THE "ROCKS OFF" ROLLING
STONES SETLISTS PAGE
BY GARY GALBRAITH
(With Gerardo Liedo)
1989 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
1989 North
American ‘Steel Wheels’ Tour overview
The mid-80’s was the worst time to be a Rolling Stones fan. The
band may have signed a world record advance with CBS in 1983 to make new music,
but for much of the decade it seemed the chances of them staying together for
long enough to fulfil that contract seemed slim. Live shows also seemed to be
wishful thinking, with Mick Jagger refusing to tour behind the uneven ‘Dirty
Work’, released in March 1986 later claiming that the fractious relationships
and the poor physical conditions of the various band members (even Charlie had
fallen victim to the temptations of heroin) would have made the idea of going
on the road to have been so impractical that it probably would have caused the
end of the band.
Between 1982 and
1989, the only performance given by The Rolling Stones was a private gig at
London’s 100 Club in February 1986 where, accompanied by several guests, they
managed to put their differences aside for long enough to play an 11-song set
(all of them covers) as a tribute gig for the recently deceased Ian Stewart. Unfortunately,
there is no known recording of this gig.
By early 1989,
with the respective band members having indulged in solo projects and tours
over the previous three years, Mick and Keith’s relationship had thawed
sufficiently for them to get together to work on songs for a new album, which
would be mostly recorded in Montserrat and released as ‘Steel Wheels’ in early
September to coincide with a massive stadium tour, easily their biggest and
longest ever, which would run for 116
shows over the next year. Seven years
after their last live dates, demand was bigger than ever, and the tour would
gross a record breaking $175 million in ticket sales alone.
1989 makes the
start of the so-called ‘Vegas Stones’ era. The shows were very consistent if
much more polished than before, and the band line up was expanded to include
three backing singers and (in addition to Bobby Keys on sax), a four-piece horn
section. Most concerts on the initial North American leg consisted of around
25-26 songs, with Keith’s mid-show solo spot being increased to two numbers,
which would be normal practice going forward. The band usually played around
five or six songs from the new album and brought back some long-forgotten
tracks such as ‘Ruby Tuesday’, ‘Play with Fire’, ‘Paint It Black’, ‘Midnight
Rambler’, ‘Gimme Shelter’ and for the first time ever, ‘2000 Light Years From
Home’ (making it the first song ever from 1967’s
‘Satanic Majesties’ album to be played live). Aside from a warmup club show in
Connecticut and the three arena shows in Atlantic City which ended the tour,
the remaining 57 dates took place in stadium sized venues. Every one of them sold out, with 380,000 fans
seeing the six concerts at New York’s Shea Stadium and 360,000 attending the
four shows at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles.
‘Flashpoint’,
the live album of the tour released in April 1991, features performances from
all three legs of the tour (including the Japanese and European tours in 1990).
There were also several additional songs released as non-album bonus tracks. .
The Atlantic City show on 19th December was a pay per view event
which was eventually released officially as a CD & DVD package in September
2020.
Number of shows
– 61
Number of shows
in circulation - 59 (missing are Vancouver 2nd November and
Minneapolis 29th November)
Recommended
shows – Atlantic City 19th December (see above) , Los Angeles 19th
October, Dallas 11th
November.
There are also
fine partial soundboards from Toronto 3rd September and East Troy 9th
September (almost complete). Some of these shows circulate as pro shot videos.
Personnel: Mick
Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts. Ronnie Wood and Bill Wyman with Chuck
Leavell (keyboards), Matt Clifford (keyboards & french
horn), Lisa Fischer, Bernard Fowler & Cindy Mizelle
(backing vocals), Bobby Keys (tenor sax) and The Uptown Horns – Bob Funk
(trombone), Crispin Cioe (alto sax), Arno Hecht (tenor sax) and Paul Littereal (trumpet)
CONCERT LISTING
No. |
Date |
City |
State/Province |
Venue |
1 |
12-Aug |
Newhaven |
Connecticut |
Toad’s
Place |
2 |
31-Aug |
Philadelphia |
Pennsylvania |
Veterans’
Stadium |
3 |
1-Sep |
Philadelphia |
Pennsylvania |
Veterans’
Stadium |
4 |
3-Sep |
Toronto |
Ontario |
CNE Stadium |
5 |
4-Sep |
Toronto |
Ontario |
CNE Stadium |
6 |
6-Sep |
Pittsburgh |
Pennsylvania |
Three
Rivers Stadium |
7 |
8-Sep |
East Troy |
Wisconsin |
Alpine Valley Music Center |
8 |
9-Sep |
East Troy |
Wisconsin |
Alpine Valley Music Center |
9 |
11-Sep |
East Troy |
Wisconsin |
Alpine Valley Music Center |
10 |
14-Sep |
Cincinnati |
Ohio |
Riverfront
Stadium |
11 |
16-Sep |
Raleigh |
North Carolina |
Carter-Finley Stadium |
12 |
17-Sep |
St. Louis |
Missouri |
Busch Stadium |
13 |
19-Sep |
Louisville |
Kentucky |
Cardinal Stadium |
14 |
21-Sep |
Syracuse |
New York |
Carrier Dome |
15 |
22-Sep |
Syracuse |
New York |
Carrier Dome |
16 |
24-Sep |
Washington |
District
Of Columbia |
Robert F
Kennedy Memorial Stadium |
17 |
25-Sep |
Washington |
District
Of Columbia |
Robert F
Kennedy Memorial Stadium |
18 |
27-Sep |
Cleveland |
Ohio |
Municipal Stadium |
19 |
29-Sep |
Foxborough |
Massachussetts |
Sullivan Stadium |
20 |
1-Oct |
Foxborough |
Massachussetts |
Sullivan Stadium |
21 |
3-Oct |
Foxborough |
Massachussetts |
Sullivan Stadium |
22 |
5-Oct |
Birmingham |
Alabama |
Legion
Field |
23 |
7-Oct |
Ames |
Iowa |
Cyclone
Stadium |
24 |
8-Oct |
Kansas City |
Missouri |
Arrowhead
Stadium |
25 |
10-Oct |
New York City |
New York |
Shea
Stadium |
26 |
11-Oct |
New York City |
New York |
Shea
Stadium |
27 |
18-Oct |
Los Angeles |
California |
Memorial Coliseum |
28 |
19-Oct |
Los Angeles |
California |
Memorial Coliseum |
29 |
21-Oct |
Los Angeles |
California |
Memorial Coliseum |
30 |
22-Oct |
Los Angeles |
California |
Memorial Coliseum |
31 |
25-Oct |
New York City |
New York |
Shea
Stadium |
32 |
26-Oct |
New York City |
New York |
Shea
Stadium |
33 |
28-Oct |
New York City |
New York |
Shea
Stadium |
34 |
29-Oct |
New York City |
New York |
Shea
Stadium |
35 |
1-Nov |
Vancouver |
British Columbia |
BC Place |
36 |
2-Nov |
Vancouver |
British Columbia |
BC Place |
37 |
4-Nov |
Oakland |
California |
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum |
38 |
5-Nov |
Oakland |
California |
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum |
39 |
8-Nov |
Houston |
Texas |
Astrodome |
40 |
10-Nov |
Dallas |
Texas |
Cotton Bowl |
41 |
11-Nov |
Dallas |
Texas |
Cotton Bowl |
42 |
13-Nov |
New Orleans |
Louisiana |
Superdome |
43 |
15-Nov |
Miami |
Florida |
Orange Bowl |
44 |
16-Nov |
Miami |
Florida |
Orange Bowl |
45 |
18-Nov |
Tampa |
Florida |
Tampa Stadium |
46 |
21-Nov |
Atlanta |
Georgia |
Bobby Dodd Stadium |
47 |
25-Nov |
Jacksonville |
Florida |
Gator
Bowl Stadium |
48 |
26-Nov |
Clemson |
South Carolina |
Death
Valley Stadium |
49 |
29-Nov |
Minneapolis |
Minnesota |
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome |
50 |
30-Nov |
Minneapolis |
Minnesota |
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome |
51 |
3-Dec |
Toronto |
Ontario |
Sky
Dome |
52 |
4-Dec |
Toronto |
Ontario |
Sky
Dome |
53 |
6-Dec |
Indianapolis |
Indiana |
Hoosier
Dome |
54 |
7-Dec |
Indianapolis |
Indiana |
Hoosier
Dome |
55 |
9-Dec |
Pontiac |
Michigan |
Silverdome |
56 |
10-Dec |
Pontiac |
Michigan |
Silverdome |
57 |
13-Dec |
Montreal |
Quebec |
Olympic
Stadium |
58 |
14-Dec |
Montreal |
Quebec |
Olympic
Stadium |
59 |
17-Dec |
Atlantic City |
New Jersey |
Convention
Center |
60 |
19-Dec |
Atlantic City |
New Jersey |
Convention
Center |
61 |
20-Dec |
Atlantic City |
New Jersey |
Convention
Center |
SETLISTS
Part 1: 12th August to 1st
October
Part 2: 3rd October to 13th
November
Part 3: 15th November to 20th
December
©GARY GALBRAITH 1999, 2022