Rolling Stones - 'Bigger Bang' Tour
The Stones' Bigger Bang world tour began on Sunday night in Boston and the Telegraph marks it with an interesting article from which the following trivia caught my eye:The tour is sponsored by Ameriquest MortgageWhich I guess makes sense, since "many of those die-hard Stones fans attending the concerts will be turning their minds to the question of home loans, if not for themselves then for their children, if not their grandchildren."The Rolling Stones have a combined age of 245 yearsIt's now "possible for three generations of music fans to greet the news that the group are this week embarking on another world tour with a mixture of bemusement and disbelief. What, again? But, seriously, aren't they getting a bit old for this?"The band's been preparing for this tour in usual fashion:- Mick Jagger putting himself through his customary punishing regime of calisthenics and kick-boxing.
- Keith Richards relaxing at home in Jamaica indulging in equally punishing regime of chain-smoking full-strength Marlboros and knocking back "Nuclear Fallouts" (his chosen tipple of vodka and orangeade).
Like the writer, I too "first saw the Stones perform at the free concert in Hyde Park in 1969."Seems that the Stones blew a raspberry at the Live8 mob - well done, too. Also seems that 'Poodle' Blair called up Richards personally to plead for their presence - KR politely declining in two words of one syllable.The Voodoo Lounge tour in 1994-95 made $320 million and remains the largest grossing rock concert tour ever. The Forty Licks tour in 2002-3 made $300 million and is the second largest grossing tour ever.The Bigger Bang tour is likely to exceed both: The album is released next week. One can safely say that it won't be worth bothering with, but the live shows will be.Extra bit of trivia about Keith and Depp and the next Pirates of Caribbean ... I love the comparison of punishing regimes - how *does* Keith do it?
Well, so far it looks like I'm still on the guest list for the Seattle leg of the tour. I've groveled and kow-towed to mademoiselle and used witty quips and my Brit accent to undermine her inexplicable penchant for the neanderthal end of the dating queue, and I'm still in the running.
