Stones to Tour Behind ‘Tattoo You’
The Rolling Stones made their move on August 26th. The group issued its long-awaited album, Tattoo You (rush-released after pirated copies began turning up at radio stations), and Mick Jagger turned out for a press conference at Philadelphia’s John F. Kennedy Stadium to unveil the band’s fall tour schedule — the group’s first since 1978.
Asserting that he was getting “older but much gooder,” Jagger announced extended stands in the Los Angeles area (October 9th through 13th) and the greater New York area (November 9th through 13th). The rest of the slate follows:
Philadelphia, PA (9/25); Buffalo, NY (9/27); St. Louis, MO (10/1); Boulder, CO (10/4); Phoenix, AZ(10/6); San Francisco, CA (10/17); Dallas, TX(10/22); Houston, TX (10/24); Atlanta, GA (10/27); Orlando, FL (11/1); Louisville, KY (11/3); Cleveland, OH (11/16, 17); Cedar Falls, IA (11/19); Chicago, IL (11/22-24); Hartford, CT (11/27); Pontiac, MI (11/30); Minneapolis, MN (12/3); New Orleans, LA (12/5); and Birmingham, AL (12/6).
Jagger said the tour would include shows in large halls and in smaller arenas and clubs — although the exact locations of the latter gigs would be kept secret until the last moment. He offered that he didn’t see the Stones breaking up, “although I don’t have my crystal ball with me.”
Opening for the Stones in Philadelphia, where the 90,000 seats sold out in less than twenty-four hours, will be George Thorogood and Journey. “They offered us the whole tour,” said a spokesman for Journey, which will also open the Buffalo gig and as many others as their schedule permits.
This is a story from the October 1, 1981 issue of Rolling Stone.