THE "ROCKS OFF" ROLLING STONES SETLISTS PAGE

BY GARY GALBRAITH

(With Gerardo Liedo)

1989 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

Veterans’ Stadium, Philadelphia, PA - September 1, 1989 © Ebet Roberts

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

VeteransStadium

3

1-Sep

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

VeteransStadium

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

SETLISTS PAGE

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©GARY GALBRAITH 1999, 2022