THE "ROCKS OFF" ROLLING
STONES SETLISTS PAGE
BY GARY GALBRAITH
(With Gerardo Liedo)
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
©GARY GALBRAITH 2005, 2024