Rolling Stones US Tour 1978

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Rolling Stones US Tour 1978
Tour by The Rolling Stones
Start date 10 June 1978
End date 26 July 1978
Legs 1
Shows 25
The Rolling Stones tour chronology
Tour of Europe '76 US Tour 1978 American Tour 1981

The Rolling Stones' US Tour 1978 was a concert tour of the United States that took place during June and July 1978, immediately following the release of the group's 1978 album Some Girls. Like the 1972 and 1975 U.S. tours, Bill Graham was the tour promoter. The opening act was Peter Tosh, who was sometimes joined by Jagger for their duet "Don't Look Back".

Contents

[edit] History

The tour used a stripped back, minimal stage show compared to the previous Tour of the Americas '75 and Tour of Europe '76. Possibly due to the emergence of the punk rock scene with its emphasis solely on music and attitude rather than presenting a grandiose stage extravaganza.

Continuing a schedule started in 1966 of touring the United States exactly every three years, the Stones played in a mixture of theatres, sometimes under a pseudonym, arenas, and stadiums, a practice that they would follow for many of their future tours as well.

However, this US tour did not carry on into Europe in 1979, breaking the group's similar schedule of performing in Europe every three years, which had started in 1967. This gap-year from touring prompted Keith Richards to join Ronnie Wood on his 1979 US solo tour, to promote his then-album Gimme Some Neck, in the process forming the band The New Barbarians.

[edit] Reception

While the tour was commercially successful, it was dogged by drunken, sloppy performances. Tour photographer Lynn Goldsmith later compared it to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 1978 Tour, which she had also covered: "With Bruce, it was no drugs, no drinking, [long] sound checks and [long] shows. With the Stones, it was no sound check, lots of parties and running off-stage as quickly as possible to catch the private plane."[citation needed]

Regardless, the tour is widely believed among fans to be one of the band's greatest, largely because it was in many ways back to basics both in musical and visual terms. It meant a return to a mixture of classic Stones numbers (Tumbling Dice, Star Star, Happy, Street Fighting Man, etc.) mixed with blues numbers and Chuck Berry covers, as well as including a large number of songs from then newly released Some Girls LP. It was the first tour featuring songs written with Ron Wood as an official member of the Rolling Stones, and his contributions from this period are considered by many Stones fans as some of his greatest with the band. While no live album was released from this tour, a fair amount of bootleg releases showcases its musical qualities, most notably the multi-show King Biscuit Flower Hour FM recording mostly known as "Handsome Girls".

Guest artists that played with the Stones during individual shows included Linda Ronstadt, Sugar Blue, Doug Kershaw, Bobby Keys, and Nicky Hopkins.

[edit] Tour Band

Additional musicians

[edit] Tour Set list

A typical set list for the tour, with minor variations involving one or two of the numbers being omitted:

  1. Let it Rock
  2. All Down the Line
  3. Honky Tonk Women
  4. Star Star
  5. When the Whip Comes Down
  6. Beast of Burden
  7. Lies
  8. Miss You
  9. Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)
  10. Shattered
  11. Respectable
  12. Far Away Eyes
  13. Love in Vain
  14. Tumbling Dice
  15. Happy
  16. Sweet Little Sixteen
  17. Brown Sugar
  18. Jumpin' Jack Flash
  19. Encore: (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, Street Fighting Man (some shows had no encore).

[edit] Tour Dates

[edit] External links

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