Hats off to Bjornulf and the greatest fan website ever.

This posting is in-part wild prediction, and in-part a passionate plea for action! Wondering if the IORR universe can literally will this into being...

Just for the sake of speculation, let me say up front that I am a "nobody special," simply a New York city native who is a huge fan of TGRnRBITW, and have been all my life.

So here goes:

Before Dec 31, 2023 (Christmas show, end of fall season), or Spring 2024 (Season Finale), musical guest for Saturday Night Live (SNL) will be...

Ladies and Gentlemen...
The Rolling Stones!

First time since October 7, 1978. When, as a 21-year old drummer from the Bronx for the SNL house band (with Paul Schaffer, I think), Steve Jordan reportedly sat backstage with Stones drummer Charlie Watts and watched television as the NY Yankees clinched the American League pennant. Jordan explained American baseball to the ultimate English gentleman (and already legendary musician).
First time Jordan and Watts had met.

Years later, Watts told Keith that Jordan was the drummer to play with if Keith ever needed a different drummer (say, for example, with the XPensive Winos?)
Many years later, Watts is unable to play on tour, Jordan gets the nod (directly from Charlie). Charlie sadly passes away and...the rest is history for Jordan and the Stones.

That part of the Stones' story (the passing of the drummer's baton) happened right there, in that same SNL studio, on that same show that still runs today.

Stones currently have a #1 album.

So...next stop SNL? I am nothing but a life-long fan, and New York native, who watched in 1978, and who simply has a feeling in my bones (or maybe a hope in my heart?) about this.

This would be a very, very big deal. Why, in the 50+ year history of that quintessentially New York show, have the Stones only appeared once?

I think they were historically TV-stingy, believing it created a mystique about them, a scarcity-mindset for their fanbase. But they are older and past that now. They are also realistic about their own mortalities. Keith will be 80 on December 18 (not a Saturday night next month, but close). There are those of us who remember when the Rolling Stones were dangerous. They are not that anymore, and that is just fine with us (very few of whom ourselves would still be considered "dangerous!").

They could do this in 2023 They could give this to their fans.

So, with the Jordan story, and the fact that Lorne Michaels is STILL the hip producer, just as he was in 1978, and (like the rest of the world) STILL a Stones fan, this would be a very big gig. In fact, much bigger for SNL than it is for the Stones, if you can believe that.

They have a number 1 album. They know that Time Waits for No One. They have at the drum kit that 21 year old kid from the Bronx, who first met Charlie Watts in that very studio, and who now plays with the band in accordance with the late Watts' direction.

IMHO, New York City is currently in a toilet similar to the one it was in 1978. "Rats on the West Side, bedbugs uptown, what a mess, this town's in tatters..."

This has got to happen. There are too many synchronicities for it to NOT happen.

Here is an added twist to the prediction: Lady Gaga hosts the show. Wow! C'MON, HOW GREAT WOULD THAT BE? If memory serves, I think the Stones got at least one more song in 1978 than typical musical guests got at that time. It was a very big deal in 1978, and with Gaga in 2023 it would be just as big. They would surely get a third song, and it would be SSOH, with her.

This is exactly the jolt of electricity that only the Rolling Stones were historically able to generate. Think backstage at MSG...Capote, Radizwill, Warhol, Cavett, Trudeau (El Mocambo), Onassis, Hendrix, Turner, Wonder. Then think backstage at SNL..Gaga, Bono, McCartney (and every other musical figure alive today), Fallon, Rock, Stern, Davidson, Craig, Noah, Wonder (again! still!), et al. No other rock band brought that kind of juice to New York or the world. No other band could.

And best of all, they never even tried to do it. It simply followed them, building organically, by attraction and not promotion. Who in this world does not want to be near the Rolling Stones, especially if they will play SNL for the first time in 45 years, with a #1 album on the charts?

Whoever is out there listening...please make this happen?

And then, get ready to LOL when this happens and a subversive 2023/2024 storyline/controversy follows on social media that goes something like this: "Hey, you can't say 'Ladies and Gentlemen' anymore, BOOMER!" :-) Half-heartedly lending credence to the notion that maybe the Rolling Stones, and the buzz that only they can create (by simply being themselves) are still dangerous. :-)

Wow- this is a no-brainer and should have been done on release weekend. They only wanted to play a short set anyway, so this would have been ideal, and they were all in NY anyway!

Quote
DGee
IMHO, New York City is currently in a toilet similar to the one it was in 1978. "Rats on the West Side, bedbugs uptown, what a mess, this town's in tatters...

Millions of New Yorkers are outside enjoying one of the most beautiful days of the year right now. I suggest you stop living through your television or printed tabloid equivalent and join them.

sounds great you make a good case for it

but if it was gonna happen i'd have thought it would've been when all of them were in town and had been rehearsing

i assume that at this point they've all departed to there various corners of the globe

and the next thing that'll bring them all together again will be tour rehearsals this spring

that to me would be the best chance for it to happen for the season finale

but why have gaga host

why not sweeten the pot for them and let the band themselves host the show

in fact let the band take over the show let them have a say and a hand in everything from the musical performances, sketches, hell even weekend update

as you said this would be a bigger deal for snl then for the stones and for the last 45 years i'm sure they've been offered a lot of extremely good deals to perform on tv shows and have turned them all down

this has to be an incredibly good offer to get them to agree to this

it'd be good promotion for the album and the us tour that'll follow the show and would bring the show ratings it hasn't seen in ages

that all being said i still don't think it'll happen

I saw have Fallon host the show!!

Still liking the odds on this one. Last SNL season finale was April 15, 2023. Not sure when the SNL season finale will be next spring. But Stones open their 2024 North American tour on April 28, 2024. They probably don't "need" to sell tickets, but an SNL spot within a week or two of a North American tour certainly doesn't hurt. Let it (30) Rock!

Cool idea, hope it gets attention from the right sources. Good luck!