STONES FIRST MAJOR BAND TO VIDEO STREAM CONCERT

With a 20-minute video streaming from a concert at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, the Rolling Stones on November 18, 1994, were the first major recording artist to broadcast a show over the internet.

The video streaming included five songs > Not Fade Away, Shattered, Tumbling Dice, You Got Me Rocking and Rocks Off.

Mick Jagger greeted the internet audience and said he hoped the system didn’t collapse, the New York Times reported.

The concert was part of the hugely successful worldwide Voodoo Lounge tour, promoting their album of the same name.

‘There were lots of hacks (reporters) out there who said we couldn’t do it anymore. But maybe what they meant was they couldn’t do it anymore.’

> that’s what Mick Jagger told Rolling Stone magazine.

Jagger continued > “Anyway, once we started playing, all that died down. You can talk about it and talk about it – but, once we’re on stage, the question is answered.”

The tour took in $320 million to become the highest grossing of any artists up to that time.

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KEITH RICHARDS FLAYS GUITAR AT STAGE INVADER

YOU INVADE MY SPACE, I SMASH YOUR FACE > if only I wasn’t so busy playing this guitar.

On the Rolling Stones 1981 American tour, Keith Richards spotted a youngish male fan who made it on stage. The Stones guitarist took an almighty swing with his guitar at the invader’s head > missing by centimetres.

This immortal moment is captured on Rolling Stones stage film Let’s Spend The Night Together > directed by Hal Ashby.

SUPPORT ACT PRINCE BELTED WITH BEER CANS

Rolling Stones bass player Bill Wyman tells of an incident with funk soul brother Prince on the same tour.

Opening for the Stones in Los Angeles and wearing a pair of black bikini bottoms > Prince was soon pelted with beer cans by Stones fans. [A tale from Bill Wyman’s book Rolling With The Stones]

ROLLING STONES STAGE TAKES ON ADDED DIMENSIONS

Prince on the front cover of his 1988 album Lovesexy

IT’s like the Rolling Stones had to outdo themselves each tour > with bigger and more spectacular stadium shows.

The 80-plus show 1981/82 tour of the US and Europe had a stage over 350 feet across at full stretch > adorned with large cloth replicas of paintings by Japanese artist Kazuhide Yamazaki.

Eight semi-trailers were used to transport the stage.

GUITARIST RON WOOD ARRESTED FOR COCAINE

The Rolling Stones guitarist and partner Jo were arrested in St Maarten, the Caribbean, in February, 1980, on cocaine possession charges.

They spent five days in jail before being deported to the US.

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ROLLING STONES 1981 TOUR A HUGE HIT

Tour pictures from 1982 live album Still Life

More than 2 million people saw the Rolling Stones during their 50-plus concert – September to December 1981 – tour of America > the biggest tour the band had so far undertaken.

Bass player Bill Wyman says in his book Rolling with the Stones that on this mostly stadium tour, at some venues the band played to more people than on their first US tour in total, in the early 1960s.

The 1982 European tour had over 1.5 million fans in 33 gigs across 23 cities > three times as many people as the Rolling Stones previous European tour in 1976.

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THE ROCK GIANT AWAKES > STEEL WHEELS TOUR

The Rolling Stones “Steel Wheels” five-month tour of the US in 1989 was a giant musical and financial success > with a giant, multi-storey stage to boot > this metallic monster of urban decay encasing a dazzling light show.

The band > who hadn’t toured for seven years > were back on top, to the tune of enthusiastic reviews and crowds.

The Rolling Stones played to over three million fans, with then record gross takings of about $US200 million. Ticket prices were only a tad over $US30. [Yeah, damn cheap those days were, aye!]

The Stones then embarked on a European tour, under the moniker Urban Jungle.