A shorter affair as far as set lists and tour goes. Any thoughts on why such a short set list? Woodstock rehearsals found the band rehearsing a number of songs that were omitted from set list. Why? Why such a short list when plenty of other tracks had been played in rehearsals. Why no European tour next year? Why such poor locations in 1978 e.g palladium NYC, Masonic Temple Detroit? really small venues when much large options on the table (Silverdome Detroit, Shea, Yankee Stadiums in NYC). I suspect Keith's legal problems had something to do with it but not all.

I think it fit the phase they were in. Lots of 3 minute rockers and punk out. It was a great tour as they musically in a zone as it went on. A true rock n roll outfit.

The 1978 set was probably longer than the 1972/73-sets. It was the 1975/76-sets that was the anomaly at that point in their career.

They went for longer setlists from 1981 and on, though.

Fast rockers and long jams. Something for everyone

This was a "punk rock" tour. Shorter setlist, but more intensive, more fast numbers, almost no ballads (except Far Away Eyes & Love In Vain).

Why no European tour? Because Keith legal problems.

Why poor locations? This was the dawn of stadium rock era. Not everything was logistically and technically possible. Many people complained about poor sound on stadiums so maybe the band wanted to balance it with smaller ballroom and arena shows.

My first Stones show was in Boulder that tour. It was fantastic!

That tour was their most expansive regarding venues - theatres, arenas (some called coliseums or convention centers/complexes), football stadiums (JFK, Superdome, Soldier Field, Cleveland, Buffalo, Boulder) and baseball stadiums (Oakland, Anaheim).

It is strange they didn't play the Silverdome. The Superdome show had 78,000 plus!

One thing not mentioned yet the tour was only announced on or around May 19th so there was a lot less lead time, even by 1970's standards to structure a comprehensive tour of size appropriate venues. Even at that time it looked less like a tour than a series of 6 or so stadium gigs that was eventually filled out with whatever available venues. As far as the setlist goes, I can see why some were disappointed as there isn't much in the way of "hits" and Some Girls only came out as the tour was starting.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-02-20 20:49 by Dan.

OK I was off on the timeline but researching thru newspapers.com looks like some dates were being announced in April with rumblings starting up in March that made it seem like a stadium tour starting in May including a show the at the time brand new Giants Stadiums in late June was likely. JFK was announced first followed by the other stadium dates.

Looks like they quickly booked some weekend stadium dates thru the summer then filled it out with whatever venues they could within the preferred routing. For example the Florida date was tentatively supposed to be at the the Tangerine Bowl June 3 or 10 as Tampa Stadium was still not hosting concerts thanks to the issues at the Led Zeppelin show in 1977 before ending up at Lakeland (announced and on sale May 30). But it looks like the tour was somewhat haphazardly booked in a shorter timeframe than usual and lost out on many desired venues. Sound familiar?

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Dan
Looks like they quickly booked some weekend stadium dates thru the summer then filled it out with whatever venues they could within the preferred routing. For example the Florida date was tentatively supposed to be at the the Tangerine Bowl June 3 or 10 as Tampa Stadium was still not hosting concerts thanks to the issues at the Led Zeppelin show in 1977 before ending up at Lakeland (announced and on sale May 30). But it looks like the tour was somewhat haphazardly booked in a shorter timeframe than usual and lost out on many desired venues. Sound familiar?

It's unlikely the Stones people waited until January to book a 2025 tour. What is likely is while the Stones were on tour last year

1. A ton of acts that knew they would be touring in 2025 booked shows, some in places the Stones would play or prefer to play at; turn around times aren't sufficient.

2. The Rolling Stones probably weren't concerned thinking that far ahead because of... their age? Probably not their age. It's more likely they don't like touring Europe because it's a hassle since it's so many countries so they possibly begrudgingly started looking into a EU tour and when "they" started to see a pattern emerge of difficulties, forget it.

1978 my first time seeing the Rolling Stones at the Capitol Theater Passaic NJ.
It was a hot sweaty night.
I was hooked to say the least.

Seems like they were moving away from Rolling Stones stuff and using fake names at smaller venues. Fake names always help you get in small clubs…Europe missed out for some reason

I saw the Cleveland show, first stones and first stadium show. Stones set was in daylight, 5pm start, kind of odd. Still remember the whole stadium rocking together to HTW, unforgettable. What a show.

[michaelconen.wordpress.com]

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franzk

Why no European tour? Because Keith legal problems.

Not true. They did book some venues in Europe for 1979, but found out that touring smaller venues in Europe would be too expensive due to the crossing of the many borders. So they dropped the idea of a similar tour in Europe as they did in 1978.

Mathijs

FYI: “The aborted European leg of the Some Girls Tour”

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