit single every month: They are, after all, the Rolling Stones and that stands for a great deal.

Except, certainly, in the eyes of the San Antonio police, who started dispatching patrolmen to the Hemisfair before the scalpers even showed up. At the San Antonio Hilton, tour proceedings had gone on as usual. Groupies of various sexes paraded back and forth from the Hilton to the arena, only about 200 yards away. Groupiedom may be on the wane elsewhere, but in San Antonio it’s still an honorable and very competitive pastime. The girl in the taut “Teenage Lust” T-shirt could only look on enviously as a blond amazon in just a scanty loincloth and two tiny scraps of cloth topside was quickly assimilated into the Stones entourage.

The few ticket scalpers who showed up had less luck. There were few customers and the price was driven down to $3, then $1. Finally, many tickets were given away.

Backstage at the arena, Newman Jones, whose job it is to take care of Keith Richards ‘s guitars, was rebuilding every one of them and looking for valium. “I haven’t been able to eat for a goddamn week,” he said. “Keith’s so damned hard on these guitars. The damned things won’t stay in tune. I just spent a hundred bucks on new bridges. Keith just beats the shit out of them, he plays the strings so hard.”

Shortly thereafter, the man himself, the reclusive backbone of the Stones, held an audience in his cluttered room in the Hilton. He was reclining on one bed with his skull rings and necklaces and a bottle of José Cuervo; Ron Wood was perched on the other bed. How, I wondered, did Wood and Richards work out their system of trading off on lead and rhythm?

“Basically,” Richards said, “I just keep on playing my bits and Ron works in.”

“It’s terrible, see,” Wood cut in, “to get a plan for two guitarists. I just play rhythm when he plays the lead and he does the same.”

“Yeah,” Richards said, “I mean, rhythm and lead are blurred because it gets past that. Someone strumming away in the background and someone else doing all the playing, it’s way past that. We’re just playing with each other. And we just click in together.”

So, the Stones are a guitar band again.

Richards smiled for the first time: “Really.”

“We planned it that way,” Wood said. “I mean, I feel a lot in common with Mick Taylor and Brian Jones. Sometimes I’ll play a Mick Taylor line here and sometimes I’ll just play one of me own and other times I have to play what Brian played. I never really know until we’re onstage.”

“For this tour,” Richards added, “we tried to use as many new songs as we could so we wouldn’t do the same old show. You can never tell, of course, how well something will actually work onstage. ‘Honky Tonk Women’ was like that for a long time and ‘Wild Horses,’ we must’ve fiddled around with that four or five years before putting it into a show.”

In writing a Jagger/Richards collaboration like that, does Jagger always write the words and Richards the music?

Richards seemed vaguely disquieted by the question and reached for the tequila. “There’s no procedure, really, or formulas. It can work in a wide variety of ways. Some songs are completely written by one person. Others, the music is written by me and maybe the words to the chorus, which would probably include the title. Mick would write the verses to fit in with the general thing I’ve got already. Other songs are two completely different songs stuck together. You put them together and you’ve got a whole.”

Is there, then, a favorite Richards composition? “No, not really. That’s not what it’s about.” Similarly, he said, he has no plans for a solo album: “I don’t really see that I could do anything on my own that would add anything. Anything that I want to do, I can do with the band I’ve got.”

O utside the Hilton it was a perfect, balmy evening for rock & roll and the plaza around the arena was full of beer and wine drinkers who lingered during the Meters’ opening set.

The Stones were just pulling up to the arena in a beer truck they were using to beat the crush of the crowd when Bill Carter had his run-in with the San Antonio vice squad. Sergeant Harold Hoff and two detectives located Carter and told him they wanted to “examine the show and determine if it was pornographic, since the mayor and the city council have received several hundred calls about it.” “Bullshit,” Carter thought and he asked Hoff if he had already made up his mind about the phallus being obscene. Hoff said yes, and added that he was prepared to seek a warrant and file charges should the phallus rear its ugly head. Carter fumed and went to Jagger’s dressing room with Rudge. Jagger laughed about it, but told Carter: “We’re in San Antonio, we’re San Antonio’s guests and if they’re gonna take this that seriously then I won’t do it.” Carter then shuttled back to Sergeant Hoff. “We could beat your ass on this case if you filed charges,” he said, “but we don’t need the hassle. You win.”

Carter was fairly bitter: “Blame it on the Stones, goddamnit, they always blame it on the Stones. If the audience died of natural causes, they’d find a way to blame it on the Stones.”

It was a rowdy crowd, perfect for the Stones and, if there is still magic in rock & roll, it was there the night of June 4th as the lights went down and “Fanfare” came up and the people in the first 20 rows surged against the plywood fence. The cry was deafening when the ten Super Trouper arc lights around the hall stabbed through the darkness to pinion Jagger and Richards in a blinding white circle at a tip of the star. In the lighting box, Jules Fisher, who was imported from Broadway to do the Stones’ lights, pointed proudly at his work. Seen from on high, the stage was spectacular — a delicately lit flower that seemed to be suspended and surrounded by what resembled a sea of waving eels which were, of course, arms held overhead and clapping. Fisher’s color mixes threw purple, red, yellow and blue simultaneously around the star.

“Wait till you see the Madison Square Garden show,” he said. “It’ll be decorated like a garden: hundreds of leaves on cables leading to the stage and the petals of the stage will be closed to resemble a tree trunk. The petals will open to show the band and Mick will rise on an elevator and we’ll project flying eagles all over the audience. The leaves, ten-foot leaves, will rise on hydraulic pistons and there’ll be neon rimming on the stage. It’ll be beautiful.”

The houselights came up as Richards led the group into a slashing, brutal “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and even a few of the cops could not resist moving in time to that savage syncopation. Jagger finished it off grandly by dumping buckets of ice into the crowd and then standing stock-still, one fist raised high.

As one of the finer moments in rock history, it was unmatched — until two nights later in Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium when “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” became an awesome guitar duel between Wood and Richards before 53,231 paying customers. The crowd booed for a full two minutes when they realized there would be no encore.

There was no encore in San Antonio either and the crowd finally straggled out, many persons heading for the Hilton lobby where they were stopped at the elevators by the Stones’ muscle squad. Two adamant female fans, who were sure Mick wanted to see them, were not at all happy. One wore a black leather bikini; the other, in full biker regalia, had stood at the very tip of the star and thrown her heavy, studded belt at Jagger to celebrate the start of “Honky Tonk Women.” Now she maintained she had thrown it to him and had fastened her card to it with the inscription, “L&L to Mick from Tiger and Claire, Slave.” They wanted very badly to see Jagger. “He is,” the one with eyepatch said, “obviously very into sex and violence. Look at when he does ‘Midnight Rambler’ and plays harmonica with no hands. That’s a very S&M slave thing.” Astonishing, just astonishing. I could hardly wait to quiz Jagger on that.

“Ah, yeah,” he said the next day when I finally collared him in his room, where he was sitting in a blue and white polka-dotted bathrobe and eating from a plate of eggs by the window, “I saw that belt. So?” Didn’t that sex/violence/belt thing cause any apprehension, especially playing that close to the audience? “No. No, you shouldn’t be afraid of it, but it is pretty scary sometimes. Want some coffee?”

J agger began to radiate the old charm, flashing his diamond smile and twinkling his eyes, which are beginning to show crow’s-feet which are also known as laugh lines. He was thinking of going out for a walk, he said, but the fans were closing in on the hotel. “It eventually affects you so that you don’t feel like having to face anything.”

What about the disappearing band member that the authorities had almost confiscated? What will the fans of old think of the Stones giving in to the police?

“Well, yeah, I just thought that practically it’d be better if we didn’t use it because if we were arrested we wouldn’t be able to use the fucking thing at all anymore. They’d be waiting for us everywhere. The cock has now reached minimal proportions, rather than if we’d said, ‘Oh fuck ’em.’ I thought of that, of course I did. You just have to realize where you are and whether it’s really worth it. It’s not compromising so much as being a bit more far-sighted.”

Well, what does Jagger make of the Stones’ image this time around?

Jagger grimaced: “Image, that’s just, that’s just people who don’t know you, so how can they get that opinion of you? Oh — I guess just by reading about you and listening to the records. So they get their image of you that way.”

And the old Prince of Darkness/Sympathy for the Devil image?

“Yeah, yeah, that was an unintentional role. We may put that song back into the show, though it needs rehearsing. So it’ll be part of one’s makeup again. We prefer to play the newer songs. I would prefer not to do any of the old ones at all. We have a lot of new ones that we don’t do, that I’d like to do, like ‘Time Waits for No One.'”

Has Jagger thought all that much about his future and the future of the band?

Mick Jagger Through the Years

“I think,” he said, “that we would like to do some gigs next year. I don’t really know how long the band’s gonna last. Lots of bands of other kinds, not rock bands, have stayed together. Not always with great results.”

Yes, but here you’re all getting up in your 30s. How will you deal with becoming an aging rock star? Pete Townshend is probably the only one who’s talked about that and he’s said that he’s stopped doing teenage songs.

“Ah,” Jagger winked. “But, see, I never was a teenager. I don’t remember doing any teenage songs. But I do know what he means. Pete, though, has got ‘My Generational’ to cope with. We don’t have anything like that. I mean, we stopped doing ‘Satisfaction’ quite a long while ago.”

But then maybe it’s easier for someone like Dylan, who can always be an acoustic troubadour.

“Maybe I can do that. It’s not difficult to go onstage and just sing. As long as you can hold people, you don’t have to dress up, really — it’s not necessary.”

Maybe you’re right, I said. Elvis may have proved that.

“Proved what? I saw him on the TV last night. I thought it was awful. I’d never seen Elvis before. But, I mean, it was just the crowd, where he was, and all that. I’d never seen him and I don’t know. He’s still going on. He’s an example. But a lot of people think he’s stupid, you know.”

Elvis Presley Through the Years

He doesn’t give interviews and you still do.

Jagger laughed heartily. “Yeah. You’d say to him, ‘Hey Elvis, how come at the age of’ — however old he is, he’s quite old — ‘how come you still want to dress up in a silly suit and get onstage? At the funckin’ International Schlock Hotel in Las Vegas?'” Jagger slipped into what he considers to be a southern drawl: “‘Wal.’ drawled Elvis, ‘it’s the money and the fame. Damn straight.’ That’s what the guy does. He’d be lost if he couldn’t do that.”

Does it, I asked, cost you more now than then years ago to keep yourself reasonably content? “It probably costs me far more,” Jagger said. “I spend more on travel mainly than I used to since I don’t live so much in one place anymore. I’m not as domesticated as I used to be. By domesticated, I mean — what I mean is living in a house and being with a woman and all that; permanently settled in one place, that’s domestication. I just keep going.”

What, then, is important to you? Your work? He smothered a giggle. Well then, is, say, a candy bar important to you? He laughed. “I don’t think anything is really important to me, you know? Not really. I mean, not overwhelmingly.” What about the adulation of the masses out there?

“That,” he said seriously, “that’s a difficult thing, you know. Because, because I’ve been living like this for so long that if I stop — if I stop doing it, it’s bound to affect me, you know. It’s an overwhelming feeling, the audience. That must be why most of these people never give up performing. Because they just can’t go without that sort of rush. It’s a bit like having an orgasm. Sometimes an orgasm is better than being onstage; sometimes being onstage is better than an orgasm.”

What about acting: Do you want to move into that more? “I’d like to try some more. I’ve never gone to see myself in a movie, kind of nervous about it. I’m not sure if I’ve got that relentless, ruthless ambition anymore. To want to be a star, because I mean it’s hard, it’s ruthless. I don’t know if I want to do that.”

And after this tour? “I don’t know. I guess I’ll just either continue to do music or try movies or maybe just stop completely.” But could you stop completely? “For a while.” Maybe take some time and write the history of the Stones? Jagger stood up and delivered the full Super Trouper smile: “I’ll never do that.”

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This story is from the July 17, 1975 issue of Rolling Stone.

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The Rolling Stones have announced they are going back on the road with a brand-new tour performing in 16 cities across the U.S. and Canada. Fans can expect to experience Mick, Keith and Ronnie play their most popular hits ranging from “Start Me Up,” “Gimme Shelter,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Satisfaction” and more, as well as fan favourite deep cuts and music from their new album HACKNEY DIAMONDS.

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Documentary About Historic Rolling Stones Concert in China Is Coming Soon

O n April 8, 2006, The Rolling Stones played their first ever concert in mainland China, in the city of Shanghai. Now, a new documentary about the show, titled From London to Shanghai , is scheduled to premiere on The Rolling Stones’ YouTube channel on Thursday, April 11, at 8 a.m. ET.

The film features interviews with the band’s longtime production manager, Dale “Opie” Skjerseth, and musician Cui Jian, who is considered by many to be “the Father of Chinese Rock ‘n’ Roll.” The movie offers a behind-the-scenes look at the historic concert and the preparation to bring the show to fruition.

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You can check out a trailer for From London to Shanghai on YouTube now. The promo begins with an interview segment in which Skjerseth recalls that a few days before the concert, the band was given a list of songs that they wouldn’t be allowed to play.

The clip also features archival footage of Mick Jagger and touring keyboardist Chuck Leavell talking about some of the songs The Stones were prohibited from playing, among them “Brown Sugar,” “Honky Tonk Women,” “Beast of Burden,” and “Let’s Spend the Night Together.”

[RELATED: Startin’ Up: The Rolling Stones Have Begun Rehearsals for Their 2024 Tour]

As the trailer nears its end, we hear someone off camera, possibly Keith Richards, ask Jagger if the band would be allowed to play “Bitch.” The scene then cuts to footage of The Stones onstage performing the 1971 tune at the Shanghai gig.

More About the Shanghai Concert

The Shanghai concert took place during The Stones’ world tour in support of their 2005 studio album A Bigger Bang . According to Setlist.fm , the band played 18 songs at the show. The set was mainly made up of classic Stones tunes, and also included three songs from A Bigger Bang —“Oh No, Not You Again,” “Rain Fall Down,” and “This Place Is Empty.”

The Rolling Stones’ 2024 Tour Plans

The film will premiere just a couple weeks before The Rolling Stones will kick off their 2024 tour in support of their latest album, Hackney Diamonds .

As previously reported, the 19-date North American trek gets underway on April 28 in Houston, and is plotted out through a July 17 show in Santa Clara, California.

The tour will include a May 2 performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The band also will play multiple shows at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey; Soldier Field in Chicago; and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

Tickets for The Rolling Stones’ concerts are available now via various outlets, including StubHub .

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The post Documentary About Historic Rolling Stones Concert in China Is Coming Soon appeared first on American Songwriter .

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• The Rolling Stones

Startin’ Up: The Rolling Stones Have Begun Rehearsals for Their 2024 Tour

by Matt Friedlander April 1, 2024, 7:43 pm

The start of The Rolling Stones ’ 2024 tour in support of their latest album, Hackney Diamonds , is less than a month away, and the British rock legends recently revealed that they’ve officially started rehearsing for the trek.

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A series of photos showing the band’s gear has been posted on The Stones’ social media pages , along with a note that reads, “Meanwhile… somewhere in the US the Rolling Stones were starting tour rehearsals.”

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Among the pics are photos of various guitars, drums, amplifiers, stage monitors, microphones, and more.

Meanwhile, Chanel Haynes, one of The Rolling Stones’ backing singers, posted a video on her socials showing the same photos soundtracked by the band’s 1974 hit “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (but I Like It).” Alongside the clip is a message that reads, “Let the fun begin!”

Fans React to the News About The Stones’ Tour Rehearsals

The news that the band is getting ready for the trek prompted fans to posts a variety of messages in the comments section of The Stones’ Instagram page.

“It’s not only rock’n roll… It’s The Rolling Stones!!!” one fan wrote. “And I like it!!!”

Another commented, “They just keep on going. Incredible.”

A third fan quipped, “You’re more than welcome to use my garage as a rehearsal space. I’ll keep the neighbors from complaining about the volume. I promise.”

In addition to the fans, Mick Jagger’s son Lucas posted a note in which he teased, “Should I drop the address[?]”

[RELATED: Mick Jagger’s Son Can’t Unsee His Dad Dancing His Heart Out to “Moves Like Jagger”]

Details About The Rolling Stones’ 2024 Tour

As previously reported, The Stones’ Hackney Diamonds Tour ’24 kicks off on April 28 in Houston. The 19-date North American trek is plotted out through a July 17 show in Santa Clara, California.

The tour will include a May 2 performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The band also will play multiple shows at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey; Soldier Field in Chicago; and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

Tickets for The Rolling Stones’ concerts are available now via various outlets, including StubHub .

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

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