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Martha |
Beth A. Keiser/AP Photo
Rolling Stones Announce World Tour
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY
AP Music Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - The Rolling Stones announced yet another world tour in grandiose fashion Tuesday, circling New York's sprawling Van Cortlandt Park in a yellow blimp emblazoned with their red tongue trademark.
"Either we stay at home and become pillars of the community, or we go out and tour. We couldn't really find any communities that still needed pillars," joked Mick Jagger after he emerged from the blimp.
The Stones intend to celebrate their 40th anniversary with not only the tour but also a greatest hits disc that will feature new songs. The tour will kick off Sept. 5 in Boston. It will be the band's first since 1999, which was that year's top-grossing tour.
This time around, the band will play clubs as well as stadiums and arenas.
Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood looked as if they were having plenty of fun even before the news conference began. The foursome boarded the blimp at the park and circled the area for about 15 minutes before landing.
They had even more fun at the news conference, cracking jokes as reporters asked questions.
When one asked if they would do any songs from the past, Richards said: "The set list is a bit down the road. It just depends if we can remember them."
About 300 fans turned out for a chance to see the legendary band, which formed in 1962.
"I wanted to be able to say that I saw their blimp come down," said Kathleen Wieblack, who came from suburban Long Island to the Bronx.
"I've seen the last three tours," said Richard Bell, who traveled from upstate New York. "Hopefully I will get tickets to see them."
Tour promoter Michael Cohl said tickets for the first few dates will go on sale this week.
Among the opening acts: Sheryl Crow, No Doubt, Buddy Guy and Jonny Lang.
The group has not released an album since 1998's "No Security." Jagger put out his own solo disc last year, "Goddess in the Doorway," which was a commercial flop.
Jagger said they're just beginning to work on the new material for the upcoming disc.
"It's a minor problem," joked Richards.
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On the Net:
http://www.rollingstones.com
Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. |
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Jaxx |
The INDEPENDENT
Who said the Stones are just full of hot air?
By David Usborne in New York
08 May 2002
The Rolling Stones chose an unorthodox stunt to announce their latest concert tour yesterday � flying into a New York City park on an airship and touching down on an open space of grass more normally used for football and cricket matches.
The 2002 tour, the band's first in three years, is expected to play in indoor arenas across North America this summer and has already been touted as the biggest rock event of the year. In a departure from some earlier tours, the group is expected to eschew huge-capacity open-air stadiums.
It is not the first time that the Stones have startled New Yorkers in an effort to promote a concert tour. In 1989, Mick Jagger presided over a press conference on board a stifling train in Grand Central Station. Ten years earlier he brought traffic to a standstill by playing the group's hit "Brown Sugar" from the back of an open lorry in Midtown.
It is 40 years since the Stones first performed publicly. But this will not be known as the 40th Anniversary Tour, partly because their line-up quickly changed after that 1962 debut. Only Jagger and Keith Richards survive from the original gig.
Word of the blimp voyage broke a few days ago when US aviation officials confirmed that they were working on granting permission to the group to make their landing in Van Cortland Park in the Bronx. The park is a favourite spot for the immigrant communities in the city who like to play cricket.
The last Stones concert was in Cologne in June 1999, the final stop of their 1997-99 world tour. Since then, Jagger has issued a solo record and produced a film, the Second World War thriller Enigma.
Unfortunately for the band, the airship landing, flamboyant as it was, coincided with a rush of more urgent news on American television stations � from plane crashes in China and Tunisia to developments in rural pipe-bomb attacks, a fire on a yacht in Florida, a car chase in California and the opening of the Michael Skakel trial.
Three of the highest-grossing North American tours of all time were undertaken in stadiums by the Stones, including the top-ranked 1994 Voodoo Lounge roadshow, which took $121.2m (�82m).
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MTV
Kurt Loder, Along With Other Journos, Tortured By Rolling Stones In The Bronx
BRONX, New York � Forty years after their first gig � at the Marquee Club in London, on July 12th, 1962 � the Rolling Stones reconvened in New York on Tuesday afternoon, to announce yet another world tour.
The event was the band's usual amalgam of kooky stunts and heartless press torment, held on a sun-washed field in Van Cortlandt Park. More than an hour after a herd of international journalists had been packed into a sweltering white tent, where they gasped pathetically for air, the Stones themselves (running "a little behind schedule," as always) hopped into the gondola of a big yellow blimp tethered about a football field away, and rose into the sky. It was quite a sight, the swollen balloon bobbling high above, its sides emblazoned with the Stones' famous "lips" logo (and, below it, the rather smaller logo of E*Trade, the financial-services company that is one of the upcoming tour's three corporate sponsors). A special "blimp-cam" relayed the not-especially-riveting interaction among the four airborne band members � Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood � down to a DiamondVision video screen on a small stage in the press tent below.
But then, either by design or miscalculation, the blimp overshot the press tent, as the horde of goggle-eyed journos flocked outside, and rose unsteadily up, up, up, until it was hovering very high over the Hudson River. In the video relay, Charlie Watts, the quietest of the Stones, seemed to be enjoying himself not at all. ("I think it was a one-time experience for Charlie," Jagger later quipped.)
Finally, the blimp returned to earth and the Stones disembarked. Hubbub arose in the press tent as they started strutting across the field: Jagger in a shiny silk suit, Keith in his usual scarf-and-headband regalia, Watts and Wood in tasteful shades of peach and lavender. But they didn't quite make it to the tent, stopping instead to pose for photographers outside, and then scampering off to a nearby, stockade-like grouping of tour trailers � one for each band member � where they presumably engaged in some sort of refueling ritual. Or at least one or two of them may have.
At 2:05, though � more than an hour and a half after their originally scheduled appearance � the Rolling Stones did, at last, stroll out onto the little stage, where they were instantly pelted with all the usual questions. Jagger artfully dodged a query about his age (he'll turn 59 in July); and when another reporter popped up to ask if the group would be performing older songs on its tour, Keith cackled, "If we can remember 'em."
The tour, which'll get underway in Foxboro, Massachusetts, on September 5th, will be an unusual exercise for the Stones. In the past, the band has always toured to promote a new album; this time, though, there is none. Instead, the group will be releasing a two-CD greatest-hits compilation going all the way back to 1963. In the spirit of contemporary marketing strategies, the package will also include a few new tracks (none of which has yet been recorded).
Then there's the question of venues. The Stones have always cleaned up as a live act; but there was a rumor last year that, although they wanted to mount yet another all-stadium blockbuster outing, promoters were skeptical about whether they'd be able to sell out every date. So the new tour will be a hybrid, of sorts, with the band playing everything from stadiums and arenas to clubs and theatres � sometimes, in big cities, one of each. (In the New York City area, for example, they'll play the cavernous Giants Stadium, the 20,000-seat Madison Square Garden and the much smaller and more intimate Roseland Ballroom � which should be a great date to catch.)
Tickets for the early Boston and Chicago shows will go on sale this Saturday; for San Francisco dates on Sunday; and New York on Monday. Prices will range from $50 (for theatre and club shows) to $85 (for stadiums) to $100 for arenas. In addition, there'll be a "limited number" of VIP "Gold Circle" seats available ... for $2,000 apiece.
Informed that Paul McCartney was charging much lower ticket prices for his current tour � reportedly because he "doesn't really need the money" � Keith Richards replied, "Well, there's more of us."
Nineteen-sixty-three has never seemed quite so far away.
Rolling Stones Ride Blimp, Announce Tour
05.07.2002
Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger
Nearly 40 years into their never-ending career, the Rolling Stones still know how to stage a gangbusters press conference. On Tuesday (May 7), the band announced its upcoming tour by descending into Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York, on a blimp adorned with their infamous lips logo.
In 1997, the Stones plugged their tour for Bridges to Babylon by driving a red Cadillac convertible across the Brooklyn Bridge, for the Voodoo Lounge tour in 1994 they sailed into a New York pier on John F. Kennedy's presidential yacht the Honeyfitz and in 1989 they boarded a train to New York's Grand Central Station to promote the Steel Wheels tour.
Since they've been off the road for three years and aren't getting any more agile with age, booking agents are probably hoping they can still perform with as much skill as they promote. The Rolling Stones World Tour 2002/2003 launches on September 5 in Foxboro, Massachusetts, at the CMGI Field. The last of the first batch of 32 shows will be February 1, 2003 in Denver at the Pepsi Center.
While the Stones will play a stadium or arena in each major market, they'll also perform at various theaters and clubs.
Opening acts for the tour will include No Doubt, Sheryl Crow, Buddy Guy and Jonny Lang; more acts will be announced later in the week.
Average ticket prices are $85 for stadiums, $100 for arenas and $50 for theatres and clubs. Starting today, fans can purchase advance tickets on the Sam Goody Web site for a $60 sign-up fee. Golden Circle arena seats run up to $300.
The Rolling Stones World Tour 2002/2003 was announced as its own event, though the trek may coincide with the release of a new album. The band is currently completing negotiations to issue a career-encompassing greatest-hits CD which will include new material. The Stones plan to enter the studio later this month, according to a statement issued by their label.
The Rolling Stones World Tour 2002/2003 dates, according to the band's publicist:
9/5 - Foxboro, MA @ CMGI Field
9/8 - Boston, MA @ The Orpheum Theatre
9/10 - Chicago, IL @ United Center
9/13 - Chicago, IL @ Comiskey Park
9/16 - Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom
9/18 - Philadelphia, PA @ Veterans Stadium
9/22 - Upper Darby, PA @ Tower Theatre
9/26 - New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
9/28 - East Rutherford , NJ @ Giants Stadium
9/30 - New York, NY @ Roseland Ballroom
10/4 - Landover, MD @ FedExField
10/12 - Dearborn, MI @ Ford Field
10/14 - Cleveland, OH @ Gund Arena
10/16 - Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
10/18 - Toronto, ON @ SkyDome
10/20 - Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena
10/22 - Fort Lauderdale, FL @ National Car Rental Center
10/23 - Miami, FL @ American Airlines Arena
10/26 - Atlanta, GA @ Turner Field
10/31 - Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center
11/2 - Anaheim, CA @ Edison International Field
11/4 - Los Angeles, CA @ Wiltern Theatre
11/8 - San Francisco, CA @ Pacific Bell Park
11/14 - San Diego, CA @ San Diego Sports Arena
11/23 - San Antonio, TX @ SBC Center
11/25 - Nashville, TN @ Gaylord Entertainment Center
11/29 - Las Vegas, NV @ TBA
1/8 - Montreal, QC @ Molson Centre
1/10 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mellon Arena
1/25 - Houston, TX @ Reliant Stadium
1/30 - Phoenix, AZ @ America West Arena
2/1 - Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
Additional cities and venues to be announced.
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FotiniD |
Goodmorning folks!
"Tortured by the Rolling Stones"? "1963 never seemed so far away"? That's MTV's comments?? I feel an urge to start describing my deeper feelings about MTV, VH1 and the likes of them, but hey, it's still early in the morning...
I still wonder why the Stones have to take all these sh*t from the media while other acts don't get nearly as bashed as they do. Either way, I don't think that we should really be SERIOUSLY interested in two channels with a main interest / focus on Britney Spears, N Sync, Pink etc etc etc... So much for quality, live performances and all.
Back to work for me |
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Scot Rocks |
I just wanna KICK MTV's ass, i hate that crappy station. Why don't they just shut the hell up and show some respect to a legendery band instead of showing and promoting all the great new modern acts like Britney Spears. Has anybody seen TRL... well i am sorry i just cannot watch that or else my TV may be in danger of being smashed. If that idiot had such a hard time in being there then I would have gladly taken his place and wated for 5 hours.
IGNORANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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SatisfactionUK |
I would post about MTV, but my head would explode. |
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~AzQb |
I hate to be, er, "anal" or anything {lol} but it was RONNIE who said that lil quip about them gettin paid more than McCartney cuz there's "more of us".
ANYway!!!!!
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Scot Rocks |
Yeah MTV should carry a health warning:
"Any person with any sort of intelligence watching this may suffer long term health problems...and a broken TV"
LOL HAHA |
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