Stones hope to roll Down Underby Ed Gibbs
Veteran rockers to return to Australia in 2013.
Crossfire Hurricane, the band’s new documentary film to mark their golden jubilee. It's a musical tour de force that
focuses on the Stones' rise to fame and notoriety in the 1960s and 1970s.
THE ROLLING STONES are making plans to bring their 50th anniversary tour to Australia in 2013. That's according to frontman Sir Mick Jagger, who told Fairfax Media: “Not this week, but I hope to come to Australia. I haven't been there for ages. I'm really looking forward to it.”
Jagger, whose mother Eva Jagger was born in Sydney, and who still has strong family ties here, let the plans slip at the world premiere of Crossfire Hurricane, the band's new documentary film to mark their golden jubilee.
The film – a musical overview that focuses on the band's rise to fame and notoriety in the 1960s and 1970s – screened via satellite across Europe from its world premiere at the London Film Festival on Thursday. The film, with red-carpet highlights, will screen across Australia on Sunday.
The Stones – Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts – were out in force to mark the occasion. Joining them were Jagger's former wife, Jerry Hall, and his current partner, L'Wren Scott. Richards's former partner Anita Pallenberg also showed her support, as did the band's former bass player, Bill Wyman, who joined them to introduce the film. It is the first time he has appeared with his fellow Stones on stage since leaving the group in 1993.
Advertisement Tickets for the band's 50th anniversary tour – just four shows have so far been announced, in London and New Jersey – went on sale last Friday, selling out in just seven minutes. Many voiced their dismay at prices, which ranged from $150 to over $1000. Websites are now selling them on for over 10 times that amount.
Last week's Rolling Stones red-carpet event also marked a highpoint for the Australian Clare Stewart, who now heads up the London Film Festival, following a five-year tenure as director of the Sydney Film Festival.
“The Stones are in everybody's DNA,” she said. “You don't even have to be a fan to have an absolute adoration and respect for them. And I have that in spades.”
Stewart's newfound success in Britain mirrors that of fellow expat Wayne Borg, whose UAE-based media monolith, Two-Four 54, has similarly revamped Abu Dhabi's annual film festival. Now running alongside London, the new-look event – one of the biggest in the Middle East – has focused on emerging filmmakers, one year on from last year's Arab Spring.
Like London, it has also spotlighted Australian talent – notably, Cate Shortland's Lore and Catriona McKenzie's upcoming indigenous drama Satellite Boy – prior to it hosting this year's Tropfest Arabia short-film festival.
One of eight global spinoff events set up last year by Tropfest founder John Polson, Tropfest Arabia has seen entries more than double this year, to over 250. The winner is due to be announced late Friday night.
Crossfire Hurricane screens in cinemas across Australia this Sunday.
Tropfest Arabia takes place on Friday, in Abu Dhabi.
Twitter @EdGibbs
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