Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour

Steel Wheels Tour/Urban Jungle Tour
Tour by The Rolling Stones
Associated album Steel Wheels
Start date 31 August 1989
End date 25 August 1990
Legs 3
No. of shows 115
Box office US $175 million ($193.47 in 2017 dollars)[1]
The Rolling Stones concert chronology

The Rolling Stones' Steel Wheels Tour was a concert tour which was launched in North America in August 1989 to promote the band's album Steel Wheels; it continued to Japan in February 1990, with ten shows at the Tokyo Dome. The European leg of the tour, which featured a different stage and logo, was called the Urban Jungle Tour; it ran from May to August 1990. These would be the last live concerts for the band with original member Bill Wyman on bass guitar. This tour would also be the longest the band had ever done up to that point, playing over twice as many shows as their standard tour length from the 1960s and 1970s.

The tour was an enormous financial success, cementing The Rolling Stones' return to full commercial power after a seven-year hiatus in touring marked by well-publicized acrimony among band members.

History

A Steel Wheels pre-tour 'surprise show' took place on 12 August 1989 at Toad's Place in New Haven, Connecticut with a local act, Sons of Bob, opening the show for an audience of only 700 people who had purchased tickets for $3.01 apiece.[2] The official Steel Wheels Tour kicked off later that month at the now-demolished Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. During the opening show in Philadelphia, the power went out during "Shattered", and caused a slight delay in the show. Jagger came out and spoke to the crowd during the delay. The Stones returned to Vancouver, B.C. in Canada and played two sold out concerts at B.C. Place Stadium. Fan reaction for tickets was unprecedented. One local radio station 99.3 The Fox even had a man (Andrew Korn) sit in front of the station in a bath tub filled with brown sugar and water for free tickets to the concert. Total attendance was 6.2 million.

The stage was designed by Mark Fisher with participation of Charlie Watts and Mick Jagger. Lighting design was by Patrick Woodroffe.

Canadian promoter Michael Cohl made his name buying the concert, sponsorship, merchandising, radio, television, and film rights to the Steel Wheels Tour. It became the most financially successful rock tour in history up to that time. Rival promoter Bill Graham, who also bid on the tour, later wrote that "Losing the Stones was like watching my favourite lover become a whore."

Performances from the tour were documented on the album Flashpoint, and the video Live at the Max, both released in 1991.

Opening acts for the tour included Living Colour, Dan Reed Network, Guns N' Roses and Gun.

In August 1990, an extra concert in Prague, Czechoslovakia, was added. Czechoslovakia had overthrown the Communist regime nine months earlier, and The Rolling Stones' concert was perceived as a symbolic end of the revolution. Czechoslovakia's new president Václav Havel, who was lifelong fan of the band, helped to arrange the event, and met the band at the Prague Castle before the show. The expenses were partially covered by Havel and by the Czechoslovak Ministry of industry. The attendance was over 100,000.[3][4] The band chose to donate all the revenues from this gig (over 4 million Czechoslovak korunas) to the Committee of Good Will, a charity run by Havel's wife Olga Havlová.[5]

Personnel

The Rolling Stones

Additional musicians

  • Matt Clifford – keyboards, backing vocals, percussion, French horn
  • Bobby Keys – saxophone
  • Chuck Leavell – keyboards, backing vocals and musical director
  • Bernard Fowler – backing vocals, percussion
  • Lisa Fischer – backing vocals on the North American & Japanese tours only
  • Cindy Mizelle – backing vocals on the North American & Japanese tours only
  • Lorelei McBroom – backing vocals on the European tour only
  • Sophia Jones – backing vocals on the European tour only
  • The Uptown Horns:
    1. Arno Hecht – saxophone
    2. Bob Funk – trombone
    3. Crispin Cioe – saxophone
    4. Paul Litteral – trumpet

Tour set lists

For the opening night of the Steel Wheels Tour the setlist was as follows (all songs composed by Jagger/Richards unless otherwise noted):

  1. "Start Me Up"
  2. "Bitch"
  3. "Shattered"
  4. "Sad Sad Sad"
  5. "Undercover of the Night"
  6. "Harlem Shuffle" (Relf/Nelson)
  7. "Tumbling Dice"
  8. "Miss You"
  9. "Ruby Tuesday"
  10. "Play With Fire" (Nanker Phelge)
  11. "Dead Flowers"
  12. "One Hit (to the Body)" (Jagger/Richards/Wood)
  13. "Mixed Emotions"
  14. "Honky Tonk Women"
  15. "Rock and a Hard Place"
  16. "Midnight Rambler"
  17. "You Can't Always Get What You Want"
  18. "Little Red Rooster" (Dixon)
  19. "Before They Make Me Run"
  20. "Happy"
  21. "Paint It Black"
  22. "2000 Light Years from Home"
  23. "Sympathy for the Devil"
  24. "Gimme Shelter"
  25. "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)"
  26. "Brown Sugar"
  27. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"
  28. "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (encore)

For the final night of the Urban Jungle Tour (the last Rolling Stones concert with Bill Wyman) the band played:

  1. "Start Me Up"
  2. "Sad Sad Sad"
  3. "Harlem Shuffle"
  4. "Tumbling Dice"
  5. "Miss You"
  6. "Ruby Tuesday"
  7. "Angie"
  8. "Rock and a Hard Place"
  9. "Mixed Emotions"
  10. "Honky Tonk Women"
  11. "Midnight Rambler"
  12. "You Can't Always Get What You Want"
  13. "Before They Make Me Run"
  14. "Happy"
  15. "Paint It Black"
  16. "2000 Light Years from Home"
  17. "Sympathy for the Devil"
  18. "Street Fighting Man"
  19. "Gimme Shelter"
  20. "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)"
  21. "Brown Sugar"
  22. "Jumpin' Jack Flash"
  23. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (encore)

Other songs played on the tour:

  1. "Almost Hear You Sigh" (Jagger/Richards/Jordan)
  2. "Blinded By Love"
  3. "Boogie Chillen" (Hooker)
  4. "Can't Be Seen"
  5. "Factory Girl"
  6. "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (Dixon)
  7. "Salt of the Earth"
  8. "Terrifying"
  9. "Indian Girl"

Tour dates

Date City Country Venue Tickets sold / Available Revenue Opening Act
North America
12 August 1989New HavenUnited StatesToad's PlaceN/AN/AN/A
31 August 1989PhiladelphiaVeterans Stadium110,556 / 110,556$3,181,143Living Color
1 September 1989
3 September 1989TorontoCanadaCNE Stadium121,897 / 121,897$3,368,752
4 September 1989
6 September 1989PittsburghUnited StatesThree Rivers Stadium62,939 / 62,939$1,790,526
8 September 1989East TroyAlpine Valley105,995 / 105,995$2,941,882
9 September 1989
11 September 1989
14 September 1989CincinnatiRiverfront Stadium53,555 / 53,555$1,522,536
16 September 1989RaleighCarter–Finley Stadium52,881 / 52,881$1,506,393
17 September 1989St. LouisBusch Stadium53,705 / 53,705$1,528,397
19 September 1989LouisvilleCardinal Stadium39,301 / 39,301$1,120,075
21 September 1989SyracuseCarrier Dome73,828 / 73,828$2,082,325
22 September 1989
24 September 1989Washington, D.C.Robert F. Kennedy Stadium105,267 / 105,267$2,988,142
25 September 1989
27 September 1989ClevelandMunicipal Stadium61,527 / 61,527$1,753,520
29 September 1989FoxboroughSullivan Stadium163,308 / 163,308$4,648,338
1 October 1989
3 October 1989
5 October 1989BirminghamLegion Field63,523 / 63,523$1,804,348
7 October 1989AmesCyclone Field55,857 / 55,857$1,589,273
8 October 1989Kansas CityArrowhead Stadium55,306 / 55,306$1,576,075
10 October 1989New York CityShea Stadium124,524 / 124,524$3,735,610
11 October 1989
18 October 1989Los AngelesLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum360,069 / 360,069$9,166,937Guns N'Roses
Living Colour
19 October 1989
21 October 1989
22 October 1989
25 October 1989New York CityShea Stadium263,213 / 263,213$7,871,842Living Colour
26 October 1989
28 October 1989
29 October 1989
1 November 1989VancouverCanadaBC Place Stadium110,591 / 110,591$3,065,058
2 November 1989
4 November 1989OaklandUnited StatesOakland–Alameda County Coliseum117,603 / 117,603$3,347,518
5 November 1989
8 November 1989HoustonAstrodome52,278 / 52,278$1,486,623
10 November 1989DallasCotton Bowl119,856 / 119,856$3,410,856
11 November 1989
13 November 1989New OrleansLouisiana Superdome59,339 / 59,339$1,682,220
15 November 1989MiamiOrange Bowl107,175 / 110,000$3,054,488
16 November 1989
18 November 1989TampaTampa Stadium63,415 / 63,415$1,802,884
21 November 1989AtlantaGrant Field49,311 / 49,311$1,401,082
25 November 1989JacksonvilleGator Bowl62,637 / 62,637$1,779,205
26 November 1989ClemsonMemorial Stadium63,784 / 63,784$1,817,844
29 November 1989MinneapolisHubert H. Humphrey Metrodome104,780 / 104,780$2,976,592
30 November 1989
3 December 1989TorontoCanadaSkyDome117,446 / 117,446$3,282,757
4 December 1989
6 December 1989IndianapolisUnited StatesHoosier Dome89,078 / 89,078$2,533,955
7 December 1989
9 December 1989PontiacSilverdome100,234 / 100,234$2,956,834
10 December 1989
13 December 1989MontrealCanadaOlympic Stadium123,962 / 123,962$3,490,126
14 December 1989
17 December 1989Atlantic CityUnited StatesConvention CenterN/AN/AN/A
19 December 1989
20 December 1989
Asia
14 February 1990TokyoJapanTokyo DomeN/AN/AN/A
16 February 1990
17 February 1990
19 February 1990
20 February 1990
21 February 1990
23 February 1990
24 February 1990
26 February 1990
27 February 1990
Europe
18 May 1990RotterdamNetherlandsDe KuipN/AN/AGun
19 May 1990
21 May 1990
23 May 1990HanoverGermanyNiedersachsenstadion
24 May 1990
26 May 1990FrankfurtWaldstadion
27 May 1990
30 May 1990CologneMüngersdorfer StadionDie Toten Hosen
31 May 1990
2 June 1990MunichOlympiastadionGun
3 June 1990
6 June 1990BerlinOlympiastadion
10 June 1990LisbonPortugalEstádio José Alvalade
13 June 1990BarcelonaSpainEstadi Olímpic de Montjuïc
14 June 1990
16 June 1990MadridEstadio Vicente Calderón
17 June 1990
20 June 1990MarseilleFranceStade Vélodrome
22 June 1990ParisParc des Princes
23 June 1990
25 June 1990
27 June 1990BaselSwitzerlandSt. Jakob Stadium
4 July 1990LondonEnglandWembley Stadium
6 July 1990
7 July 1990
9 July 1990GlasgowScotlandHampden Park
16 July 1990CardiffWalesCardiff Arms Park
18 July 1990NewcastleEnglandSt James' Park
20 July 1990ManchesterMaine Road
21 July 1990
25 July 1990RomeItalyStadio Flaminio
26 July 1990
28 July 1990TurinStadio Delle Alpi
31 July 1990ViennaAustriaPraterstadion
3 August 1990GothenburgSwedenEriksberg Docks Concert Grounds
4 August 1990
6 August 1990OsloNorwayValle Hovin Stadium
7 August 1990
9 August 1990CopenhagenDenmarkIdrætsparken
13 August 1990BerlinGermanyRadrennbahn Weißensee
14 August 1990
16 August 1990GelsenkirchenParkstadion
18 August 1990PragueCzechoslovakiaStrahov Stadium
24 August 1990LondonEnglandWembley Stadium
25 August 1990

See also

References

  1. ↑ Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Community Development Project. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  2. ↑ Rolling Stones Steel Wheels North American Tour 1989 (Paperback)
  3. ↑ Lipčík, Roman (1990-10-04). "The Rolling Stones' Czech Invasion". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2017-06-24.
  4. ↑ Gregor, Marek (2010-08-19). "Jak se kameny valily Prahou" [How the stones rolled through Prague]. Reflex (in Czech). Prague. Retrieved 2017-06-24.
  5. ↑ Bednářová, Otka (February 1992). "Annual Report of the Olga Havel Foundation 1991" (Press release). Prague: Committee of Good Will – Olga Havel Foundation. Retrieved 2017-06-24.
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