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| VoodooChileInWOnderl |
...and Mick wearing luxury's hat!
The Stones roll into town
The British legends are playing two concerts tomorrow and on Wednesday night at the Singapore Indoor Stadium
By Tommy Wee
TWO chartered planes, two stretch limousines, three coaches, four mini-vans and more than 70 rooms at the Ritz - the Rolling Stones arrived here yesterday in style.
BAND ON THE RUN: Sir Mick and company touched down at Changi Airport last night.
Sir Mick Jagger, 60, guitarists Keith Richards, 60, and Ron Woods, 56, and drummer Charlie Watts, 62, flew in on Singapore Airlines planes, touching down at 9.40 pm after a seven-hour flight from Osaka, Japan.
The British legends are playing two concerts - one tomorrow and the other on Wednesday night at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
They were in a good mood last night, smiling at reporters gathered at Changi Airport's business aviation centre.
Richards, wearing a jacket and jeans, spread his arms out wide when asked what he was looking forward to most here. 'The lovely weather!' he said.
For Woods, it was 'playing to a whole new audience'.
Looking sharp in a red shirt, black blazer, black trousers and a black fedora, Jagger got into a black limousine, which sported his initials, MJ, on the corner of the windscreen. Richards hopped into a grey limo labelled KR.
RW and CW piled into two separate mini-vans, and the entourage roared off to The Ritz Carlton Millenia.
Their two concerts here cost Hongkong-based organiser Live Limited more than $3.5 million to stage. The most expensive tickets are $499 each.
The gigs are part of the Rolling Stones Licks World Tour, and the band has flown in the entire production, including a specially-designed stage, more than a hundred tonnes of equipment, a light-and-sound system and their own 120-strong team.
[Edited by VoodooChileInWOnderl] |
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| luxury1 |
Thanks for posting it Voodoo! See how nice he looks in that hat? |
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| LadyJane |
Luxy--If I told you that "I hate you" I hope you know it's said with the utmost of love and friendship!! 
LadyJ.
PS. Thanks for the Mick video. Believe it or not Hubby wanted to watch it with me, but I was too damn tired to stay up late!!  |
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| luxury1 |
Oh sure--LJ--you were just playing tired. All us girls know you wanted to watch that video in private!! Let me know what you think--it is so corny and campy that it is actually good! |
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| Martha |
Luxury1...now that is the coolest of the cool..... Mick sportin' your fedora!
I'm thrilled for ya'! |
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| VoodooChileInWOnderl |
Yes, luxury1 rules! That's cooler than cool 
To put this thread back on top and let you know that the shows are not sold out yet, here's an article from the local press
Monday March 24, 8:17 AM
Tickets for Rolling Stones concerts selling out fast
Over 8,000 fans are expected to pack the Indoor Stadium on Monday and Wednesday to catch a once-in-a-lifetime concert.
Tickets for The Rolling Stones concerts are selling fast say organisers.
The Stones have been the very icons of rock and roll and Singapore is the band's second stop in Asia.
The giants of the music world have been thrilling fans for 40 years and fans in Singapore are snapping up tickets
Organisers say there are only a handful of top-priced tickets left, at $500 a pop.
Extra mid-priced tickets have also been released to meet demand.
But you will be unable to see fans standing in line at ticket counters.
According to Sistic, nearly 50 percent of the tickets were bought online.
Victoria Hill, Cazbaa Communications, said: "We're seeing fans some who went to the 1965 concert, they've waited nearly 40 years to see the Stones come back to Singapore, so for them it's a very special concert. We see locals, expats, and there are alot of people flying in from Indonesia, Malaysia and even Australia...all age groups, from teenagers who want to see who their parents idolised right up to retirees."
The Indoor Stadium is not the largest venue - a capacity of about 8,500 people.
According to the production crew, you can still get a great view of the stage even for the price of the cheapest ticket at $99.
If you cannot afford to catch the concert, keep your eyes peeled on the Singapore streets.
As the band will be resting on Tuesday and you just might catch a glimpse of the Stones when you least expect it. |
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| MP |
who the bloody hell wrote that article? got their ages wrong and spelled Ronnie's name wrong... |
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| TheSavageYoungXyzzy |
quote:
MP wrote:
who the bloody hell wrote that article? got their ages wrong and spelled Ronnie's name wrong...
They have been found and shot.
-tSYX --- Pool hall Richard... |
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| L&A |
Thanks, Voodoo, for info. It's strange, I went to Singapore a several times for my work. At the North of the Island, you have a big jail for the junkies... Last time, they were just hanging one for drug's possession.
Take care, boys. |
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| Tom |
"We'll get on stage and do what we can, but first we need to be there and have a dialogue." Together with 60-year-young Mick Jagger, drummer Charlie Watts, 62, and guitarist Ron Wood, 56, Richards is currently on the Asian leg of the Stones' worldwide Licks tour, with two Singapore dates slated for today and Wednesday.
The Stones are particularly excited about parting the Red curtain.
"It's a fascinating place to go to � a closed culture for, what, thousands of years? "I've been to Hong Kong, but, no, we've never been to China. And Shanghai is such a great word and a romantic city. I'm sure we're going to learn more about the Chinese than they will learn about us," he says. "I want to visit the studios and see how they make records. Am I learning some Chinese words? Sure, let me find a book," he says, letting out a laugh that softens his raspy voice, scarred by too much smoking and drinking over the years.
One supposes that laughter will also do wonders for his face, so incredibly time-ravaged that even Madame Tussaud's would find it hard to duplicate.
"It will be a drag if I can't say at least �hello'," he continues.
"It's like the band visiting Russia five years ago. It's fascinating we're still finding and opening new doors, perhaps for other bands to come.
"When I grew up, I always thought that there would be a few places that would be shut to me forever. Now, here we are, China's up ahead." Beijing has had no use for rock 'n roll all these years, until now. The word is that the Stones have been allowed in because Beijing wants to prove that it is ready to play host to the world.
After all, China is prettying up already for the 2008 Olympics and Shanghai has bagged the 2010 World Expo.
Richards is not sure whether the Chinese know much about the Stones.
"But they do know the band in other places and the Chinese are travelling to and fro these days so they are taking our name and music to China." In fact, some band members are taking their families with them for the Chinese dates of the tour.
"I think Mick is. So's Ron," he says.
Richards will certainly be accompanied by his wife and their two teenage daughters.
"We had to ask the school to allow the girls to come out to China. So the school said: �Yes, you can go there and do a reflection. Then, you come back and tell us about it'," he says.
"Yes, it'll be a privilege to play there," he continues, sounding slightly in awe.
For a moment, you sense that he is getting a rush akin to that perhaps from way back in the 1960s when the Stones spearheaded the Brit charge into the US, along with the Beatles.
The Fab Four were, well, all about I Want To Hold Your Hand.
The Stones had that sharp, Jagger-ed edge and flaunted album titles such as Their Satanic Majesties Request and Exile On Main Street.
THE LAST GREAT WALL "IN FACT, it's a privilege to wake up every morning," Richards tells you, with another burst of laughter peeling off more years from his voice.
His mellow stance seems at odds with his image of a defiant rock 'n roller. Has the edge worn off the man whose hedonistic lifestyle is one reason why people worship rock 'n roll? Perhaps the chance of playing in the world's most populous nation more than makes up for any indignity such as song bans.
The China gigs must present the last Great Wall of a challenge for the Stones � and one suspects Richards is thankful for that.
After all, the band, in four decades of playing since the early 1960s, must be running out of new worthy places to find Satisfaction.
Despite that, the rockers rouse themselves, tired bones and all, every couple of years to show the world who's boss.
The money is not bad, of course � the band reportedly made US$44 million (RM167.2 million) last year, largely from touring.
It is not without some sacrifices. Former bassist Bill Wyman called it quits 11 years ago when the rigours of the road got to him.
For this current global adventure, the Stones have had to rehearse 130 songs so that no two shows in any one city need to sound too similar.
But why are ticket prices for the Asian tour so high? Even in relatively prosperous Singapore, the best S$500 tickets will eat up half a month's take-home pay for many.
You sound him out on whether the band is in danger of losing its hard-core fans and gathering just the richer folks who want to be seen in all the right places.
"You have to talk to the business people about that. Certainly, I don't need the money. "I'm not interested to make more. But what we make, we also distribute," he says, a tad defensively, citing contributions to help children in Nicaragua.
"We've to pay the crew. There are certain economics we cannot run away from." The band has a 120-plus crew and a 747 airplane to move all its equipment, which includes a 180,000-watt sound system.
Maybe, you ask, the band could have scaled down their stage act, lowering costs and allowing promoters to bid more sensibly? "Thank you for the suggestion, but I never see the Rolling Stones show. I'm on the other side. But I don't think our show is elaborate.
"We want to see people when we tour, we are not there to blind them with lighting. I get up to play, I'm a musician, I'm critical of myself," he says.
But to be fair, the band has shown a heart of gold too. Only last month, 12,000 fans turned up for a free gig in Los Angeles, organised to raise awareness about global warming.
CHANGING TIMES RICHARDS does remember playing in Singapore in 1965 at some tiny venue � you remind him it is the Singapore Badminton Hall.
"Yes, we were coming from Australia then. Singapore... it was a different time, a different country," he muses.
"We haven't been back since. I can't wait to see the changes. I've seen pictures of the new Singapore, of course, and I look forward to this visit.
"The people were nice the last time we came. We had lunch with the British governor-general.
"I remember hearing the sound of firecrackers. I was thinking: �Oh no, what's happening?' Later, they told me it was Chinese New Year." The Stones' PR woman cuts in at this point. Earlier, she had asked me if I spoke English, perhaps fearing that Richards would explode if he were to waste his time on some uncomprehending journalist.
She was assured that Singaporeans probably speak more English than they need to. She now extends a small generosity and allows one last question.
"Yes, we have a volatile relationship," Richard says of his relationship with Jagger.
"But we are best friends, that's why we can fight." The Rolling Stones will perform today and Wednesday at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Tickets at S$100, S$151, S$226, S$351 and S$500 from Sistic.
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