The Rolling Stones’ Tour of the Americas ’75 was originally intended to reach both North and South America. The plans for concerts in Central and South America never solidified however, and the tour covered only the United States and Canada.

After the departure of Mick Taylor, this was the Stones’ first tour with new guitarist Ronnie Wood. Announced on April 14 as merely “playing with the band on the tour,” it would not be until December 19 that Wood would be officially named a Rolling Stone. Gone was the familiar horn section and the tour now featured Billy Preston on keyboards and Ollie E. Brown on percussion. Bobby Keys made a guest appearance on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “Brown Sugar” at the Los Angeles shows.

The announcement of the tour became famous in itself. On May 1st, reporters were gathered inside the Fifth Avenue Hotel on 9th Street in New York City’s Greenwich Village to attend a press conference where the Stones were scheduled to appear. But the Stones never went into the hotel. The handful of curiosity seekers standing outside the hotel were instead treated to the sight of a flatbed truck rolling down Fifth Avenue carrying the Stones, their instruments and a wall of amps. The truck stopped in front of the hotel entrance and the band played an extended version of “Brown Sugar.”

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The Rolling Stones’ 1978 Tour of America took place during June and July of 1978, following the release of the group’s successful “come-back” album “Some Girls.”  (The album‘s lead single “Miss You” reached #1 in the U.S. in August of that year.) Keith Richards’ pending trial for heroin trafficking cast somewhat of a pall over the 25-concert event, with many speculating the tour might just be the band’s last.  One of the opening acts was Peter Tosh, who was sometimes joined by Mick Jagger for a duet on “Don’t Look Back”.  The tour used a stripped-back minimalist stage show compared to the previous Tour of the Americas ’75 and Tour of Europe ’76, in part due to the emergence of the punk rock scene and its emphasis on music and attitude rather than presenting a grandiose stage extravaganza. 

Rock critic Robert Christgau wrote that the 1978 Tour was an improvement over the group’s previous go-around, “especially when Mick [Jagger] stopped prancing long enough to pick up a guitar and get into the good new songs from Some Girls.” The tour is widely believed among fans to be one of the band’s greatest, largely because it was in many ways back to basics both in musical and visual terms. It featured a mixture of classic Stones numbers (“Tumbling Dice,” “Star Star,” “Happy”, “Brown Sugar,” etc.) mixed with blues and Chuck Berry covers, as well as a healthy dose of songs from then newly released “Some Girls” LP. It was the first tour featuring songs written with Ronnie Wood as an official member of the Rolling Stones, and his contributions from this period are considered by many Stones fans as some of his greatest with the band. 

Guest artists that played with the Stones during individual shows included Linda Ronstadt, Sugar Blue, Doug Kershaw, Bobby Keys and Nicky Hopkins. Opening acts included Van Halen, Journey, Peter Tosh, Patti Smith, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Foreigner, Kansas, Etta James, Furry Lewis, Atlanta Rhythm Section, April Wine, The Outlaws, and the Doobie Brothers.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

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There was a rumor that Ms. Trudeau was intimate with one of the Stones during the Mocambo Gigs. The rumor no longer persists, due to Ron Wood’s website, where he admitted that he was indeed intimate with Ms. Trudeau.

In 2022 much to the delight of their patient fans, the Rolling Stones officially released a 23-song cd from culled from those two gigs which is “arguably the best live release from the Ron Wood years.” (*It should be noted that four of the songs from the El Mocambo were officially released previously on their double-live LP, “Love You Live.”)

Songs performed by the Stones at the El Mocambo in 1977:

March 4 Set list

1. Route 66
2. Honky Tonk Women
3. Hand of Fate
4. Fool to Cry
5. Crazy Mama(Live premiere)
6. Crackin’ Up
7. Around and Around
8. Melody(Live premiere)
9. Star Star
10. Worried About You(Live premiere)
11. Let’s Spend the Night Together
12. Little Red Rooster
13. Luxury
14. Brown Sugar
15. Jumpin’ Jack Flash

March 5 Set list

1. Honky Tonk Women
2. All Down the Line
3. Hand of Fate
4. Route 66
5. Fool to Cry
6. Crazy Mama
7. Mannish Boy
8. Crackin’ Up
9. Dance Little Sister
10. Around and Around
11. Tumbling Dice
12. Happy
13. Hot Stuff
14. Star Star
15. Worried About You
16. Let’s Spend the Night Together
17. Worried Life Blues
18. It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It)
19. Rip This Joint
20. Little Red Rooster
21. Luxury
22. Brown Sugar
23. Jumpin’ Jack Flash

*There was a rumor that Ms. Trudeau was intimate with one of the Stones during the Mocambo Gigs. The rumor no longer persists, due to Ron Wood’s website, where he admitted that he was indeed intimate with Ms. Trudeau.

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The 1973 Pacific Tour was a very interesting snapshot of the band near their peak. It was so short that they barely had time to shake the rust off before it was suddenly over. Listen carefully to the Hawaii and Australian live tracks… they sound almost human. – Emperor of Oldies

“What It Looked Like”

The Rolling Stones’ vocalist Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, drummer Charlie Watts, bassist Bill Wyman and lead guitarist Mick Taylor conquered Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand in their widely acclaimed 1973 Pacific Tour.

Also included are the benefit concerts on Jan. 18, 1973, when the Rolling Stones performed to aid the earthquake victims of Nicaragua at the Forum in Los Angeles. A month earlier, the Nicaraguan capital of Managua was rocked by a quake that killed more than 4,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless. The concerts were deeply personal ones for Mick Jagger and then-wife Bianca, the former Bianca Pérez-Mora Macias, a Nicaraguan human rights advocate and a former actress, who was born in Nicaragua,

The Rolling Stones flew relief supplies to the disaster zone shortly after the quake. The concert at the Forum in Los Angeles raised more than $350,000 for the ravaged country, the highest-grossing rock benefit at the time. Today, Jagger has dual nationality, as a naturalised British citizen and citizen of Nicaragua.

The personnel also included sidemen Bobby Keys on Saxophone, Jim Price on Trumpet and Trombone,  Nicky Hopkins on Piano, along with occasional piano chords by former co-founding member, Ian Stewart, who had transitioned from the group as the Stones’ road manager.

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“What It Looked Like”

The Rolling Stones’ vocalist Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, drummer Charlie Watts, bassist Bill Wyman and lead guitarist Mick Taylor conquered Europe in their widely acclaimed 1970 tour. The personnel included sidemen Bobby Keys on Saxophone, Jim Price on Trumpet and Trombone,  Nicky Hopkins on Piano, along with occasional piano chords by former co-founding member, Ian Stewart, who had transitioned from the group as the Stones’ road manager.

Songs performed in the three part series: 

Moonlight Mile, Potted Shrimp instrumental, Sympathy for the Devil, Stray Cat Blues, Brown Sugar featuring Eric Clapton (1970 Out-Take), Dead Flowers, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Honky Tonk Women, Prodigal Son, Live with Me, and Street Fighting Man.

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The Rolling Stones’ vocalist Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, drummer Charlie Watts, bassist Bill Wyman and lead guitarist Mick Taylor conquered North America in their widely acclaimed 1972 tour. The personnel also included sidemen Bobby Keys on Saxophone, Jim Price on Trumpet and Trombone,  Nicky Hopkins on Piano, along with occasional piano chords by former co-founding member, Ian Stewart, who had transitioned from the group as the Stones’ road manager. The first leg of the Rolling Stones’ 1972 North American Tour began in Vancouver, BC at Pacific Coliseum on June 3, 1972, concluding at Madison Square Garden In New York City with three consecutive nights, ending on Jagger’s 29th birthday on July 26, 1972.

This installment features live renditions of many Rolling Stones songs performed on the tour, primarily compositions by Jagger and Richards: Brown Sugar, Bitch, Gimme Shelter at Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, BC; followed by Happy, Dead Flowers and Rocks Off at the Hollywood Palladium; and closing with Tumbling Dice, plus a cover version of Robert Johnson’s Love in Vain, at the Los Angeles Forum.

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