Bridges To Babylon - do you like it? Please make a list of the tracks you play most - it may be just one, two or all of the tracks. Also, please give it a score, like 1 into 6 in a range from worst to best. I will compile all your votes, favorites, reviews and thoughts, and present it in IORR 31.
Q magazine (UK) of Nov. 97 is featuring 5 pages of interviews with each of the Stones members Mick, Keith, Ronnie and Charlie, spiced with black&white photos. The four are categorized as Scary, Gypsy, Jazzy and Bozzy. Guess who is who! Keith talks about his song Flip The Switch, about touring, and it is more and more obvious, from this and other interviews lately, that the new album was finished following many, many hard discussions among Mick and Keith. It's a miracle! Also, this Q issue has got a full page "Bridges" ad, and a review of the Bridges To Babylon album, concluding in one word: Capable.
Guitar Magazine (USA, Oct. 97) has got Keith B&W on the cover, exclusive stories on Keith, Bridges To Babylon, and the making of "Exile On Main Street". This magazine is a must!!!
Musician (USA, Nov. 97) has got Keith B&W on the cover, and how they did BtB inside story.
Guitar Magazine (UK, Oct 97) has got Keith color cover, and a story about the new album inside.
Live (USA, Oct. 97) has got a great color cover with the Stones, and inside an interview with Keith.
MusikExpress (German, Oct 97) has got Mick&Keith on the cover, and Keith talks inside.
Rolling Stone (German, Sept. 97) has got Mick on the cover, and some great photos and reviews inside, both from 1997 and from 1963 (!).
When you read through these interviews, you can virtually live through the making of Bridges To Babylon, from the first Greenwich Village sessions in NY Nov. 96, to the finish in June 97, and all the discussions the band had regarding songs, techniques, mixes, dubs etc. Great and interesting reading!
Stones in duet with B.B. King: Legendary blues artist B.B. King will release a "duets" album on Nov. 4, including duets with 19 stars, including The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Dave Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Willie Nelson and more. The Stones track is Paying The Cost To Be The Boss.
Credit to k.d. lang: The Stones gave co-writer song credits to k.d. lang on Anybody Seen My Baby. Mick claims he did not know about the k.d. lang hit Constant Crawing, but Virgin and the Stones management wanted to make everything right, and assigned credit both to k.d. lang and her writing partner Ben Mink. They simply were short of time, the single was made, and the tour was due soon...
Ronnie Wood is working with UK art book publisher Genesis Publications Ltd, known for the Gered Mankowitz Stones book, and the upcoming Bob Gruen photos book Crossfire Hurricane. The new Ronnie Wood project will be finished in the spring of 1998, and will present high quality reproductions of Ronnie Wood art. Also, it will include a CD with four prevously unreleased tracks!
Saint Of Me: The Rolling Stones rehearsed Saint Of Me in Philadelphia, and this great song will most probably show up within a week or so for real. This will be the 4th song from their new album. Who’s next?
Ticket chaos! Las Vegas MGM, the first small size venue (approx 15,000 capacity), sold out all tickets priced $100, $200, $300 in minutes. Lots of fans never got through. Too bad. Now these tickets are offered through black market scalpers at double++ prices. Oakland got hot during the week-end of ticket sales, and two new dates were added immediately.
Rose Garden Portland, Orgegon went on sale Saturday Oct. 18, and following one hour of telephone storm, both of these smaller size (less than 20,000) shows had gone. Ticket prices slightly above average. Also, Hawaii got their 2nd show...
Quebec Oct 10 got cancelled, due to the Charlotte show, and all sold tickets (about 28,000) will be replaced with tickets for two two small size, 14,000 capacity indoor shows at the Colisee de Quebec on Jan. 13 and 14.
About tickets, all I can say is this: be patent, don't pay too much for your tickets, and if you have extra tickets, please be a Stones fan fellow, and charge fair prices for your extra tickets. Weeks before the concert, prices may be booming, but it is no reason for paying hundreds of dollars for a Stones ticket, as on the day of the show, often you can buy tickets at the box office. And on the streets, prices are often quite ok...
The Madison Square Garden show on the 14th is confirmed by Sprint, but rumours say MSG may be cancelled because of Jerry and Mick's baby due in December. As of now, I would say it is 75% chance they will play MSG, but they may decide to hold the announcement and ticket sales until just few days before the actual shows, making it very hard to plan travels for these shows. The dates they may play MSG in New York is Dec. 14, 15, 16-20, i.e. up to 6 shows booked.
The Bridges To Babylon tour will finish off in North America with several smaller club gigs in the California area in early February, before they move on to Mexico. Mexico City will have a few shows, of which the 14th is the only official so far.
Then we may expect several shows in Brazil and Argentina, probably in Feb. Japan is expected to be played in March. may be other Asian dates as well. Rumours of Israel in April, also Argentina may be April. Then the traditional European leg of the world tour may start in Holland, late May. Then continue all over Europe until it finish off in late August.
The following are just loose, rumoured dates. Don’t take these too seriously, even if some may be correct. The official announcement of the European tour will probably be done some time in Oct/Nov this year, with ticket sales starting shortly after.
March: Japan (4 Tokyo , 2 Osaka)
May: Amsterdam, Holland
May: Müngersdorfer Stadion, Cologne, Germany
June 3: Gottlieb Daimler Stad., Stuttgart, Germany
June 20: Bern Football Stadium, Bern, Switzerland
June: Brands Hatch (racing track), Dartford, UK
July 11: Wiener Neustadt, Airfield, Austria
July 20: Stade de France, Paris, France
July: Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland
Aug. 1: Nya Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden
Aug. 2: Valle Hovin, Oslo, Norway
Aug: Copenhagen, Denmark
Aug. 15: Zeppelinfield, Nuernberg, Germany
Aug. 18: Stade de Olympique, Marseilles, France
Aug. 23: Ruhr-Park, Bochum, Germany
It's Only Rock'n Roll no. 30 - Oct. 1997 - © The Rolling Stones Fan Club Of Europe