The Rolling Stones American Tour 1981

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Rolling Stones American Tour 1981
Tour by The Rolling Stones
Start date25 September 1981
End date19 December 1981
Legs1
No. of shows50
The Rolling Stones concert chronology

The Rolling Stones' American Tour 1981 was a concert tour of stadiums and arenas in the United States to promote the album Tattoo You. It was the largest grossing tour of 1981 with $50 million in ticket sales. Roughly three million concert goers attended the concerts, setting various ticket sales records.[1]

History

Initially, lead singer Mick Jagger was not interested in another tour, but guitarists Keith Richards and Ron Wood were, as were elements of the press and public, and Jagger eventually relented.[2] As with previous tours, the American Tour 1981 was promoted by Bill Graham.

In mid-1981, the band began rehearsals for its the tour at Studio Instrument Rentals (SIR) at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen, the site of the former Cheetah Club. The Stones pre-opened the tour with a warm-up show at the Sir Morgan's Cove club in Worcester, Massachusetts on September 14.[3] Though billed as Little Boy Blue & The Cockroaches, word got out and some 11,000 fans pushed and shoved outside the 300-person venue.[3] The Mayor of Boston stopped the notion of any further public rehearsals, saying "The appearance here of Mr. Jagger is not necessarily in the public interest."[3]

The tour's elaborate and colorful stage was the work of Japanese designer Kazuhide Yamazari.[4] All of the outdoor stadium shows during the tour were during the day, with Mick Jagger remembering in 2003, "Most concerts that took place outdoors at the time were played during the day, probably because it was cheaper, I don't know. So we had the bright, bright primary colours... and we had these enormous images of a guitar, a car and a record - an Americana idea - which worked very well for afternoon shows."[4] Indoor arena shows later in the tour featured a cherry picker and the release of hundreds of balloons at the show's end.[5]

The 1981 Tour was the largest grossing tour of not only 1981, but for several years to come. The tour grossed $50 million in ticket sales when the average ticket price was $16. Roughly three million concert goers attended the concerts. The Stones set many ticket sales records that remain to this day unbroken. The ticket sales for Philadelphia's JFK Stadium shows received nearly 4 million request via post cards for tickets (a ticket selling method used at the time to prevent scalping); requests for the five arena shows in the New York metropolitan area were in the millions.[1] The New York Times stated that, "The tour is expected to be the most profitable in the history of rock & roll; its sheer size has been staggering...ticket requests for these shows ran into the millions..."[1] The tour indeed did turn out to be profitable: the Stones were estimated to have reaped about $22 million after expenses.[6]

The 1981 Tour also was an early milestone for the rock tour industry by selling advertising rights to Jōvan Musk.[7] Jōvan paid $500,000 to put their name on Rolling Stones tickets.[8] This attracted considerable attention in the business media, as Jōvan's image of a pleasant fragrance was at complete odds with the Stones' bad boys image.[9] But the Stones behaved well on tour, the arrangement was deemed a success by all, and rock tour corporate sponsorships soon became the norm.[9]

In another marketing first, the December 18 performance at Virginia's Hampton Coliseum was broadcast as "The World's Greatest Rock'n'Roll Party," on pay-per-view and in closed circuit cinemas.[10] It was the first such use of pay-per-view for a music event. Guitarist Keith Richards memorably hit a fan, who invaded the stage, with his guitar.

Another notable performance during the tour was the December 14 performance at Kansas City's Kemper Arena. Previous Stones lead guitarist Mick Taylor joined the band for a large part of the performance.[10] Ron Wood was not happy with the Taylor's appearance, however: "[He was] bulldozing through parts of songs that should have been subtle, ignoring breaks and taking uninvited solos."[6] Other guests during the tour were Tina Turner (who would sing "Honky Tonk Women"), Lee Allen, Chuck Leavell, and Sugar Blue.[10]

In general there was less backstage madness on the 1981 Tour than on many previous outings.[1] This was largely due to Keith Richards having overcome his well-known drugs and alcohol problems;[1] The New York Times wrote of Richards that, "He looks healthy, he is playing brilliantly and his backup vocals are often so lusty that they drown out Mr. Jagger, who is working harder to hold up his end of things as result."[1] This was the last tour to feature Ian Stewart on piano and the last tour that did not feature extensive backup musicians and singers onstage.

Several of the concerts throughout the tour were captured and selected songs were released on the 1982 live album "Still Life" (American Concert 1981).[11] A Hal Ashby-directed concert film was also made from the tour, Let's Spend the Night Together , which grossed $50 million.[11]

Tour band

Additional musicians:

Tour set list

The usual set list was:[10]

  1. "Under My Thumb"
  2. "When the Whip Comes Down"
  3. "Neighbours"
  4. "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)"
  5. "Shattered"
  6. "Let's Spend the Night Together"
  7. "Black Limousine"
  8. "She's So Cold"
  9. "Time Is on My Side"
  10. "Beast of Burden"
  11. "Waiting on a Friend"
  12. "Let It Bleed"
  13. "You Can't Always Get What You Want"
  14. "Tops"
  15. "Tumbling Dice"
  16. "Hang Fire"
  17. "All Down the Line"
  18. "Let Me Go"
  19. "Little T&A"
  20. "Start Me Up"
  21. "Miss You"
  22. "Honky Tonk Women"
  23. "Brown Sugar"
  24. "Jumpin' Jack Flash"
  25. "Street Fighting Man"
  26. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"

At some shows "Down the Road Apiece", "Twenty Flight Rock" and "Star Star" was played. A couple of numbers that were not working were dropped early on, while further into the tour "Going to a Go-Go" was also added.[5]

Tour dates

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Robert Palmer (1981-11-04). "The Stones Roll On, Refusing to Become Show-Business Slick". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ Sandford, Christopher (2003). Mick Jagger: Rebel Knight. Omnibus Press. ISBN 0711998337. p. 276.
  3. ^ a b c Sandford, Mick Jagger: Rebel Knight, p. 278.
  4. ^ a b Loewenstein, Dora (2003). According to the Rolling Stones. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-4060-3. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ a b Robert Palmer (1981-11-14). "Rock: Rolling Stones". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ a b Sandford, Mick Jagger: Rebel Knight, p. 282.
  7. ^ Peter Newcomb (1989-10-02). "Satisfaction Guaranteed". Forbes. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ Brenner, Reuven (1987). Rivalry: In Business, Science, Among Nations. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521385849. p. 84.
  9. ^ a b Jacobson, Michael F. (1995). Marketing Madness: A Survival Guide for a Consumer Society. Westview Press. ISBN 0813319811. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) p. 107.
  10. ^ a b c d "American Tour 1981". Rocks Off Setlists. Retrieved 2006-07-18.
  11. ^ a b "The Rolling Stones: Biography". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2008-06-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ "Photo Gallery: The Rolling Stones". WBUR. Retrieved 2008-06-21.

External links

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