THE "ROCKS OFF" ROLLING STONES SETLISTS PAGE

BY GARY GALBRAITH

(With Gerardo Liedo)

2002 LICKS TOUR - North American Leg.

Toronto August 16, 2002 – Las Vegas November 30, 2002

The blimp, Press conference, Van Cortland Park, The Bronx, NYC – May 7, 2002 © Brian Rasic

2002 North American ‘Licks’ tour overview

The three-year hiatus after the end of the ‘No Security’ tour saw the announcement of a knighthood, a solo album, and a dip into movie production for Mick, Charlie touring with his jazz tentet and Ronnie releasing a solo record which was promoted by a few days of gigs in London and Dublin.  Keith largely kept a low profile by comparison although he did pop up unannounced at Madison Square Garden in October 2001 to guest with Mick at the all-star ‘Concert for New York’ charity concert in memory of the victims of the terrorist attacks on 9/11.  The Stones had initially planned to tour in 2001 but no announcement took place, and it was decided to leave things until the following year.

Usually, a new Stones tour means a new studio album to promote, but 2002 would be an exception.  After decades of stand-offs, ABKCO and the band finally saw the dollar signs that a 40th anniversary could generate and agreed for the first time to release a career spanning greatest hits retrospective. The 40-track double-CD ‘Forty Licks’ would feature one disc of ABKCO era material and one from the Rolling Stones Records / EMI era. The September release was confirmed during a May press conference in New York which saw the Stones make their most dramatic tour announcement yet – they flew in on a Goodyear blimp (the video footage of them in the air is pretty hilarious as it looks as if poor Charlie is seconds away from vomiting his breakfast over the unsuspecting pilot) . The Stones did manage to spend a couple of weeks in a Paris studio later in May, where they worked on a few new songs – four of which were released on the new hits’ album.  However, only one of them – ‘Don’t Stop’ – would feature in the 14-month, 117-date world tour that followed.

As a fan, it was a bit frustrating that the Stones had succumbed to acknowledging that for touring purposes, they were finally a nostalgia act.  However, rather than merely trot out two hours of their greatest hits, the band did come up with an innovative concept.  In several major markets, they would play three different types of venues – a theatre, an arena, and a stadium. The setlists would be considerably varied in each one. The stadium shows would be largely (but not exclusively) well known hits, the arena shows would usually include a mini-set of about 4-5 songs from a classic album (in most cases, one of Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers or Exile – although Beggars Banquet and Tattoo You were featured once or twice too) and the theatre shows would be awash with deep cuts, blues covers and, most excitingly, a series of soul numbers.  If you were lucky enough to see what Keith called the ‘Fruit of the Loom’ tour (ie small, medium, and large) you could well have been treated to some 45-50 different songs over the three nights.  Whilst the ticket prices continued to rocket skywards, the theatre shows (Las Vegas aside) were a lot more fan friendly at $60 a ticket, with the new fan club membership proving to be a useful investment in terms of getting access to a pre-sale.

For the third world tour in a row, the Stones rehearsed for several weeks in Toronto, including a warmup club show at the Palais Royale, before opening the tour proper on September 3rd with an arena show in Boston, which was followed up by a stadium show at nearby Foxborough and a gig at the city’s Orpheum Theatre.  The variety of the types of shows on this tour meant that several songs were featured irregularly but it did see a return to the live set for long discarded numbers such as ‘Cant you Hear Me Knockin’, ‘Torn and Frayed’, ‘Heart of Stone’, ‘Neighbours’. ‘Worried About You’ and on one occasion ‘Parachute Woman’ and ‘She Smiled Sweetly’.  Even ‘Dance Pt 1’ was featured at the theatre shows and ‘Thru and Thru’ got dusted off at last.  Numerous soul and blues covers were also played for the first time ever.

Despite the misgivings over the lack of new songs, the ‘Licks Tour’ would prove to be a big favourite amongst fans (it’s definitely mine, having seen my first show in 1982).  Never again would they take so many chances with their setlists.

Whilst the entire tour is comprehensively covered on the ‘Four Flicks’ DVD and to a lesser extent the much-maligned ‘Live Licks’ double CD, only six songs from the Wiltern Theater show in Los Angeles  on 4th November are included across both releases.  None of the shows were televised, although in summer 2022 to mark the band’s 60th anniversary, BBC Television aired 70 minutes of the aforementioned Wiltern concert. 

The full show was eventually released on all video and audio formats in March 2024 and is a great representation of the theatre gigs from this tour leg.

Number of shows – 36

Number in circulation – 35 (only the private club show in Las Vegas on 16th November is missing)

Recommended shows – The theatre dates in Boston 8th September, Chicago 16th September, Philadelphia 22nd September, New York 30th September, Los Angeles 4th November. Arena shows in New York 28th September, Columbus 20th October, Los Angeles 31st October, Oakland 12th November and the stadium show in Anaheim 2nd November.

Personnel – Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood with Darryl Jones (bass), Chuck Leavell (keyboards), Bernard Fowler and Lisa Fischer (backing vocals & percussion),  Blondie Chaplin (backing vocals, percussion & occasional guitar), Bobby Keys (tenor sax) and The New West Horns – Tim Ries (sax , Michael Davis (trombone) and Kent Smith (trumpet)

CONCERT LISTING

No.

Date

City

State / Province

Venue

1

16-ago

Toronto

Ontario

Palais Royale (Warm-up club show)

2

3-Sep

Boston

Massachussetts

Fleet Center

3

5-Sep

Foxborough

Massachussetts

Gillette Stadium

4

8-Sep

Boston

Massachussetts

Orpheum Theatre

5

10-Sep

Chicago

Illinois

United Center

6

13-Sep

Chicago

Illinois

Comiskey Park

7

16-Sep

Chicago

Illinois

Aragon Ballroom

8

18-Sep

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

VeteransStadium

9

20-Sep

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

First Union Center

10

22-Sep

Upper Darby

Pennsylvania

Tower Theatre

11

26-Sep

New York City

New York

Madison Square Garden

12

28-Sep

East Rutherford

New Jersey

GiantsStadium

13

30-Sep

New York City

New York

Roseland Ballroom

14

4-Oct

Landover

Maryland

FedEx Field

15

5-Oct

Hartford

Connecticut

Civic Center

16

12-Oct

Detroit

Michigan

Ford Field

17

14-Oct

Cleveland

Ohio

Gund Arena

18

16-Oct

Toronto

Ontario

Air Canada Centre

19

18-Oct

Toronto

Ontario

Sky Dome

20

20-Oct

Columbus

Ohio

Nationwide Arena

21

22-Oct

Sunrise

Florida

Office Depot Center

22

23-Oct

Miami

Florida

American Airlines Arena

23

26-Oct

Atlanta

Georgia

Turner Field

24

31-Oct

Los Angeles

California

Staples Center

25

2-Nov

Anaheim

California

Edison International Field

26

4-Nov

Los Angeles

California

Wiltern Theatre

27

6-Nov

Tacoma

Washington

Tacoma Dome

28

8-Nov

San Francisco

California

Pacific Bell Park

29

9-Nov

San Francisco

California

Pacific Bell Park

30

12-Nov

Oakland

California

Oakland Arena

31

14-Nov

San Diego

California

Sports Arena

32

16-Nov

Las Vegas

Nevada

The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel (private show for David Bonderman)

33

23-Nov

San Antonio

Texas

SBC Center

34

25-Nov

Nashville

Tennessee

Gaylord Entertainment Center

35

29-Nov

Las Vegas

Nevada

The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel

36

30-Nov

Las Vegas

Nevada

MGM Grand Garden Arena

THE SETLISTS

Part 1: 16th August – 28th September.

Part 2: 30th September – 4th November.

Part 3: 6th November – 30th November.

The band

Gear

SETLISTS PAGE

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©GARY GALBRAITH 2003, 2024