1989
Oh no, not you again
Early January 1989: Mick Jagger is vacationing in
Mustique, Keith Richards
in Antigua.
January 10, 1989: Ron Wood attend's Rod Stewart's birthday
party in London,
England.
c. January 15-17, 1989:
Mick Jagger
and Keith Richards meet up in Barbados to discuss working
together
and
start
writing songs.
Keith Richards
(1989): Getting back together
With Mick, I mean, he's my mate, I know I'm going to fight with him. You don't think of it in terms of being carried out via the international press, and when you actually get back together again and start working, and it's just the two of you in a room, you're lying on the floor laughing. Remember when you said that I was a THIS, and I called you a THAT? And then we start cracking up. A lot of the problems are in other people's perceptions of us. Where we get off on each other is when we're working together, and when you walk into a room and say, Well, we've got to finish the record by June and it's already the middle of February and we don't have a song yet, and within two or three hours you've got two or three songs, you start to forget about all the other crap. You're on a roll, once things start going. I mean, nobody in their right mind breaks a roll. You follow it, and it's much more fun than recriminations. It's the easiest thing in the world to work with the Stones, and for me to work with Mick. Mick and I work perfectly together. It's when we're not working that we have problems. |
January 16, 1989: Ron Wood attends the opening of his
artshow at the Hamilton
Gallery in London.
January 17-18, 1989: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards fly in
to New York
from the Caribbean, Ron Wood from
England.
January 18, 1989: Mick
Jagger,
Keith Richards, Ron Wood and Mick Taylor are on hand at the
Waldorf
Astoria
Hotel
in New York City as the Rolling Stones are inducted to the
Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame
(by
Pete Townshend)
during the 4th annual ceremony. This is the the Rolling
Stones' first public
appearance
since early 1986. They join in on the end-of-ceremony jam
with Stevie Wonder,
Tina
Turner,
Little
Richard, The Temptations and others, performing Satisfaction,
Honky
Tonk Women and
Start
Me
Up among others.
Mick Jagger
(January 18, 1989): Accepting the award
You know, it's slightly ironic that tonight you see us on our best behavior, but we're being rewarded for 25 years of bad behavior. And there's a bit of music on the side. I have to be slightly sappy, I suppose. I must say I'm very proud to work with this group of musicians for the last 25 years... Bill and Charlie couldn't make it. We're pleased to be with Ronnie, Keith and myself. The other thing I'm very proud of are the songs that Keith and I have written over the last 25 years... Jean Cocteau said that Americans are funny people. First you shock them, and then they put you in a museum. But we're not ready to hang up the number yet, so on behalf of the Stones, I'd like to thank you very much. |
January 19, 1989: Charlie
Watts
joins Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ron Wood for a band
meeting in
New
York City
to discuss their plans.
January 20, 1989: Keith Richards returns to Antigua, Mick
Jagger leaves
for Texas and Charlie Watts returns to
England, while Ron Wood leaves New York for Washington
D.C.
January 21, 1989: Ron Wood takes part in U.S. President
George Bush's inauguration
party in Washington D.C.,
performing with Bo Diddley, Willie Dixon, Percy Sledge and
others.
January 22, 1989: Ron Wood leaves Washington D.C. for
Miami, Florida.
January 25-26, 1989: Ron Wood plays behind Don Covay at
Woody's On The
Beach in Miami.
January 29-February 6,
1989: Mick
Jagger and Keith Richards return to Barbados, at Blue Wave
Studios, to
and write and record demos.
Mick Jagger
(1989): Doing it in a year
When Keith and I sat down originally and talked about going on the road, playing together, I never thought that it would be problematic. I think Keith thought making an album and going on the road with it was a huge deal, that we could never really do it. Historically, he was quite correct. We'd never made an album in less than a year. I thought, Let's get it ALL done in a year. Then we've done it. We've proved we can make a record, we've proved we can tour. We can do it and still be up for it, not be bored with it all. A year's only a year. So we just have to put up with each other for a year. |
February 6-10, 1989: Mick Jagger spends time in England.
February 8, 1989: Keith Richards returns to New York City.
February 9, 1989: Keith Richards shoots a videoclip for Make
No Mistake
in New York City, and jams with the
X-Pensive Winos.
February 13, 1989: In London, Ron Wood and Bill Wyman are
presenters at
the BPI Awards. Bill Wyman sess Mandy
Smith again.
February 13-February 19,
1989:
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are back in Barbados,
continuing work
on
demos.
Mick Jagger
(1992): Choosing Michael Cohl instead of Bill Graham
to promote the tour
That was a strange situation. Basically, you don't want to do deals with the same people you did deals with before... Whatever the reasons, you look at the offers that you get, right? So I looked at the offers for the Rolling Stones tour, and ultimately I had to make a business decision. You do a certain amount of work and you get paid a certain amount of money. There's money involved and then there's personalities involved and you have to balance all these things up. You don't always go for the most money, otherwise it would be very simple,. It was a very hard decision because we'd worked with Bill before. But you know, we'd only done one big tour with Bill. That doesn't mean you have to do every tour for the rest of your life... The difference was really 17 million dollars. 17 million dollars is a lot of money! |
February 18, 1989: Bill Wyman performs in an all-star
benefit concert in
Ringwood, England.
February 20-March 8,
1989: Charlie
Watts joins Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in Barbados,
continuing
demo
work.
Keith Richards
(1989): Charlie joins in
I was driving up to the rehearsal joint, and I heard Charlie in there and I just sat in the parking lot for five minutes. He was so crisp, so tight, I thought, We've got the songs, we've got the drummer. I was smiling, like, no problem. |
March 8, 1989: In London, Bill Wyman meets again with
now-18-years-old
Mandy Smith and they decide to start
their relationship again.
March 9-22, 1989: Bill
Wyman and
Ron Wood join the other Rolling Stones in Barbados, to
complete
demo
recording.
Ron Wood
(2003): Kid gloves
When we got back together for Steel Wheels, the atmosphere was kind of kid gloves, but there was nevertheless a happy feeling. You could see everybody breathing a sigh of relief that Mick and keith were getting on again. Thank God! |
March 23, 1989: Bill Wyman and Ron Wood start an Easter
break in Antigua,
Keith Richards returns to New York.
March 26, 1989: On the phone to London from Antigua, Bill
Wyman and Mandy
Smith decide to get married.
March 31, 1989: Keith Richards flies from New York to
Montserrat. A band
conversation is held with Bill Wiman in how
best to handle the media's attention over his and Mandy
Smith's upcoming
wedding.
March 31-May 5, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones gather at Air Studios in Montserrat (The Virgin
Islands),
where
they
record their next album, with co-producer Chris Kimsey back
at the helm.
Keith Richards
(1989): Recording at Montserrat
Everything is there (at AIR Studios in Montserrat). A great bar, great restaurant, great cook. You got pool tables, a swimming pool, TV, video, all in the studio complex. The studio itself is like a plus. It's the best place to live on the island! Mick had reservations: I'll go crazy there for 2 months, there's nothing to do. And I said, You could always work! There's a lot of energy in the band right now. This new record's been miraculously fast for us. Mick and I are still holding our breath, saying, This can't last. |
April 1-2, 1989: Bill Wyman returns to Antigua to field
press questions
about his upcoming marriage, before
returning to Montserrat.
April 30, 1989: Ron Wood's
restaurant/nightclub, Woody's On The Beach,
in Miami, Florida, closes its doors.
May 4, 1989: Bill Wyman returns to London, England, where
he discovers
Mandy Smith has health problems.
May 9, 1989: Bill Wyman attends, along with Ron Wood, the
opening of his
restaurant/nightclub, Sticky Fingers, in
London, England.
May 15-June 29, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones (primarily Mick Jagger and Keith Richards) hold
mixing
sessions for
the new album at Olympic Sound Studios in London, England,
which they last
used for
Goats
Head
Soup in 1973.
Keith Richards
(1989): Ride like the wind
In the record industry, I know for a fact they were all like, ha ha ha, the Stones are gonig to make a record by June? It'll be like next JANUARY - this is the biggest disaster of the year about to take place. But in actual fact, working to the deadline added an incredible amount of zest and much more decisiveness in the playing and in the decision making. It was very important to me (for the Stones to get back together), and even more since we've been doing it. I realized that this is the best time; this year was like the perfect moment, if it was going to happen at all. In another year or so, if we hadn't've hit it, it would have been more and more difficult to put it together. I guess with the Stones, you have to sort of accept this mysterious chemistry about 'em. I mean, I look at them sometimes and think, that's all there is? Count them out - Mick, Charlie, Bill, Ron, me? That's really all there is, you know, and you have to take that into consideration with these boys, and you can never really put your finger on why it suddenly happens, but they just STORMED in on this record. |
Keith Richards
(2003): Getting on with Bernard
When we were working at Olympic Studios in London, Mick had Bernard Fowler and Pierre de Beauport with him. They'd been out in Australia with Mick and pissed him off because they played Talk Is Cheap all the time. I was playing Slipping Away with Bernard Fowler, and it was the first time we'd sung together. I told Bernard, Shit, man, I didn't WANT to like you, because you're his man. And now I probably couldn't anything on the guitar without Pierre. |
Keith Richards
(2003): Re-inventing the Rolling Stones
I knew that album was about starting over. The important thing was to do it, not how good it was or wasn't. Either that was where the thing was going to break and all the wheels would fall off forever or we'd survive and carry on. The next ten years for me were just trying to reinvent and re-establish the Stones in a new way, considering what we'd all gone through. |
Late May 1989: Keith Richards returns to New York City
from London, England.
May 31, 1989: Keith Richards and the X-Pensive Winos
perform on U.S. TV's
International Rock Awards, from the
Armory in New York City, where Keith RIchards receives a
Living Legend
Award.
June 1, 1989: Keith Richards returns to London, England
but misses Ron
Wood's birthday party.
June 2, 1989: Bill Wyman and Mandy Smith hold a secret
register-office
wedding in Suffolk, England.
June 5, 1989: The Rolling Stones all attend Bill Wyman and
Mandy Smith's
church wedding in London, England.
June 7, 1989: Bill Wyman and Mandy Smith start their
honeymoon in Vence,
France, joined by Ron Wood who is in
France promoting the Rolling Stones' next album and tour.
June 11, 1989: Ron Wood starts a brief holiday in Ireland.
June 16-17, 1989: Mick
Jagger,
Keith Richards and Ron Wood are in Tangier, Morocco, at the
Palace of
Ben
Abbou,
where they record the Master Musicians of Jajouka for the
song Continental
Drift.
Mid-to-late June 1989: Keith Richards contributes on a
recording session
by Donovan in London, England.
June 24, 1989: Keith Richards hangs out with Wimbledon
tennis players at
the Hard Rock Café in London.
June 26, 1989: Mick Jagger and family attend a party at
Bob Geldof's in
Kent, England.
c. July 5, 1989: Keith Richards, Ron Wood and Charlie
Watts all arrive
in New York City.
July 9, 1989: Mick Jagger Concordes from London, England,
to New York City.
Bill Wyman flies in from Paris.
July 11, 1989: The
Rolling Stones
board a train in The Bronx and arrive at New York City's
Grand Central,
where
they
hold a press conference announcing the 1989 Steel Wheels
North American
Tour.
Keith Richards
(July 11, 1989): The glory
We're doing it for the glory, darling, the glory. |
July 12-August 12, 1989:
The Rolling
Stones start tour rehearsals at Wykeham Rise Girls' School
in
Washington,
Connecticut.
Mick Jagger
& Ron Wood (1989): Not a "reunion" tour
Mick: I don't see it as a retrospective or a farewell or anything like that. It's the Rolling Stones in 1989. Ron: (T)his is a tour on its own. Besides, I don't think we ever officially went away, so this isn't any sort of reunion tour. |
Chuck Leavell
(1994): Choosing the set list
I think I would be correct in saying that they mostly look to me for taking cues, in terms of actual arrangements and endings and setting the tempos. They also look to me to work on the set list. On the Steel Wheels tour, Mick and I got together after realizing we had 70 songs. His suggestion was, Look. You write your list, I'll write my list, and we'll compare. We each put 30 songs down, and we were maybe five songs different. Then we presented it to the band. |
July 26, 1989: The Rolling Stones celebrate Mick Jagger's
46th birthday
party with a barbecue.
August 1, 1989: The Rolling Stones hold a photo shoot for Time
magazine at their rehearsal space.
August 3, 1989: At their
rehearsal
site in Connecticut, the Rolling Stones shoot a videoclip
for Mixed
Emotions.
Mick Jagger
(August 1989): Getting the circus ready
I loved playing my solo gigs last year; if I hadn't enjoyed that, I wouldn't have done this. I probably wouldn't have been so confident doing this, either. But I get a lot of buzz out of doing other things - I get really involved in what I call business. I just love all the graphics and the stage design and all that. If it wasn't for that, it would be really quite boring, because you're doing the same songs. I mean, I can do Jumpin' Jack Flash in the bath at midnight, on my head. I don't need to rehearse to do that, I really don't. But to make it different, from the stage to the t-shirts, it's a tremendous amount of work, but it's fun because it's not something you do every day. To me, that keeps the interest going, as well as the music. The music's great and all that, but it isn't 100% of the show. It might be for Keith, but it really isn't. It's a huge show and it's got lighting plots and gimmicks. It's like going to see a musical - you want hit songs but that isn't going to be enough. Charlie's been really helpful, actually. When we were doing Dirty Work I didn't have anyone helping me and it was hopeless, but now Charlie's been a great help with all the visuals and everything, so that's always good. |
August 12, 1989: The
Rolling Stones
take the stage for the first time in three and a half years,
performing
an unnannouced, rehearsal show at Toad's Place in New Haven,
Connecticut.
August 13-25, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones switch rehearsals to Long Island, New York's Nassau
Coliseum.
August
17, 1989: The Rolling Stones' lead single off their next
album, Mixed
Emotions, is released.
August 27-30, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones hold last rehearsals at Philadelphia's JFK Stadium.
Mick Jagger
(1989): The money
Of course, we're doing it for the money, AS WELL. We've always done it for the money. People get highly paid in rock & roll. That's why it's so attractive. It's like boxing. People don't do boxing for nothing. They start off doing it because they hope to get to the top, because when they get to the top, they'll make lots of money. I mean, THAT'S America. But also, to my mind, it has to be done in a good way where it doesn't rip people off. It's got to be good value for money. You shouldn't charge less than everyone else. You can charge more than everyone else, but you also have to give them more than everyone else. |
Ron Wood
& Keith Richards (1989): No longer winging it
Ron: We're doing You Can't Always Get What You Want just like the record, with all the builds and crescendos. In '81, we would just start the song and kind of wing it. I used to have a solo that wasn't any specific length. But now we've got to work within limitations, certain amounts of bars. I've got to be on the ball or everyone will be making chord changes and I won't. That one song has got a lot of tricks in it for me personally. Keith: Over the years, you develop a simplified road version of a song that you get used to. But this time, we thought, Let's go back and listen very carefully to the records to find what we were originally going for when we made it. All the subtleties and the half bar jumps. We thought we ought to do the songs up proud and have the things that were on the record. And once you go back and research what you did, you say, Well, the reason we did it like that is because we had these voices or because we had these horns. That's why we have the enlarged line-up. Tumbling Dice without the voices is kind of bare. |
Chuck Leavell:
A new era
When the Steel Wheels tour rolled around, there was a determination like I'd never experienced with the band. In '82 there was a casual attitude. Yep, we get onstage, we do our bit, and we go. The rehearsal was ten days long. Steel Wheels was eight weeks of rehearsal. The feeling was, if we're going to go out there and do another Rolling Stones tour, it has to be the best Rolling Stones tour that's ever been... So that attitude prevailed, thank heaven, and it was extraordinary, it really was. |
Keith Richards
(1989): The Grail
We're still looking for the ultimate Rolling Stones. We're never going to find it, but it's like the Holy Grail. It's the quest that's important, not finding it. |
August
29, 1989: The Rolling Stones' 21th U.S. and 19th UK studio
album, Steel
Wheels, is released.
August 31-September 1,
1989: The
Rolling Stones kick off their first tour in seven years, the
1989 Steel
Wheels
North American Tour, a (near) stadium-only tour, with two
concerts at Philadelphia's
Veterans Stadium.
Accompanying the Stones onstage are a horn section,
including Bobby Keys;
Chuck
Leavell
and
Matt Clifford on keyboards; and, for the first time on a
Stones tour, backing
vocalists,
including
Bernard Fowler and Lisa Fischer, who start their journey
with the band.
The tour features
songs
rarely
or never performed before, such as 2000 Light Years from
Home, and
deliberately tighter
arrangements
and playing than on previous Rolling Stones tours.
Mick Jagger
(1989): Opening night
I quite like (having the band's families) there. I think it provides a lot of support. Some people might feel it's a nuisance, but you've got to put it in perspective. They're all so experienced that I don't think it's a problem. Actually, they were all very supportive, I think. And I was less nervous this opening night than any opening night I've ever had. Even with Keith's mum there. I mean I've known Keith's mum since I was 4. It's almost like having me own mum there. |
Mick Jagger
& Charlie Watts (2003): The Steel Wheels stage
Mick: The logistics of the Steel Wheels tour were fantastic. The show was enormous and the steel framework for it was huge. This was the first time that we had worked on that scale for a whole tour. We had done a lot of stadium shows, but never so many together, and we had never done them so lavishly, so big or so expensively. Even Mark Fisher and I were shocked when we finally got to put it up for the first time: it took about five days... We started trying to make some intellectual sense out of it. We asked other people who said that - depending on where they were sitting - it represented a factory or something out of Blade Runner. It meant a lot of things to different people. Charlie: The Steel Wheels stage was huge. Mick used to run about four miles a night. When he first started doing that I felt as if I was the only one on stage because Keith also started heading off along the wings, and Ronnie would be off somewhere else. Of course Matt Clifford was there on the keyboards - and Bill was there, because he never moved, but I still felt very isolated because I had no front men. Eventually I grew used to it and now it feels quite normal. |
Ron Wood
(2003): Adding horns
We had the Uptown Horns with us on the Steel Wheels and Urban Jungle tours. That's something that grew out of Mick touring with his own band and us using some of the musicians he worked with... Having the brass is a useful element... It doesn't limit what we do, it changes it. It gives you another level of freedom if a particular area of a song is covered by brass or by background vocals. It gives you the space to put in maybe just one note that's important or a particular riff, knowing that you have that hole covered behind you. |
September 3-4, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones perform their first tour dates in Canada since 1975,
with two
shows
at Toronto's
C.N.E. Stadium.
September 6-11, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones perform a concert in Pittsburgh, followed by three
shows at
East
Troy,
Wisconsin's Alpine Valley Music Theatre, their first ever in
the town,
for Chicago area fans.
Sugar
Blue
guests stars on Miss You in East Troy.
Mick Jagger
(September 6, 1989): Starting the marathon
I'm more disciplined than I was before. (I can keep this up 't)il December 19th (laughs). I did it on my solo tour in Australia and Japan, and there's no reason why I can't do it here. I train pretty hard and try to stay in shape; it's just like being on the tennis circuit without the coke. |
Keith Richards
(September 11, 1989): Wheels are rolling
(They shows are) going well, so far. We're keeping our fingers crossed, and I'll hit the wood here, but, yeah, they're getting better every day. The band's really winding up now. (T)his has been a dream year for the Stones as a band. |
September 13, 1989: Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts witness
an Elton John
concert in Cincinnati.
September 14-19, 1989:
The Rolling
Stones perform one stadium concert each in Cincinnati,
Raleigh, St.
Louis
and
Louisville, Kentucky. Johnnie Johnson joins the Stones for
Little Red
Rooster in St. Louis.
Ron Wood
& Keith Richards (1989): A "clean" tour
Ron: (W)e have cut down a lot. I'm sure I, or Keith, or Bill might have an occasional drink. But Mick and Charlie, no. Keith: The heavy drugs are out, of course. I'd be an idiot - probably wouldn't be here - if I hadn't cut them out. But I don't look to go through life being someone's image of Keith Richards. I'm inside him. The idea of partying for nine days in order to keep the image of Keith Richards is stupid. That was Keith Richards then. Now I'll stay up just two or three days. |
September 21-22, 1989:
The Rolling
Stones perform two concerts at Syracuse, New York's Carrier
Dome.
September 24-25, 1989:
The Rolling
Stones perform two shows at Washington D.C.'S RFK Stadium.
They
decline
an
invitation to the White House.
September 26, 1989: Bill Wyman and Ron Wood hang out with
Republican Party
chairman Lee Atwater in
Washington D.C.
September 27-October 3,
1989:
Following a show in Cleveland, the Rolling Stones perform
three
concerts at
the Foxboro (Boston) Sullivan Stadium. While in Boston, the
Rolling Stones
film the
videoclip
for Rock and a Hard Place.
October 3, 1989: Mick Jagger visits and talks with
Governor Michael Dukakis
at the Massachusetts State House.
October 5-8, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones perform in Birmingham, Alabama's Legion Field, then
in Iowa for
the
first
time in their career, at Ames' Cyclone Field, followed by
Kansas City's
Arrowhead Stadium.
October 9, 1989: In New York, the Rolling Stones all
attend a party celebrating
25 years of marriage between
Charlie and Shirley Watts.
October 10-11, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones perform two concerts at New York City's Shea Stadium.
Eric
Clapton
joins
the band onstage during Little Red Rooster.
October 11, 1989: Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman and Ron Wood
leave for Los
Angeles for a week's rest.
October 14, 1989: Ron Wood and Eric Clapton spend a day at
the track in
the Los Angeles region.
October 15, 1989: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards leave New
York for Los
Angeles. In Los Angeles, Bill Wyman
has a party
with guests including Eric Clapton, Phil Spector, Joni
Mitchell, Little Richard and Bobby Womack.
October 16, 1989: Bill Wyman and Ron Wood attend an
opening for a Michael
Cooper book of rock photos.
October 17, 1989: Ron Wood attends a gallery of his
artwork in Los Angeles.
October 18-22, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones perform four concerts at Los Angeles' Memorial
Coliseum.
October 24, 1989: Bill Wyman celebrates his 53rd birthday
at a club in
New York City, with Charlie Watts, Eric
Clapton, Sting and others attending. Ron Wood's new
nightclub, Woody's
In The Village, opens in New York.
October 25-29, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones perform four more concerts at New York City's Shea
Stadium.
October 27, 1989: Keith Richards catches a show by
classical guitarist
Carlos Montoya in New York. Mick Jagger sees
the Red Hot Chili Peppers perform at The Ritz.
November 1-2, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones return to Vancouver for the first time since 1972,
performing
two
concerts
at B.C. Place Stadium.
Keith Richards:
Age-ism
The hardest bit from that period, from about 1989 onwards, was the fact that we, the Stones, were thinking, We're putting it back together again, we're determined to do it and anyway why not? and at the same time we had to deal with the sledgehammer of people talking about the wrinkled old rockers and all of that bullshit. It's a question of how to deal with the music business and the press conception of what you are supposed to do at a certain age. There is a lso a certain amount of being wished to death, a certain amount of jealousy. |
November 4-5, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones perform two shows at Oakland's Alameda Country
Coliseum.
Mick
Jagger
visits the area hit by an October earthquake and the Rolling
Stones donate
$500 000 to
the
victims.
November 8-13, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones swing through the South, performing at Houston's
Astrodome,
Dallas'
Cotton
Bowl (2 shows) and New Orleans' Superdome.
November 10 or 11, 1989: While in Dallas, Keith jams
onstage with the Stratoblasters.
November 15-25, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones continue through the Southeast, performing for the
first time
in
Miami (two
shows) and Tampa in Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; and
Jacksonville in north
Florida.
November 26, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones perform in South Carolina for the first time in their
career,
putting
on
a benefit concert for the victims of Hurricane Hugo at
Clemson's Death
Valley Stadium.
November 29-30, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones engage the last leg of their North American tour,
sweeping
through
northern
cities again, starting with two concerts at Minneapolis'
Metrodome.
December 2, 1989: At TV
studios
in Toronto, the Rolling Stones shoot a videoclip for Almost
Hear You
Sigh.
December 3-4, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones return to Toronto for two more shows, this time at
the SkyDome.
December 6-10, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones play two shows each in Indianapolis and Detroit.
Mick Jagger
& Keith Richards (December 9, 1989): Looking
back
Mick: It's got that end-of-term feeling... (The tour coverage was) overly reverential... (There) was a criticism: Spontaneity was lacking. You don't come to the Rolling Stones in a stadium for spontaneity. You go to a jazz club. Spontaneity usually means mistakes, I find. I was so insistent that we put out a new album, because I thought the Stones were becoming just a nostalgia thing. And they are nostalgia. They're out there selling their catalog and we're playing these old songs because a lot of them people want to hear. But you've got to put out new things. You've got to think for the future. The past is the past. It's gone, thank you very much. This was the huge challenge: to do a good record and a good tour. And I think we've done really well. I mean, the record could have been BETTER; there could have been more HITS on it; it could have SOLD more. But, apart from that, the tour did really well. There's not been one night - and I'm a terrible critic of the Rolling Stones, I've said when they've been fucking useless - where I've felt that the band has not been worth the money paid. I'm quite pleased. I think the Rolling Stones have been very, very professional and kept a very high standard. Keith: The amazing this about this band, I look around, say, like when I go up onstage. Mick. There's Charlie. There's Bill. There's Ronnie. I know I'm here. It's like Is that ALL? (laughs) Is this what all this is about? You're still looking for someone that really knows what's going on, because nobody does. |
Mick Jagger
& Ron Wood (December 9-10, 1989): Looking to the
future
Mick: You can't particularly plan the future that hard and fast. I mean, they want us to go and tour Japan, which is easy, lots of money, so you say, Yeah, OK. And then Europe. You say, Well, yeah, but not HUNDREDS of shows, because Europe is, like, a terrible nightmare compared to this. It's not so much money, it's much harder work, it's endless border problems, it's huge tax problems. No one gets that much money, you never know how much you're going to get, the stage can't be as good. It's a logistical nightmare. I was just doing that before you came in: How many thousands of hours can the stage be put up and how can we do it and on and on... I don't know. After that, I don't know what happens, really. I've got enough planning to get to the end of this monstrous week: pay-per-views, special guests, songs lists for Axl. It's quite amusing, really. It always comes out right at the end, right? Ron: We have to go to Europe. The round trip wouldn't be complete without going back. I'm getting into second gear of a five-speed box, so there's room to cruise. I know there are a lot of hassles with all the border crossings, languages, and not such good money, but believe me, it would be well boring if the whole world was the same, and God knows it's becoming more like that all the time. I'd like to play in Berlin. |
December 13-14, 1989:
Back in
Montreal for the first time since 1972, the Rolling Stones
perform two
concerts at
the Olympic Stadium. Members of opening band Living Colour
join in on It's
Only Rock 'n
Roll.
December 17-20, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones conclude their 1989 North American Tour, the longest
thus
far in
their
history and highest grossing in rock at the time, with three
concerts at
Atlantic City's
Convention
Centre, the second being broadcast on pay-per-view,
closed-circuit TV across
North
America. Eric
Clapton, John Lee Hooker and Guns 'n' Roses' Axl Rose and
Izzy Stradlin
perform with
the
Stones
onstage.
December 20, 1989: Keith Richards returns home near New
York City, Mick
Jagger travels to Mustique for the
holidays.
December 21, 1989: Ron Wood, Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman
return to England.
December 22, 1989: Bill Wyman holds a party at his home in
England.
December 27, 1989: The
Rolling
Stones' new video documentary, 25 X 5: The Continuing
Adventures of
the
Rolling
Stones, is aired on TV.
December 31, 1989: Keith Richards leaves for Antigua.