I've always heard stories/rumors that The Stones had planned several theater/club/small venue shows for the 1981 tour. They did of course play Sir Morgan's Cove in Worcester, the Rockford Il.show, and Atlanta's Fox Theater.

There was also the drop in at the Checkerboard Lounge, but that really wasn't a ticketed Stones' show.

Boston also had heavily rumored gigs at The Orpheum, and even tickets printed for The Metropolitan Center on the 21st. Both were nixed because of the near riot in Worcester.

But that's not all they had in store for New England:

[rollingstonesphotosfromphilly.wordpress.com]

There was going to be an all out _assault_ planned. This calendar, and the ones for the three following months available on the same blog, are clearly from an early stage in the tour planning. The Sir Morgan's Cove gig isn't listed for Sept. 15; nor is the Met Center on the 21st - instead they are thinking the Ocean State Theatre in Providence on the 21st and/or E.M. Loew's Theater on the 23rd!!! I used to usher at E.M. Lowes in high school because we knew the family that owned it!! If only.....

Another indicator that these pages are early on is the fact that December doesn't list any of the final gigs of the tour after the Capitol Center in D.C. And I also noticed there's only one Seattle show scheduled. I am sure I have missed some other omissions.

But there are a handful of surprise small gigs that would have made this tour absolutely legendary if they pulled them off.

October:[rollingstonesphotosfromphilly.wordpress.com]

November:[rollingstonesphotosfromphilly.wordpress.com]

December:[rollingstonesphotosfromphilly.wordpress.com]

Thanks to punkfloyd for posting the links to Roger Barone's blog in his "Some More Concert Pics That Are New To Me" post!

J

Fast forward to 2003, when they were supposed to play "several" theatre & club shows.

I wonder what happened on these tours to make them change their minds ?

They played in the 100 Club in central London during the UK leg of this tour (in 1982)

They chose to do more rehearsals in Chicago, September 28 & 29.
After the gigs in Philly and Buffalo they probably came to the conclusion that
they need a sax-player on this tour. Maybe they used Park West as
rehearsal space, although I guess they headed to some more intimate
studio instead. This is probably the reason why this Chicago club-gig
never happened.

Thanks for the links to these interesting shedule sheets!

N



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-09-06 14:51 by NeddieFlanders.

Chicago West looks to be listed as "Maybe" which is what many of the other potential small shows were listed as. I can also see 'set up and rehearsal notes written in in spots,

The dumped the sax player after Rockford I thought - Lee Allen. Replaced by Ernie Watts. Bobby was still Exiled, but does make a few cameos on this and the European Tour.

Chuck Levall had the job until just before they were going to start and it was decided to go with Mac instead. So they made sure Chuck got Europe 82.

Thank you for interesting information.

I remember I made phone calls to Atlantic Record of LA almost everyday to check additional shows.
I could confirm shows in Phoenix, Kansas and Virginia on December 11 or 12.
Then, I made a flight reservation.
I guess tickets went on sale one week before the show at least in the local area.
I didn't notice that as of Largo shows, though.

Taking broadcast schedule and all additional shows into consideration, as a matter of fact,
all December schedule was fixed in October or early November, I think.

Some really great ideas on that tour. Wonder if the Stones came up with this or their agency?

In San Francisco it says setup indoor stage a couple times, but no location. Oakland indoor might have been the only choice as places like Warfield and Winterland had to be too small by this point.

Maybe it was Slim's....that would've been criminal...

there's still a small line of diehards waiting for the stones (cleverly called "tattoo" ) outside of san francisco's mabuhay gardens...gotta hand it to these fans for hanging in there all these decades later despite the overwhelming odds...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-06-20 18:14 by StonesTod.

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Munichhilton
In San Francisco it says setup indoor stage a couple times, but no location. Oakland indoor might have been the only choice

Maybe Cow Palace where they played in 1975?

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erikjjf

Quote
Munichhilton
In San Francisco it says setup indoor stage a couple times, but no location. Oakland indoor might have been the only choice

Maybe Cow Palace where they played in 1975?

Good point. That would satisfy the indoor part, but that place is cavernous!!!
So maybe they weren't thinking small club in the SF area.

In SF there was a smallish club called the Old Waldorf (later called Wolfgang's when owned by Bill Graham). I had a friend who worked at the adjoining comedy club (the Punchline). He let me into the Old Waldorf one night to see the Stones equipment set up on stage. There were roadies so I couldn't get too close. Everyone was saying the show was going to happen, All the activity inside made me believe it. Lines formed outside as the rumors were going around but they never sold tickets. For two nights I was there but just waiting. The story I heard much later was that Bill Graham wanted them to do it but Mick had met a woman in Marin county and was not even around those nights anyway. (this was a few days before their 10/81 SF shows at Candlestick)

Quote
livewithme
In SF there was a smallish club called the Old Waldorf (later called Wolfgang's when owned by Bill Graham). I had a friend who worked at the adjoining comedy club (the Punchline). He let me into the Old Waldorf one night to see the Stones equipment set up on stage. There were roadies so I couldn't get too close. Everyone was saying the show was going to happen, All the activity inside made me believe it. Lines formed outside as the rumors were going around but they never sold tickets. For two nights I was there but just waiting. The story I heard much later was that Bill Graham wanted them to do it but Mick had met a woman in Marin county and was not even around those nights anyway. (this was a few days before their 10/81 SF shows at Candlestick)

Great story. That settles it!
Winterland probably would have worked too rethinking it.
Capacity was 5000 or so

Can't believe they considered playing Arlington Stadium in Texas (now gone). At 2 miles from my house, my parents might have let me go with older brothers (I was 10). Instead they played the Cotton Bowl. very different neighborhood.

Winterland had closed a few years before that. The Old Waldorf was much smaller like maybe 500. Just to correct a misstatement, while Bill Graham did buy the Old Waldorf and run it for awhile, he closed it when he opened Wolfgang's at another location.

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punkfloyd
Can't believe they considered playing Arlington Stadium in Texas (now gone). At 2 miles from my house, my parents might have let me go with older brothers (I was 10). Instead they played the Cotton Bowl. very different neighborhood.

Whether or not they were considering it, I doubt the Rangers would have let them---apparently, Arlington had a strict no concert policy since it would have cost too much to resod the lawn. Don't know if this has carried over to the new Ballpark in Arlington, but with all the new retro parks and the two classics (Fenway and Wrigley) now hosting concerts, it would be nice if Arlington officials lifted their ban.

Quote
Munichhilton

Quote
erikjjf

Quote
Munichhilton
In San Francisco it says setup indoor stage a couple times, but no location. Oakland indoor might have been the only choice

Maybe Cow Palace where they played in 1975?

Good point. That would satisfy the indoor part, but that place is cavernous!!!
So maybe they weren't thinking small club in the SF area.

Either way it looks like the indoor stage setup in S.F. is to "try out" for the upcoming first indoor show in Atlanta at The Omni.

There is a "maybe small" listed for S.F., but the indoor stage would be too big for that, and they obviously weren't comfortable using it until they tried it out somewhere.

Remember that these calendars are sourced from one of the lead stage hands/carpenters. So a lot of it has to do with stage setup times etc.

J