From Livedaily:

Stones tap Kanye West to open select dates

August 03, 2006 11:09 AM
by Rob Evans
liveDaily Editor

The Rolling Stones have lined up rapper/producer Kanye West to open the first three stops on their upcoming North American tour.
West has signed on as a special guest for the tour's September stops in the Boston area, in Nova Scotia and in the New York City area. Tickets are on sale now for all three shows.

Meanwhile, ticket on-sales have been scheduled for two of the tour's other upcoming stops. Tickets hit the market Friday (8/4) for a newly announced, second show in Regina, Saskatchewan, set for Oct. 6; and Monday on-sales are planned for the tour's Nov. 17 stop in the Boise, ID, area.

The Stones have also made a couple of minor tweaks to their previously announced schedule, moving up the dates for its shows in Wichita, KS, and Missoula, MT. Details are in the itinerary below.

Members of the Stones' official fan club have access to pre-sale tickets and special VIP ticket packages for those shows beginning July 26. More information is available at the group's website.

The Stones continue to tour behind last year's "A Bigger Bang," the group's first new studio set since 1997's "Bridges to Babylon." The disc debuted at No. 3 on The Billboard 200 album chart.

Concert-industry magazine Pollstar ranked the first North American leg of the Stones' "A Bigger Bang" outing as the second-highest-grossing tour of the first half of 2006. According to the magazine, the Stones took in $52.5 million, second only to Madonna's $54.3 million take.

The 2005 edition of the Stones' "A Bigger Bang" tour was the year's top-grossing outing, according to Pollstar. The group pulled down $162 million over the course of only 42 shows thanks to an average ticket price of about $134.

For the upcoming North American dates, 90% of the ticket inventory will be priced at $89 for the stadium shows and $99 for the arena shows, according to organizers, and a "limited number of Gold Circle seats" will be available as well.

Excellent!

Why????


That's not a very good fit to me.

CindyC Wrote:
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> Why????
>
>
> That's not a very good fit to me.


LOL, I know! Joke!

I don't understand it either. Maroon 5, Black Eyed Peas and now Kanye West!

Big Al, I didn't pick up your sarcasm when you wrote Excellent.

Seriously though, what a crappy opener, I know he might be popular right now, but not for the majority of RS fans (Yes, I do speak for everyone, thank you very much).

I'll be in the parking lot till that crap is over, that's fo sho.

what a load of crap, obviously they are trying to improve ticket sales, which so far have been lousy, maybe next they will have celine dion open for them.

"No dope smoking no beer sold after 12 o'clock"

That Halifax show has gone a long way from the rumored Stones/The Who/Aerosmith lineup to Stones/Kanye West and is Alice Cooper on the bill also?

maybe theyre waiting to see if Britney is free that night, first

That makes no sense. Do they expect the Hip Hop contingent to pay those ticket prices?

OH JEEZ... can you imagine if Mick asks that guy to join him on a duet???

I think that would be the sign of the apocalypse

So the Boise show is now on the 17th instead of the 14th? Didn't see this anyplace other than this "livedaily" report. I wonder what other changes will be announced to the tour schedule this fall...

ratcub Wrote:
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> So the Boise show is now on the 17th instead of
> the 14th? Didn't see this anyplace other than
> this "livedaily" report. I wonder what other
> changes will be announced to the tour schedule
> this fall...


I believe that is a typo. Los Angeles is set for the 18th, unless they have made more changes.

Stevie Wonder in 72, Prince in the 80s, now Kanye West: how is that surprising? It's perfectly coherent with what the Stones have ever done. I think it's fine although I'd prefer to see Black Eyed Peas.

RS.com has this listed:

08.03.06 Kanye West Joins The Rolling Stones
KANYE WEST JOINS THE ROLLING STONES

AS SPECIAL GUEST ON "A BIGGER BANG" WORLD TOUR

NEW YORK - August 3, 2006 - The Rolling Stones are returning to North America this fall with 'A Bigger Bang' then ever before bringing along one of the most important creative forces in hip-hop music today, Kanye West. The hip-hop superstar will get fans fired up on September 20th at Gillette Stadium/Boston, September 23rd at Halifax Commons/Halifax and September 27th at Giant Stadium/New Jersey. The Rolling Stones are known for bringing fans the hottest guest artists and Kanye West joins the ranks of legendary performers over the past decades such as Stevie Wonder, Pearl Jam, Dave Mathews Band and Metallica.

Since the release of his three million selling, critically acclaimed-debut album The College Dropout, Kanye West, the Chicago-born 27 year old rapper/producer/hip-hop icon has been at the top of the charts. At the 47th Grammy Awards he topped all nominees with a historic ten nods and took home awards for Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song and Best R&B Song. Recently named to Time Magazine's list of 100 most influential people in the world, Kanye West has proven himself to be the most vital artist in hip-hop today.

Halup Wrote:
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> RS.com has this listed:
>
> 08.03.06 Kanye West Joins The Rolling Stones


A very unfortunate headline. Even the Ronnie bashers cant have wished for THIS!

otonneau Wrote:
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> Stevie Wonder in 72, Prince in the 80s, now Kanye
> West: how is that surprising? It's perfectly
> coherent with what the Stones have ever done. I
> think it's fine although I'd prefer to see Black
> Eyed Peas.

Both Stevie Wonder and Prince had much more in common with the stones than Kanye West will ever have, this is just a marketting ploy by the band.
In 72 they didn't need stevie to sell tickets, same goes for prince.

CindyC Wrote:
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> Why????
>
>
> That's not a very good fit to me.


Perhaps the Idaho show would be a better fit for Kanye. Might get a good response when he gets up there and yells I-DA-HO!

Who you calling a Ho????!

Ropeni, in fact I agree with you... But it's still OK with me that they hire West. He's a good rapper, it makes a mixed show, boosts the sales, so win-win-win!

CindyC Wrote:
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> Who you calling a Ho????!


In this case it could only be Kanye!

Jeez, maybe he'll sing on Miss You like Timberlake!! That just CAN'T happen can it???

Erm.. I think we should be a little more open to that.. would be interessting to see how the crowd reacts.. I don't really like hiphop, but I've heard some stuff of West and, it's not that bad..

Or maybe they will duet on "Streets Of Love". I will Puke.

"No dope smoking no beer sold after 12 o'clock"

Lizard Wrote:
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Erm.. I think we should be a little more open to that..



I have learned to embrace my close-mindedness. Therefore, no Kanye, I just want Rock and Roll, is that so much to ask.

CindyC Wrote:
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> Lizard Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> Erm.. I think we should be a little more open to
> that..
>
>
>
> I have learned to embrace my close-mindedness.
> Therefore, no Kanye, I just want Rock and Roll, is
> that so much to ask.

But.. the West guy, I don't know much about it.. but I heard some of it on the radio.. and it has a nice groove to it..

CindyC Wrote:
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> Lizard Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> Erm.. I think we should be a little more open to
> that..
>
>
>
> I have learned to embrace my close-mindedness.
> Therefore, no Kanye, I just want Rock and Roll, is
> that so much to ask.

Glad to hear I'm NOT alone in my close-mindedness (at least when it comes to music!!)!

You're right Lizard, now's the time to nail the joke about Cindy being old and even the score from the VL thread. Kanye grooves.

Last I heard Halifax had Alice Cooper and Sloan - that's a Canadian band from the region. They are a bit on the mundane rock side of things. Local legends but not much more than that. No matter, it's always fun to see anyone perform at the big venues. The energy is there for the grabbing.

90 % of tickets are $89! That is an outright lie! Only the back section of Soldier Field is that cheap. F-ing liars!

this is stupid,kanye west is horrible

If my memory is correct Kanye West opened for U2 last year, in the US. Am i right?

ROPENI wrote :

(A) "Both Stevie Wonder and Prince had much more in common with the stones than Kanye West will ever have"

Prince "much more in common with the Stones" ??? Can you explain it?


( "In 72 they didn't need stevie to sell tickets".

Hahaha...Maybe you're right. Because then, in the so called "glory years", the band was playing small venues doing tours gor 200,000 or 300,000 people. On this tour the Stones will play, in US-Canada only, to 2.2 or 2.5 million people. Much, much more than the numbers of all their northamerican tours in the sixties or seventies. Also more than 1981 total audience's figure! So, maybe you're right...