The Rolling Stones European Tour 1973
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The Rolling Stones 1973 European Tour | ||
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One of the Stones' more lurid tour posters. | ||
Tour by The Rolling Stones | ||
Start date | 1 September 1973 | |
End date | 19 October 1973 | |
Legs | 1 | |
Shows | 42 | |
The Rolling Stones tour chronology | ||
Pacific Tour 1973 | European Tour 1973 | Tour of the Americas '75 |
The Rolling Stones 1973 European Tour was a concert tour of Great Britain and Continental Europe in September and October 1973 by The Rolling Stones.
Contents |
[edit] History
The tour followed the release of the group's album Goats Head Soup on 31 August. It began at the Stadthalle in Vienna (the closest the Stones would get to the Eastern bloc in those days; Yuri Kurinoff of the Soviet Union's Ministry of Culture was in attendance), Austria on 1 September. It then saw, in large halls to mid-sized arenas, West Germany, England (including four shows at the Empire Pool in London), Scotland, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Belgium, finishing on 19 October with the band's fourth entry into and thirteenth show in West Germany, at the Deutschlandhalle in West Berlin. Altogether 42 shows were played in 22 cities, with two shows in a day a commonplace.
This was the Stones' first trip to Europe since the European Tour 1970, and was part of parallel three-year cycles of touring the United States and Europe.
[edit] The shows
Without all the ballyhoo, media attention, and jet set hangers-on of the group's 1972 American Tour, the 1973 European Tour was seen as having less drama and significantly better musicianship. Songs like "Brown Sugar" and "Gimme Shelter" were well received and Billy Preston's organ and clavinet added a contemporary and funky edge to the "classic" Stones sound.
Keith Richards was reeling from the recent deaths of friend Gram Parsons, and of Richards' beloved grandfather Gus, who had introduced him to the guitar. Richards guitar playing remained solid but on some bootleg recordings, he requires a vocal assist from Jagger on the trademark "Happy". The tour's conventional delineation between rhythm and lead guitar parts were later criticised by Richards.[1] By the time of the group's following Tour of the Americas '75, Ron Wood would be in the band and Richards' preferred 'Ancient Form of Weaving' approach would be restored.
[edit] Recordings
No live album has been released from the tour, although a recording of the 17 October show in Brussels was headed towards official release but pulled back for legal reasons. As Brussels Affair (and some other names) it has been a popular bootleg (Bedspring Symphony) in superb stereo sound, and is often considered a 'lost classic' of bigger importance than some of the official Stones' live albums.
[edit] Tour Band
- Mick Jagger - vocals, harmonica
- Keith Richards - guitars, vocals
- Mick Taylor - guitars
- Bill Wyman - bass guitar
- Charlie Watts - drums
Additional musicians
- Billy Preston - keyboards, vocals
- Bobby Keys - saxophone (some dates)
- Trevor Lawrence - saxophone (some dates)
- Jim Price - trumpet, trombone (some dates)
- Steve Madio - trumpet, flugelhorn (some dates)
Bobby Keys, a star of the 1972 American Tour but who shared Richards' penchant for heroin at the time, was dismissed during the tour when he nodded off onstage.
[edit] Tour Support Bands
Opening for the tour's shows was Billy Preston and for him, Kracker. Mick Taylor played lead guitar during Preston's numbers, and was featured on Preston's 1974 album release Live European Tour, which was recorded during performances on this tour. In turn, Preston supplied keyboards during some of the Stones' numbers.
[edit] Tour Set list
The standard set list for the tour was:
- "Brown Sugar"
- "Gimme Shelter"
- "Happy"
- "Tumbling Dice"
- "Star Star"
- "Dancing with Mr D" or "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)"
- "Angie"
- "You Can't Always Get What You Want"
- "Midnight Rambler"
- "Honky Tonk Women"
- "All Down the Line"
- "Rip This Joint"
- "Jumpin' Jack Flash"
- "Street Fighting Man"
- Encore?
This set list was pretty stable once established; during the first few shows, Goats tracks "100 Years Ago" and "Silver Train" got a trying out, as did 1972 standbys "Bitch" and "Sweet Virginia". All of the pre-Goats selections had been played on the 1972 American Tour as well, and pretty much in this order. Once again, completely absent was anything from before 1968 in the Stones' catalog. Indeed, on 18 August, before the tour began, Jagger had been quoted, "The only thing I don't really enjoy about playing live is having to perform the old numbers, even though that's what a lotta people wanna hear us do."
[edit] Tour dates
- 01/09/1973 Stadthalle - Vienna, Austria
- 03/09/1973 Eisstadion - Mannheim, Germany
- 04/09/1973 Sporthalle - Cologne, Germany (2 shows)
- 07/09/1973 Empire Pool - Wembley, London, England
- 08/09/1973 Empire Pool - Wembley, London, England (2 shows)
- 09/09/1973 Empire Pool - Wembley, London, England
- 11/09/1973 Kings Hall - Manchester, England
- 12/09/1973 Kings Hall - Manchester, England
- 13/09/1973 City Hall - Newcastle upon Tyne, England (2 shows)
- 16/09/1973 Apollo Theatre - Glasgow, Scotland
- 17/09/1973 Apollo Theatre - Glasgow, Scotland
- 19/09/1973 Odeon Theatre - Birmingham, England (2 shows)
- 23/09/1973 Olympiastadion - Innsbruck, Austria
- 25/09/1973 Festhalle - Berne, Switzerland
- 26/09/1973 Festhalle - Berne, Switzerland (2 shows)
- 28/09/1973 Olympiahalle - Munich, Germany (2 shows)
- 30/09/1973 Festhalle - Frankfurt, Germany (2 shows)
- 02/10/1973 Ernst-Merck-Halle - Hamburg, Germany (2 shows)
- 04/10/1973 Vejlby-Risskov-Hallen - Aarhus, Denmark (2 shows)
- 06/10/1973 Scandinavium - Gothenburg, Sweden (2 shows)
- 07/10/1973 Brondby-Hallen - Copenhagen, Denmark (2 shows)
- 09/10/1973 Grugahalle - Essen, Germany
- 10/10/1973 Grugahalle - Essen, Germany
- 11/10/1973 Grugahalle - Essen, Germany
- 13/10/1973 Sportpaleis AHOY - Rotterdam, Netherlands
- 14/10/1973 Sportpaleis AHOY - Rotterdam, Netherlands (2 shows)
- 15/10/1973 Sportpaleis Merksem - Antwerp, Belgium
- 17/10/1973 Foret Nationale - Brussels, Belgium (2 shows)
- 19/10/1973 Deutschlandhalle - Berlin, Germany
[edit] References
- Carr, Roy. The Rolling Stones: An Illustrated Record. Harmony Books, 1976. ISBN 0517526417
- ^ Mentioned in several interviews over the years, among them in Guitar Player magazine 1977.