The Rolling Stones European Tour 1973

infobox concert tour
concert_tour_name = The Rolling Stones 1973 European Tour


image_caption = One of the Stones' more lurid tour posters.
artist = The Rolling Stones
start_date = 1 September 1973
end_date = 19 October 1973
number_of_legs = 1
number_of_shows = 42
last_tour = Pacific Tour 1973
this_tour = European Tour 1973
next_tour = Tour of the Americas '75

The Rolling Stones 1973 European Tour was a concert tour of Great Britain and Continental Europe in September and October 1973 by The Rolling Stones.

History

The tour followed the release of the group's album "Goats Head Soup" on 31 August. It began at the Stadthalle in Vienna (the closest the Stones would get to the Eastern bloc in those days; Yuri Kurinoff of the Soviet Union's Ministry of Culture was in attendance), Austria on 1 September. It then saw, in large halls to mid-sized arenas, West Germany, England (including four shows at the Empire Pool in London), Scotland, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Belgium, finishing on 19 October with the band's fourth entry into and thirteenth show in West Germany, at the Deutschlandhalle in West Berlin, which would turn out to be Mick Taylor's last live performance with the Stones. Altogether 42 shows were played in 22 cities, with two shows in a day a commonplace.

This was the Stones' first trip to Europe since the European Tour 1970, and was part of parallel three-year cycles of touring the United States and Europe.

The shows

Without all the ballyhoo, media attention, and jet set hangers-on of the group's 1972 American Tour, the 1973 European Tour was seen as having less drama — the biggest pending issue was the resolution of Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg's 25 June drugs and weapons bust, which hung over them until a 24 October £205 fine from the Great Marlborough Street Magistrates Court resolved it — and significantly better musicianship. Songs like "Brown Sugar" and "Gimme Shelter" were well received and Billy Preston's organ and clavinet added a contemporary and funky edge to the "classic" Stones sound, although the tour's conventional delineation between rhythm and lead guitar parts were later criticised by Richards. [Mentioned in several interviews over the years, among them in "Guitar Player" magazine 1977.] By the time of the group's following Tour of the Americas '75, Ron Wood would be in the band and Richards' preferred 'Ancient Form of Weaving' approach would be restored.

Recordings

No live album has been released from the tour, although a recording of the 17 October show in Brussels was headed towards official release but pulled back for legal reasons. As "Brussels Affair" (and some other names) it has been a popular bootleg (Bedspring Symphony) in superb stereo sound, and is often considered a 'lost classic' of bigger importance than some of the official Stones' live albums.

Tour band

*Mick Jagger - vocals, harmonica
*Keith Richards - guitars, vocals
*Mick Taylor - guitars
*Bill Wyman - bass guitar
*Charlie Watts - drumsAdditional musicians
*Billy Preston - keyboards, vocals
*Bobby Keys - saxophone (some dates)
*Trevor Lawrence - saxophone (some dates)
*Jim Price - trumpet, trombone (some dates)
*Steve Madio - trumpet, flugelhorn (some dates)

Bobby Keys, a star of the 1972 American Tour but who shared Richards' penchant for heroin at the time, was dismissed during the tour due to excessive drinking.

Tour support acts

Opening for the tour's shows was Billy Preston and for him, Kracker. Mick Taylor played lead guitar during Preston's numbers, and was featured on Preston's 1974 album release "Live European Tour", which was recorded during performances on this tour. In turn, Preston supplied keyboards during some of the Stones' numbers.

Tour set list

The standard set list for the tour was:

# "Brown Sugar"
# "Gimme Shelter"
# "Happy"
# "Tumbling Dice"
# "Star Star"
# "Dancing with Mr D" or "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)"
# "Angie"
# "You Can't Always Get What You Want"
# "Midnight Rambler"
# "Honky Tonk Women"
# "All Down the Line"
# "Rip This Joint"
# "Jumpin' Jack Flash"
# "Street Fighting Man"
# Encore?

This set list was pretty stable once established; during the first few shows, "Goats" tracks "100 Years Ago" and "Silver Train" got a trying out, as did 1972 standbys "Bitch" and "Sweet Virginia". All of the pre-"Goats" selections had been played on the 1972 American Tour as well, and pretty much in this order.Once again, completely absent was anything from before 1968 in the Stones' catalog. Indeed, on 18 August, before the tour began, Jagger had been quoted, "The only thing I don't really enjoy about playing live is having to perform the old numbers, even though that's what a lotta people wanna hear us do."

Tour dates

*01/09/1973 flagicon|Austria Stadthalle - Vienna, Austria
*03/09/1973 flagicon|Germany Eisstadion - Mannheim, Germany
*04/09/1973 flagicon|Germany Sporthalle - Cologne, Germany (2 shows)
*07/09/1973 flagicon|England Empire Pool - Wembley, London, England
*08/09/1973 flagicon|England Empire Pool - Wembley, London, England (2 shows)
*09/09/1973 flagicon|England Empire Pool - Wembley, London, England
*11/09/1973 flagicon|England Kings Hall - Manchester, England
*12/09/1973 flagicon|England Kings Hall - Manchester, England
*13/09/1973 flagicon|England City Hall - Newcastle upon Tyne, England (2 shows)
*16/09/1973 flagicon|Scotland Apollo Theatre - Glasgow, Scotland
*17/09/1973 flagicon|Scotland Apollo Theatre - Glasgow, Scotland
*19/09/1973 flagicon|England Odeon Theatre - Birmingham, England (2 shows)
*23/09/1973 flagicon|Austria Olympiastadion - Innsbruck, Austria
*25/09/1973 flagicon|Switzerland Festhalle - Berne, Switzerland
*26/09/1973 flagicon|Switzerland Festhalle - Berne, Switzerland (2 shows)
*28/09/1973 flagicon|Germany Olympiahalle - Munich, Germany (2 shows)
*30/09/1973 flagicon|Germany Festhalle - Frankfurt, Germany (2 shows)
*02/10/1973 flagicon|Germany Ernst-Merck-Halle - Hamburg, Germany (2 shows)
*04/10/1973 flagicon|Denmark Vejlby-Risskov-Hallen - Aarhus, Denmark (2 shows)
*06/10/1973 flagicon|Sweden Scandinavium - Gothenburg, Sweden (2 shows)
*07/10/1973 flagicon|Denmark Brondby-Hallen - Copenhagen, Denmark (2 shows)
*09/10/1973 flagicon|Germany Grugahalle - Essen, Germany
*10/10/1973 flagicon|Germany Grugahalle - Essen, Germany
*11/10/1973 flagicon|Germany Grugahalle - Essen, Germany
*13/10/1973 flagicon|Netherlands Sportpaleis AHOY - Rotterdam, Netherlands
*14/10/1973 flagicon|Netherlands Sportpaleis AHOY - Rotterdam, Netherlands (2 shows)
*15/10/1973 flagicon|Belgium Sportpaleis Merksem - Antwerp, Belgium
*17/10/1973 flagicon|Belgium Foret Nationale - Brussels, Belgium (2 shows)
*19/10/1973 flagicon|Germany Deutschlandhalle - Berlin, Germany

References

* Carr, Roy. "The Rolling Stones: An Illustrated Record". Harmony Books, 1976. ISBN 0517526417

External links

* [http://www.rocksoff.org/1973b.htm 'Rocks Off' page tour setlists]