THE "ROCKS OFF" ROLLING
STONES SETLISTS PAGE
BY GARY GALBRAITH
(With Gerardo Liedo)
2002 LICKS TOUR - North American
Leg.
Toronto August 16, 2002 – Las Vegas
November 30, 2002
The blimp, Press conference, Van Cortland Park,
The Bronx, NYC – May 7, 2002 © Brian Rasic
2002
North American ‘Licks’ tour overview
The three-year hiatus after the end of the ‘No Security’ tour saw the
announcement of a knighthood, a solo album, and a dip into movie production for
Mick, Charlie touring with his jazz tentet and Ronnie releasing a solo record
which was promoted by a few days of gigs in London and Dublin. Keith largely kept a low profile by comparison
although he did pop up unannounced at Madison Square Garden in October 2001 to guest
with Mick at the all-star ‘Concert for New York’ charity concert in memory of
the victims of the terrorist attacks on 9/11. The Stones had initially planned to tour in 2001
but no announcement took place, and it was decided to leave things until the
following year.
Usually, a new Stones tour means a new studio album to promote, but 2002
would be an exception. After decades of
stand-offs, ABKCO and the band finally saw the dollar signs that a 40th
anniversary could generate and agreed for the first time to release a career
spanning greatest hits retrospective. The 40-track double-CD ‘Forty Licks’
would feature one disc of ABKCO era material and one from the Rolling Stones
Records / EMI era. The September release was confirmed during a May press
conference in New York which saw the Stones make their most dramatic tour
announcement yet – they flew in on a Goodyear blimp (the video footage of them
in the air is pretty hilarious as it looks as if poor Charlie is seconds away
from vomiting his breakfast over the unsuspecting pilot) .
The Stones did manage to spend a couple of weeks in a Paris studio later in
May, where they worked on a few new songs – four of which were released on the
new hits’ album. However, only one of
them – ‘Don’t Stop’ – would feature in the 14-month, 117-date world tour that followed.
As a fan, it was a bit frustrating that the Stones had succumbed to acknowledging
that for touring purposes, they were finally a nostalgia act. However, rather than merely trot out two hours
of their greatest hits, the band did come up with an innovative concept. In several major markets, they would play
three different types of venues – a theatre, an arena, and a stadium. The
setlists would be considerably varied in each one. The stadium shows would be
largely (but not exclusively) well known hits, the arena shows would usually
include a mini-set of about 4-5 songs from a classic album (in most cases, one
of Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers or Exile – although Beggars Banquet and Tattoo
You were featured once or twice too) and the theatre shows would be awash with
deep cuts, blues covers and, most excitingly, a series of soul numbers. If you were lucky enough to see what Keith
called the ‘Fruit of the Loom’ tour (ie small,
medium, and large) you could well have been treated to some 45-50 different
songs over the three nights. Whilst the
ticket prices continued to rocket skywards, the theatre shows (Las Vegas aside)
were a lot more fan friendly at $60 a ticket, with the new fan club membership
proving to be a useful investment in terms of getting access to a pre-sale.
For the third world tour in a row, the Stones rehearsed for several weeks
in Toronto, including a warmup club show at the Palais Royale, before opening
the tour proper on September 3rd with an arena show in Boston, which
was followed up by a stadium show at nearby Foxborough and a gig at the city’s
Orpheum Theatre. The variety of the
types of shows on this tour meant that several songs were featured irregularly
but it did see a return to the live set for long discarded numbers such as ‘Cant you Hear Me Knockin’, ‘Torn and Frayed’, ‘Heart of Stone’, ‘Neighbours’.
‘Worried About You’ and on one occasion ‘Parachute Woman’ and ‘She Smiled
Sweetly’. Even ‘Dance Pt 1’ was featured
at the theatre shows and ‘Thru and Thru’ got dusted off at last. Numerous soul and blues covers
were also played for the first time ever.
Despite the misgivings over the lack of new songs, the ‘Licks Tour’ would
prove to be a big favourite amongst fans (it’s definitely
mine, having seen my first show in 1982). Never again would they take so many chances
with their setlists.
Whilst the
entire tour is comprehensively covered on the ‘Four Flicks’ DVD and to a lesser
extent the much-maligned ‘Live Licks’ double CD, only six songs from the
Wiltern Theater show in Los Angeles on 4th November are included across
both releases. None of the shows were
televised, although in summer 2022 to mark the band’s 60th anniversary, BBC
Television aired 70 minutes of the aforementioned Wiltern
concert.
The full show
was eventually released on all video and audio formats in March 2024 and is a
great representation of the theatre gigs from this tour leg.
Number of shows – 36
Number in circulation – 35 (only the private club show in Las Vegas on
16th November is missing)
Recommended shows – The theatre dates in Boston 8th September,
Chicago 16th September, Philadelphia 22nd September, New
York 30th September, Los Angeles 4th November. Arena
shows in New York 28th September, Columbus 20th October,
Los Angeles 31st October, Oakland 12th November and the
stadium show in Anaheim 2nd November.
Personnel
– Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood with Darryl Jones
(bass), Chuck Leavell (keyboards), Bernard Fowler and Lisa Fischer (backing
vocals & percussion),
Blondie Chaplin (backing vocals, percussion & occasional
guitar), Bobby Keys (tenor sax) and The New West Horns – Tim Ries (sax ,
Michael Davis (trombone) and Kent Smith (trumpet)
CONCERT
LISTING
No. |
Date |
City |
State
/ Province |
Venue |
1 |
16-ago |
Toronto |
Ontario |
Palais
Royale (Warm-up club show) |
2 |
3-Sep |
Boston |
Massachussetts |
Fleet Center |
3 |
5-Sep |
Foxborough |
Massachussetts |
Gillette Stadium |
4 |
8-Sep |
Boston |
Massachussetts |
Orpheum
Theatre |
5 |
10-Sep |
Chicago |
Illinois |
United
Center |
6 |
13-Sep |
Chicago |
Illinois |
Comiskey
Park |
7 |
16-Sep |
Chicago |
Illinois |
Aragon
Ballroom |
8 |
18-Sep |
Philadelphia |
Pennsylvania |
Veterans’
Stadium |
9 |
20-Sep |
Philadelphia |
Pennsylvania |
First
Union Center |
10 |
22-Sep |
Upper
Darby |
Pennsylvania |
Tower Theatre |
11 |
26-Sep |
New York City |
New York |
Madison Square Garden |
12 |
28-Sep |
East Rutherford |
New Jersey |
Giants’
Stadium |
13 |
30-Sep |
New York City |
New York |
Roseland Ballroom |
14 |
4-Oct |
Landover |
Maryland |
FedEx Field |
15 |
5-Oct |
Hartford |
Connecticut |
Civic
Center |
16 |
12-Oct |
Detroit |
Michigan |
Ford Field |
17 |
14-Oct |
Cleveland |
Ohio |
Gund
Arena |
18 |
16-Oct |
Toronto |
Ontario |
Air Canada Centre |
19 |
18-Oct |
Toronto |
Ontario |
Sky
Dome |
20 |
20-Oct |
Columbus |
Ohio |
Nationwide
Arena |
21 |
22-Oct |
Sunrise |
Florida |
Office Depot Center |
22 |
23-Oct |
Miami |
Florida |
American Airlines Arena |
23 |
26-Oct |
Atlanta |
Georgia |
Turner Field |
24 |
31-Oct |
Los Angeles |
California |
Staples Center |
25 |
2-Nov |
Anaheim |
California |
Edison International Field |
26 |
4-Nov |
Los Angeles |
California |
Wiltern
Theatre |
27 |
6-Nov |
Tacoma |
Washington |
Tacoma Dome |
28 |
8-Nov |
San Francisco |
California |
Pacific
Bell Park |
29 |
9-Nov |
San Francisco |
California |
Pacific
Bell Park |
30 |
12-Nov |
Oakland |
California |
Oakland Arena |
31 |
14-Nov |
San Diego |
California |
Sports
Arena |
32 |
16-Nov |
Las Vegas |
Nevada |
The Joint at
the Hard Rock Hotel (private show for David Bonderman) |
33 |
23-Nov |
San Antonio |
Texas |
SBC Center |
34 |
25-Nov |
Nashville |
Tennessee |
Gaylord Entertainment Center |
35 |
29-Nov |
Las Vegas |
Nevada |
The Joint
at the Hard Rock Hotel |
36 |
30-Nov |
Las Vegas |
Nevada |
MGM Grand Garden Arena |
THE
SETLISTS
Part 1: 16th August – 28th
September.
Part 2: 30th September – 4th
November.
Part 3: 6th November – 30th
November.
©GARY GALBRAITH 2003, 2024