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| RubyFriday |
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By Ray Waddell
NASHVILLE - Taking a break in Toronto before the Rolling Stones' Licks World Tour resumes June 4 at Olympiahalle in Munich, tour promoter Michael Cohl ruminated on what has been a particularly interesting run with the world's greatest rock'n'roll band.
After wrapping the North America leg to the tune of about $120 million, the Stones continue to do mega-business on this most ambitious of tours that sees the ageless rockers playing theaters, arenas, and stadiums. The band draws from more than 60 rehearsed tunes to provide a unique set list and production for each venue.
With the Stones performing very well both onstage and at the box office, Licks has been a critical and financial success, retaining momentum overseas.
"It's been great," understates Cohl, who will again join with band and crew for rehearsals May 28 in Munich. The international run began Down Under in February. "Australia was fantastic; we did a theater in Sydney, then two arena there, three in Melbourne, and two in Brisbane ."
From Australia, Licks headed to Tokyo to play the legendary Budokan Hall March 10, a makeup date nearly three decades in the making. "The Rolling Stones tried to play Budokan something like 27 years ago," Cohl points out. "They sold out the date, then the Japanese government banned them."
Japanese dates included Yokohama Arena, two sellouts at the 56,000-seat Tokyo Dome and two at the Osaka Dome, then two stadium sellouts in Singapore before the tour hit a SARS -induced snag. In the first high-profile cancellation because of the respiratory ailment, the Stones lost scheduled inaugural gigs in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Beijing, "all for good reason," Cohl adds. That's when it dawned on much of the world that SARS was a real threat.
"That's when we knew it was real, stuck in a hotel room in Singapore for 12 days," Cohl says. "When we finally got to leave, we went to India and played Mumbai and Bangalore, but we didn't get to Bangkok."
Though it is widely thought that the Stones lost the April 16 date at Bangkok's Babourne Stadium because of SARS, that is not the case. "That show would've come off," Cohl says. "What happened was a truck hit our airplane and knocked a 7-inch hole in it. We were prepared to fight the war and SARS, then a truck grounded us. It had nothing to do with the disease."
This summer, the Stones will play Germany, Austria, Spain, France, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and the U.K. before tentatively wrapping Sept. 14 at Wembley Arena in London. It is tentative because the band wants to make up dates that were lost, so Cohl says it could potentially stay out until the end of October.
But don't look for any more North American dates. "Enough's enough," Cohl says. "By then, counting rehearsals, it will have been 16 months and 120 or so dates."
Meanwhile, Europe looks good. "We've already hit our budgets and forecasts for Europe," Cohl says. "We'll be at 99%-100% attendance when we start in June."
Cohl has produced each Stones tour since the Steel Wheels outing in 1989, pioneering the one-promoter world tour in the process. He grossed $750 million promoting the band in the 1990s, and his tenure with the Stones is sure to top $1 billion with Licks, a remarkable feat.
Cohl formed Grand Entertainment Touring when SFX (now Clear Channel Entertainment ) acquired his Toronto-based company, the Next Adventure, in 1999, maintaining his right to promote Stones tours. CCE is also involved in the Licks tour.
Reuters/Billboard
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| DrGlimmer |
Interesting interview. Does that mean our North and South American friends will be hitting Europe soon? Or do we take it with a pinch of salt?
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| Angiegirl |
Rehearsals in Munich...too bad for us (Amsterdam) then  |
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| Moonisup |
and not one word, for the tour continuing in North of South America |
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| steel driving hammer |
What the fuck is up w/ all these bombing that are starting to now happen.
Just when the Stones go on tour, something bad always happens. |
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| Angiegirl |
quote:
Moonisup wrote:
and not one word, for the tour continuing in North of South America
Uhm, yes there is Rik:
'But don't look for any more North American dates. "Enough's enough," Cohl says. "By then, counting rehearsals, it will have been 16 months and 120 or so dates."'
Nothing on South America though, but I doubt it will happen...
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| Moonisup |
if they do South America, they'll do the North also,
it would really surprise me, if they just do the south! |
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