I know this has been addressed but I just went over to the Shidoobee site and they are pretty much holding a wake for the tour. It's very strange. How could anyone have so much time on their hands as to be able to write post after post after post about what a "disaster" the ticket sales are and how some stadiums will only be an 1/8th-filled and how well Paul McCartney and U2 are doing?
I must say that of all the fan websites I've ever visited, Rolling Stones fans seem to be the most negative fans in the world...it's almost as if they can't wait to be able to say "the new song/album is horrible--told you so" and "the tour is a bust, there are thousands and thousands of seats available at fire sale prices." With fans like these...
I don't know but I find it hard to believe that the Rolling Stones would misjudge the market that badly. Would more people really rather see Paul McCartney than the Stones?
If this were true, it would definitely be in the news by now as the American and British medias love stories of collossal failure, particularly if it involves the Stones, for some reason.
I do remember that the Voodoo Lounge tour started off with some un-sold out shows but once word got out on how good the show was, it ended up being the most successful tour of all-time.
So what is it....normal sales patterns or a mega-dud? (All this malarky was bandied about before the Bridges to Babylon and Licks tours, also, as I remember...the Licks tour presumably was going to be a disaster of grand proportions, like the U2 "Lemon" tour, what with no new album in 5 years, etc., etc. Didn't turn out to be true, of course. Still...MSG not sold out, of all places?)
All I know is I barely got tickets to Charlotte...I'm practically out the back door!

The main reasons why the hard core fans are so critical is that the Stones have become a international corporation instead of that English rock band they were in the 70's. They seem to forget a bit the fan base that made them this big and wealthy. Since Michael Cohl took over the financial part, the biggest aim of the Stones is to earn as much money as possible. Also, the Stones aren't the best band to their fans. While every other band treats the fans with special releases like sets of rarities or live gigs, the Stones release absolutely nothing from the vault. Instead, they wait 8 years before releasing an album (and do that in two steps to earn more money), and then go on tour and ask rediculous prices for a ticket.

Mathijs

The tour and album will both be very successful commercially and financially, of course

but every word Mathijs says above is correct, unfortunately with the exception of where he says "they seem to forget a bit". I'd replace the last two words there with "totally".

I once went out with a girl with a big bust, it turned into A Bigger Bang....

It's so very lonely, you're 2,000 Light Years from home

The Stones owe nothing to you or me. They've earned the right to do whatever they want. I've been to 30 big bangs (concerts) which were some of the best times I've ever had. And I will have many more bangs!

Get over it. The Stones can still rock.

i find it strange on shidoobee its all about doom and gloom, we all gonna die lol...mabe they should call it the doom and gloom site... at shidoobee they should ask the stones if they can rename the new album doom and gloom.and rename the tour the doom and gloom tour.i think some people need to get a life...if the tickets aint selling well the stones dont seem to be panicking..and the stones have the abilty to turn anything around...i heard all this before the voodoo lounge tour,and look how mega that tour turned out to be, as jack knife pointed out...and as we kmow to see the stones aint cheap, they charge loads more than u2 or McCartney.and at the end of the day will make more dosh than anyone else.

A TOUGH CALL<<BUT IF THE STADIUMS ARE HALF - EMPTY ,,,THATS MORE ROOM FOR US...C U IN CONN..

WOW, the last few posts I have made at Shiddobee, I have totally expressed how great it is to come here to IORR vs all the darkness on that site. Wierd, because during licks, u could not say anything bad about the group there and now you cannot find anything good about them on that board.

i must be reading Shidoobee upside down - it's waaay more positive there than on RO or here, IMO. I should know - I'm waaay more positive in my posts there :-)

The only way I'll see the Stones this time around is if I can score tix at the Beacon for $50....anything else is old hat since I saw them for the first time in '72

you're right jack knife, the stones fans are very negative, and there's nothing these guys can do right since the 70's is the opinion of the majority of posts. infact, i don't have one friend or know one person that is an actual fan of this band. i'm the only one that has followed these guys for the past 27 years that i know of.

however, i disagree with that overall concensus. these guys have paid their dues (for over 40 years) and have other interests to pursue whether it's their own solo work (films/music/art etc), or just their own families. all they really should be expected to do is entertain us when they do decide to get up and rock it.

of course, i would love a new stones album every year or so like the old days! and i wish they would complete that box set of rarities sometime.

Well, that's just typical. So the Stones are lying when they say: "Sure it's a multi-national cooporation, but it's still basically a mom and pop store"??? There's some people that always claim not to be living in the past, but still they bitch and howl about the Stones being more of a cooporation than a band. NEWSFLASH: These people still live in the past. That's the worst bollocks I ever heard man. Really. Ask yourself: At concerts, do they deliver the goods??? Yes, they do that better than anyone. They just found a way more lucrative way to do tours. What's the problem with that??? It can't all be snorting up ten thousand kilos of cocaine and shooting gallons of speedballs in to your arm, all the while you're playing Brown Sugar and @#$%& some minor girl.....or boy. Whatever you prefer. They are all old dudes now. And they still do it better than anyone I ever heard of. That's simply fan-friggin'-tastic that they can do that. What's there to bitch about???

This post is not meant to be offensive in any way. It's just my personal P.O.W.

JumpingKentFlash