THE "ROCKS OFF" ROLLING STONES SETLISTS PAGE

BY GARY GALBRAITH

(With Gerardo Liedo)

2005 A Bigger Bang Tour

ON-STAGE TOUR

Press Conference and show, Juilliard School of Music, Lincoln Center, NYC – 10 May, 2005 © M. Von Holden

2005 North American ‘A Bigger Bang Tour’ overview

Whispers of the Licks tour being extended to another arena tour of the US in spring 2004 came to nothing. Mick worked on his latest solo project - the ‘Alfie’ movie soundtrack - in the early half of the year before getting together with Keith at his home in France to work on demos for a new Stones album.  The circumstances weren’t exactly promising – Ronnie was undergoing rehab treatment for alcohol addiction at the Priory Clinic in London and Charlie was receiving radiotherapy after being diagnosed with throat cancer. Thankfully both were well enough to join their bandmates in the studio to finish the album, which would be released as ‘A Bigger Bang’ in September 2005 to coincide with a world tour of the same name.  The tour was announced at another high-profile press conference in New York in early May where the Stones performed a superb stripped down three-song set which included one of the songs from the (at the time) unreleased and untitled new album.

As usual, the tour itself opened in North America after a few weeks rehearsals in Toronto which included a club show.  The 2 yearlong tour would see the band play 147 concerts, grossing $558.3 million , making it the highest grossing concert tour of all time to that point (at the time of writing, it is currently 9th in the all-time list and 5th when adjusted for inflation, only behind later tours by Ed Sheeran, Elton John - which were two and  three times as long respectively - U2 and Taylor Swift).

Most of the shows were in stadiums with a few arenas although unlike the Licks tour, there was no significant variation in the structure and setlist of the shows between both types of venues.  Aside from a few of the songs off the new album (which would gradually reduce in number as the tour progressed) and a couple of interesting soul covers, the setlist would lean more towards a greatest hits show than ever before.  There were some jaw dropping surprises though, including the live debut (after almost exactly 40 years) of ‘As Tears Go By’ at the second Hollywood Bowl show and finally a debut for ‘Sway’ from ‘Sticky Fingers’ in Columbus.  Musically, I’ve found the performances on this tour leg – especially the guitar section – to be a bit less consistent than before, with the band only really starting to hit their stride from early November onwards.

The warm-up show at the Phoenix Theatre in Toronto (12th August) was a surprise inclusion in the series of six archive releases to mark the band’s 50th anniversary in 2012. A surprise only because it’s unusual to officially put a warmup show instead of one from when the band would be more road ready. In terms of musical content, its actually a very good gig – even for a warm up show.  The concert in Salt Lake City on 22nd November was released officially as a bonus DVD on the ‘Live at Copacabana Beach’ box set which came out in 2021. The show was initially filmed for a live broadcast of ‘Rain Fall Down’ as part of  the ‘American Music Awards. The performance of the song itself was unfortunately an absolute trainwreck which can’t have done ticket sales much good – fortunately the rest of the show was solid enough. This show had never even circulated as an audio recording until this official release so it’s a welcome addition. A couple of songs from the warm up gig in Toronto plus ‘Wild Horses’ from Pittsburgh are included in the ‘Biggest Bang’ box set of the tour which was released in June 2007.

Number of concerts (excluding the press conference show) – 43

Number in circulation – 40 (Calgary, Portland and Las Vegas are missing)

Recommended shows – apart from the released material - Hollywood Bowl (both shows), Houston and Memphis

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 (Full tour)

No.

Date

City

State / Province

Venue

1

10-May

New York City

New York

Juilliard School of Music, Lincoln Center (See note)

2

10-Aug

Toronto

Ontario

Phoenix Concert Theatre (Warm-up club show)

3

21-Aug

Boston

Massachussetts

Fenway Park

4

23-Aug

Boston

Massachussetts

Fenway Park

5

26-Aug

Hartford

Connecticut

Rentschler Field

6

28-Aug

Ottawa

Ontario

Frank Clair Stadium

7

31-Aug

Detroit

Michigan

Comerica Park

8

3-Sep

Moncton

New Brunswick

Magnetic Hill Festival Site

9

6-Sep

St. Paul

Minnesota

Xcel Energy Center

10

8-Sep

Milwaukee

Wisconsin

Bradley Center

11

10-Sep

Chicago

Illinois

Soldier Field

12

13-Sep

New York City

New York

Madison Square Garden

13

15-Sep

East Rutherford

New Jersey

Giants Stadium

14

17-Sep

Albany

New York

Pepsi Arena

15

24-Sep

Columbus

Ohio

Nationwide Arena

16

26-Sep

Toronto

Ontario

Rogers Centre

17

28-Sep

Pittsburgh

Pennsylvania

PNC Park

18

1-Oct

Hershey

Pennsylvania

Hersheypark Stadium

19

3-Oct

Washington

District of Columbia

MCI Center

20

6-Oct

Charlottesville

Virginia

Scott Stadium

21

8-Oct

Durham

North Carolina

Wallace Wade Stadium, Duke University

22

10-Oct

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

Wachovia Center

23

12-Oct

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

Wachovia Center

24

15-Oct

Atlanta

Georgia

Philips Arena

25

17-Oct

Miami

Florida

American Airlines Arena

26

19-Oct

Tampa

Florida

St. Pete Times Forum

27

21-Oct

Charlotte

North Carolina

New Charlotte Arena

28

28-Oct

Calgary

Alberta

Pengrowth Saddledome

29

30-Oct

Seattle

Washington

Key Arena

30

1-Nov

Portland

Oregon

Rose Garden

31

4-Nov

Anaheim

California

Angel Stadium

32

6-Nov

Hollywood

California

Hollywood Bowl

33

8-Nov

Hollywood

California

Hollywood Bowl

34

11-Nov

San Diego

California

Petco Park

35

13-Nov

San Francisco

California

SBC Park

36

15-Nov

San Francisco

California

SBC Park

37

18-Nov

Las Vegas

Nevada

MGM Grand Garden Arena

38

20-Nov

Fresno

California

Save Mart Center

39

22-Nov

Salt Lake City

Utah

Delta Center

40

24-Nov

Denver

Colorado

Pepsi Center

41

27-Nov

Glendale

Arizona

Glendale Arena

42

29-Nov

Dallas

Texas

American Airlines Arena

43

1-Dec

Houston

Texas

Toyota Center

44

3-Dec

Memphis

Tennessee

Fedex Forum

NOTE: Tour announcement – 3-song set. See ‘Miscellaneous Non-Tour Appearances’ for details

SETLISTS

Part 1: 10th August – 8th October

Part 2: 10th October – 3rd December

SETLISTS PAGE

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