USA: LEGENDARY ROCKERS THE ROLLING STONES KICK OFF THEIR 13TH NORTH AMERICAN TOUR, "BRIDGES TO BABYLON"

Record ID: 387207

  • Title: USA: LEGENDARY ROCKERS THE ROLLING STONES KICK OFF THEIR 13TH NORTH AMERICAN TOUR, "BRIDGES TO BABYLON"
  • Date: 23rd September 1997
  • Summary: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 23,1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) WIDE VIEW OF CHICAGO STADIUM
  • Embargoed: 8th October 1997 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES
  • Country: Uruguay
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA4BXZO54U10I39QFCUJ4PZSVMD
  • Story Text: Never satisfied, the Rolling Stones kicked off their 13th North American tour with a raucous performance in their blues home from home.

    Their "Bridges to Babylon" tour drew a sold-out crowd of 54,000 fans to Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday evening (September 23) to see the Rolling Stones make history.

    Stones frontman Mick Jagger showed he can still strut and sing at the age of 54 and opened the concert by blasting through the group's rock anthems "Satisfaction," "It's Only Rock and Roll," "Bitch," and "Let's Spend the Night Together." Dancing across the extended stage the width of the Soldier Field football stadium, Jagger swung his hips, splayed his legs and generally sustained a furious pace belying his age.

    The self-styled "World's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band" marked its 35th year by launching a 32-city tour of North America, only three years after ending their last tour, "Voodoo Lounge in 1994.

    It broke records by raking in an estimated $400 million in receipts.

    The current tour, which will see the band criss-cross the United States, Canada and Mexico, is in support of the Stones' Virgin Records release, "Bridges of Babylon," due in record shops on September 30, 1997.

    The Stones will later regroup for dates in South America, Southeast Asia and Europe and may even choose to add dates at smaller venues, such as New York's Madison Square Garden in addition to two concerts next month in Giants Stadium in New Jersey.

    For this tour, the band hired acousticians and pyrotechnicians in an effort to blend music with spectacle.

    The stage, trimmed in gold, loosely featured a Babylonian theme, and when the band launched into its new single, "Anyone Seen My Baby," curtains parted to unveil two giant inflatable nudes gazing down on the proceedings while clips of the song's music video were shown on the screen.

    But, it is the Stones' vintage play list of blues-steeped soul that their devotees expected, and judging by the roar from their throats, the Stones delivered.

    Back in the early 1960s, the Stones originally sought out their musical heroes in the blues music incubator of Chicago, then the adopted hometown of blues icons Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf among others. In 1965, the group recorded "Satisfaction" at legendary Chess Records, a scant few blocks from Tuesday's concert venue.

    The Rolling Stones' name came from an early hit by Waters, who proudly announced at an impromptu club appearance with the band: "I'm like a daddy to them."
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