Rolling Stones - "A Bigger Bang" era

[Chelsea Press 2]

Stones Making A 'Bang' With New Album
By Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

The Rolling Stones' "A Bigger Bang" isn't just the legendary rock act's first new album in eight years -- it's also their most substantial since 1972's "Exile on Main Street." Due Sept. 6 via Virgin, the set features 16 new tracks, including the singles "Streets of Love" and "Rough Justice," which will be released Aug. 22 in the U.K. on CD and seven-inch vinyl.

"A Bigger Bang" also boasts two tracks sung by guitarist Keith Richards ("Infamy" and "This Place Is Empty") as well as "Oh No, Not You Again," which the Stones premiered during a May press conference at New York's Juilliard School to announce their 2005 tour.

The album is rounded out by such tracks as "Back of My Hand," "Rain Fall Down," "Laugh, I Nearly Died" and "It Won't Take Long." Production was supplied by Don Was in tandem with Richards and Mick Jagger.

Was served as a co-producer on the Stones' last studio album, 1997's "Bridges to Babylon," which has sold 1.16 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

As previously reported, the Stones will begin a yearlong world tour Aug. 21 in Boston.

Richards and Jagger recently granted Billboard the first interview discussing the album and tour, which will appear in the issue dated Aug. 6 and on newsstands Friday.

---

Stones name new CD A Bigger Bang
Last Updated Tue, 26 Jul 2005 16:48:40 EDT

The Rolling Stones' first album of new material in eight years will be called A Bigger Bang, the veteran group announced Tuesday as it prepped in Toronto for a world tour starting in August.

The name of the album due Sept. 6 reflects "their fascination with the scientific theory about the origin of the universe," the band's website said.

Don Was returns as co-producer, a job he's held with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards since 1994's Voodoo Lounge, reprising it on the group's most recent studio effort, 1997's Bridges to Babylon.

"Mick and Keith are writing songs together in a collaborative fashion that probably hasn't been seen since the late '60s," Was said earlier this year.

The 16-track A Bigger Bang is the band's longest since their double vinyl LP in 1972, Exile on Main Street. The first single will be Rough Justice. Other cuts include Streets of Love and the song the Stones played from the balcony of the Juilliard School in New York to announce the tour in May, the cheeky Oh No, Not You Again.

The blues style of Back Of My Hand is described as raw and rough-edged. It Won't Take Long, Laugh, I Nearly Died and Rain Fall Down are other tracks.

Mick sings on all cuts but two, where Keith's raspy pipes take over: This Place is Empty and Infamy .

The band continues to practise in a Toronto school for a world tour that will begin in Fenway Park, Boston on Aug. 21.

Toronto is a favourite city for the Stones to rehearse and the home base of their tour manager, Michael Cohl, who helped get the Stones to headline at a 2003 benefit concert for the city of Toronto after the SARS crisis.

The tour is expected to last a year. After 35 dates in the U.S. and Canada, including the largest event to hit Moncton, N.B., in ages, the juggernaut heads south to Mexico and South America, then on to the Far East, Australia and New Zealand before final concerts next summer in Europe.

Each time the Stones tour, rumours spread 'this could be the last time' to quote a lyric from an early hit. The band formed in 1961, but has survived several potential break-up wedges, such as a pot bust in 1967, the death of founding member Brian Jones in 1969, the 1977 Richards heroin bust in Toronto and a falling out between Jagger and Richards that lasted most of the 1980s.

Drummer Charlie Watts appears to have recovered from throat cancer and is "playing like a lion."

Some 97 per cent of tour tickets on sale have been sold.

[ayoPiT0]

I cringe when I hear Mick start singing on "Streets of Love". "Rough Justice" is way better.

[banet2001]

Stones Strip Down, Have A Laugh On New Album

When Mick Jagger had qualms about recording a new Rolling Stones album at his house in France, Keith Richards had a simple retort. "I said to Mick, 'Listen, once upon a time, we cut a record in the South of France in my house, and it's called "Exile on Main Street," and now it's your turn'," he tells Billboard in his first interview about the project.

The interview appears in the Aug. 6, 2005, issue of the magazine, on newsstands tomorrow (July 30).

No one would dare try to hold up the Stones' forthcoming album, "A Bigger Bang", to what is considered one of the greatest rock'n'roll records of all time. Still, executives at Virgin and parent company EMI, which will release the album on Sept. 6, believe the group has created its strongest album in years.

"It feels so real and so authentic," Virgin Records U.S. chairman/CEO Matt Serletic tells Billboard. "With this one, they've really revitalized themselves."

Calling Billboard from tour rehearsals in Toronto, Jagger says the spirited play between he and Richards and switching up instruments helped bring a renewed energy to the album's creation.

"I was playing drums and all that sort of stuff I usually never do and that was fun," he says. "Happily for the fans, my drums never made it on the record apart from one or two little hits that were saved. Keith and I were just having a laugh with a lot of it."

Many of the tracks feature just Jagger, Richards and drummer Charlie Watts. Apart from guitarist Ron Wood, the only other musicians on the album are longtime Stones associates Darryl Jones (bass) and Chuck Leavell (keyboards).

"There's no hiding place if there's only three of you in the room," Jagger says. Or as Richards puts it, the album is "raw Stones."

In November, EMI will release a Stones rarities disc featuring B-sides and songs from albums that have gone in and out of print. The collection will be sold through traditional retail and Starbucks.

Also tentatively planned for the holidays will be a special edition of "A Bigger Bang." "The content will come from the band and it will hopefully include extra tracks, remixes, video content, Web links and ringtones," Virgin U.S. executive VP of marketing Randy Miller says. The special edition will be available as a CD and DVD or a DualDisc.

www.billboard.com/bb/daily/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001000576

[Fedepeti]

Rolling Stones
A BIGGER BANG



Tracklisting:

1. Rough Justice
(Jagger/Richards)

2. Let Me Down Slow
(Jagger/Richards)

3. It Won’t Take Long
(Jagger/Richards)

4. Rain Fall Down
(Jagger/Richards)

5. Streets Of Love
(Jagger/Richards)

6. Back Of My Hand
(Jagger/Richards)

7. She Saw Me Coming
(Jagger/Richards)

8. Biggest Mistake
(Jagger/Richards)

9. This Place Is Empty
(Jagger/Richards)

10. Oh No, Not You Again
(Jagger/Richards)

11. Dangerous Beauty
(Jagger/Richards)

12. Laugh, I Nearly Died
(Jagger/Richards)

13. Sweet Neo Con
(Jagger/Richards)

14. Look What The Cat Dragged In
(Jagger/Richards)

15. Driving Too Fast
(Jagger/Richards)

16. Infamy
(Jagger/Richards)


The first single, Rough Justice, is available since today on itunes.

[Chelsea Press 2]

Here is a link to it.

[ayoPiT0]

Hey this looks like it will be pretty decent.

[Fedepeti]

Rock Royalty - Stones Article From Billboard.com

August 07, 2005
Rock Royalty
The Stones Have Not Had A No. 1 Album Since 1981. Will 'A Bigger Bang' Give Them Back The Crown?

BY MELINDA NEWMAN



Keith Richards remembers a seminal moment in June 2004 when he and Mick Jagger started working on the new Rolling Stones album.

At the time, drummer Charlie Watts was going through cancer treatment and the prognosis was unclear.

"There's suddenly Mick and I looking at each other and going, 'Possibly we're the only two left of the originals,' " Richards says. "[But] you don't talk about that shit, you know?"

Instead, Jagger and Richards got busy.

"I go, 'Mick, you're on drums and I'll double on bass," Richards says, in his first interview about the new project. "In a way, we had to strip it down."

But Watts' treatment was successful, and he and guitarist Ron Wood reunited with Richards and Jagger at the latter's house in France to start recording "A Bigger Bang." The new set, the Stones' first studio album since 1997's "Bridges to Babylon," is due Sept. 6 in North America on Virgin and a day earlier in the rest of the world.

"There was a point, I'm sure, where Mick wanted to kick us out," Richards says. "But as I said to Mick, 'Listen, once upon a time, we cut a record in the South of France in my house, and it's called "Exile on Main Street," and now it's your turn.' "

No one would dare try to hold up "A Bigger Bang" to what is considered one of the greatest rock'n'roll records of all time. Still, executives at Virgin and parent company EMI believe the group has created its strongest album in years.

"It feels so real and so authentic," says Matt Serletic, chairman/CEO of Virgin Records U.S. "With this one, they've really revitalized themselves."

Jagger, calling from tour rehearsals in Toronto, says the spirited play between him and Richards and switching up instruments helped bring a renewed energy to the album's creation.

"I was playing drums and all that sort of stuff I usually never do and that was fun," he says. "Happily for the fans, my drums never made it on the record apart from one or two little hits that were saved. Keith and I were just having a laugh with a lot of it."

And whether it was due to Watts' illness or some magical force, Jagger and Richards' often legendarily fractious relationship seemed a little less so with this album. "The vibe is a lot better," Richards says. "Mick and I are looking at each other and going, 'Oh, come on. I'm not going to argue about this.' There are too many pluses for an odd minus to get in the way. Maybe it's called growing up."

The Stones' last few albums have certainly provided strong enough sales. EMI says "Bridges to Babylon" has sold 3.5 million-4 million copies worldwide, including 1.16 million units in the United States. The 2002 greatest-hits collection "Forty Licks" has sold 7 million, including 2.48 million stateside. (U.S. sales are from Nielsen SoundScan.) Still, there is a consensus among fans, retailers and radio programmers that the Stones have not made an album in recent years that stands alongside the band's classic works.

"Bridges" found the band partnering with—in addition to primary producer Don Was—such producers of the moment as the Dust Brothers and Danny Saber, with the album featuring smatterings of such contemporary flavors as electronica and rap.

By contrast, the 16-track "A Bigger Bang" retains the stripped-down tone of the Stones' earliest albums. Was, who produced with Jagger and Richards, believes it is the group's sparest album since "Some Girls."

Highlights include the grinding, guitar-driven, classic Stones romp "Rough Justice," the harmonica-drenched, bluesy "Back of My Hand" and the country-shaded "Take Me Down Slowly."

Lyrically, tinges of regret are tempered with bravado; heartache is mixed with humor. Throughout, there is an emotional core that is easy to relate to, as opposed to blathering about what a pain it is when the private plane is late.

"It can be annoying when the wrong one comes," Jagger jokes, "but I'm not going to write a song about it. There's a lot of personal stuff [on the album], but it's leavened with a sense of humor and odd rhymes to keep it from getting too serious."

Many of the tracks feature just Jagger, Richards and Watts. Apart from Wood, the only other musicians on the album are longtime Stones associates Darryl Jones (bass) and Chuck Leavell (keyboards).

"There's no hiding place if there's only three of you in the room," Jagger says. Or as Richards puts it, the album is "raw Stones."

Was, who has worked with the Stones for 13 years, says, "It was clear from the first day of recording that the Rolling Stones—the band rather than the individuals who comprise it—came into focus on this album."



GIMME AIRPLAY

The task before EMI is how to take the top touring band of all time and create the same pandemonium that exists around their concerts for their album releases.

"That's the question we've been asking ourselves," EMI Music senior VP of global marketing Matthieu Lauriot-Prevost says.

An essential part of the plan, of course, includes getting significant support from radio—something that has often been supplanted by a curiosity factor, with the band's single dropped shortly thereafter.

"Being the biggest touring band in the world means very little when you are looking for sustained radio support," says Tony Wadsworth, chairman/CEO of EMI Music U.K. & Ireland. "You need to have the song, and we believe that on this album we have the songs that will appeal to radio programmers."

Bill Weston, PD of rock radio station WMMR in Philadelphia, would like nothing better. "It would have to be a really awful album for us not to play it," he admits. But Weston says that for a Stones song to get into heavy rotation on his mainstream/active rock hybrid station, it will need to be "either something incredibly relevant, i.e., Bruce Springsteen's 'The Rising,' or something that's uptempo: lots of Keith's guitars and Mick strutting around having fun, but that doesn't make him sound like a 60-year-old going after 17-year-old chicks."

To appeal to as many U.S. formats as possible, Virgin is releasing several tracks.

"Rough Justice" went to rock formats July 22. As is usual with a new Stones track, "Rough Justice" received a strong welcome from heritage rock stations. It debuted at No. 10 on the Heritage Rock chart in the July 29 issue of Billboard Radio Monitor based on only three days of airplay. It will be followed at rock stations the first week of August by "Back of My Hand," which is also going to college and public radio stations.

Triple-A received both cuts as well as the midtempo track "Streets of Love," which will also be serviced to rock and adult contemporary formats. A video will be shot for "Streets of Love." The song, Serletic says, was picked in part to build on the Stones' younger, female fans, many of whom first met the band through "Forty Licks."

Virgin U.S. executive VP of marketing Randy Miller says Virgin is counting on programmers to give the Stones a shot. "They make their programming decisions on what's hot and current for the day, but, hopefully, a lot of them will hear the quality in these tracks," he says.

Listening parties, underwritten by one of the tour's secondary sponsors, Effen Vodka, will be held the week prior to release in 15 major U.S. markets, as well as worldwide. In the United Kingdom, first single "Streets of Love" is getting a thumbs-up from BBC's Radio One, which selected it as single of the week starting July 25.



TIMING IS ON THEIR SIDE

The Stones have not had a No. 1 album in the United States since 1981's "Tattoo You," although "Bridges" hit No. 3 and "Forty Licks" debuted at No. 2.

Virgin would like to return the Stones to the top of the heap. "They deserve to have a No. 1 album," Miller says.

Virgin could be aided by fairly light competition the week of release, as well as blowback from the sold-out Ameriquest-sponsored tour that starts Aug. 21 at Boston's Fenway Park.

"Frankly, we wanted to get the album out before the tour, but getting it this close is a great gift," Miller says. Virgin is planning spot TV buys around each tour date.

A national TV advertising campaign with one- and two-minute spots rolls out the middle of August and will feature up to five songs from the album. "If fans hear the depth of this album, that will send the message that this is a classic Stones album," Miller says.

The initial spot flight will pinpoint the Stones' target audience of males aged 25-54. However, a wider, 30-second spot will roll out later in the campaign.

Miller says the label looked at tying in a presale campaign whereby ticket purchasers could also pre-order the new album, but because the time lag between ticket on-sales and the album's release was more than four months, the plan was scotched. "We thought it would be a disservice to people who forgot they bought it when they ordered their tickets," Miller says.

Mike Fratt, buyer for the Omaha, Neb.-based chain Homer's, hopes the Stones will help themselves by pushing the album live. "When they go out on tour, they [should] play four or five songs on it, instead of just one. I think they're capable of putting out a record that both their [old] fans will love and will also turn on new fans. If Dylan and U2 can connect and be viable again, why can't the Stones?"

But Carl Mello, buyer for Brighton, Mass.-based Newbury Comics, does not think the tour push will help. "The people that buy the concert tickets are going to get drunk on the weekend and enjoy the show, but don't really care about a new album by an old band."

Regardless of how the record fares, fans will have their pick of Stones releases this fall. EMI is running a standard catalog promotion in conjunction with the release of the $18.98-priced "A Bigger Bang."

In November, EMI will release a rarities disc featuring B-sides and songs from albums that have gone in and out of print. The collection will be sold through traditional retail and Starbucks.

Also tentatively planned for the holidays will be a special edition of "A Bigger Bang." "The content will come from the band and it will hopefully include extra tracks, remixes, video content, Web links and ringtunes," Miller says. The special edition will be available as a CD and DVD or a DualDisc.

Even department store chain Bloomingdale's is in on the act. Starting Sept. 10, the men's fashion departments will feature Rolling Stones music and videos, while selling limited-edition Rolling Stones merchandise and the new CD.

Because of the tour, the Stones' promotional availability is limited. Therefore, Lauriot-Prevost says the 48 EMI companies that will release the record worldwide are taking advantage of any opportunity to expose the music.

In June, EMI brought in retailers from across Europe, Japan and Australia for a listening party in London.

EMI is bringing in top media from each territory to Toronto for face time with the band during rehearsals. "We're also trying to do as many generic interviews as we can to send all over the world," he says. "For example, we know we won't be able to give time to Chile and Taiwan."

The Stones' top sales markets are the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and France, says Lauriot-Prevost, who called Billboard from Tokyo as he was preparing to fire up the Japanese company about the release.

The question remains: Will all the activity drive a high chart debut and sustained interest in the project through the holidays and beyond?

For his part, Jagger admits, "I like hit albums, hit singles, hit anythings."

But mainly, he says, he just wants the album to get a shot. "You just want people to hear what you've done. We're pretty excited about this record, we think there's really good stuff on it."

Richards agrees, but adds, "I mean, I'm not looking for numero uno. It's not like that anymore. Been there, done that." ••••



Additional reporting by Keith Caulfield and Michael Libby in Los Angeles.

[Fedepeti]

Stones tracks sold online first

There are 16 songs on the Rolling Stones' forthcoming album
The Rolling Stones are putting three songs from their new album on sale via digital download, three weeks ahead of the album's release.
Rough Justice, future single Streets of Love and Back of My Hand will feature on September album A Bigger Bang.

Described as "an ambitious collection of hard-hitting, high-powered rock and blues songs", A Bigger Bang is the Stones' first studio album since 1997.

The band begins its 41-date world tour in Boston on 21 August.

The new songs are being sold by "all major" download retailers, where prices vary, the band said.

Metal support

Metal band Metallica are to support the Stones at their San Francisco shows on 13 and 15 November.

"We thought it might be fun to play a few small intimate gigs so we called up our close personal friends, the Rolling Stones," said a message on the group's website.

"Seriously, how could we say no to the quintessential rock band?

"These two shows are about nothing more than having fun and playing music. (We have) nothing to sell, nothing to promote, nothing to talk about."

Black Eyed Peas, Maroon 5, Pearl Jam and British soul star Joss Stone are among the other acts lined up to support the Stones on the US leg of their tour.




Stones get 'Justice' on U.S. rock chart
By Fred Bronson



LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - The Rolling Stones entered Billboard's airplay-based Mainstream Rock Tracks chart at No. 29 Thursday with "Rough Justice," a track from their Sept. 6 Virgin Records album "A Bigger Bang."

ADVERTISEMENT

It's the first track by the veteran act to appear on the Mainstream chart in almost three years. "Don't Stop" peaked at No. 21 in October 2002. "Rough Justice" ties a live version of "Gimme Shelter" released in 1998 at the Stones' highest-debuting title on this chart since September 1997, when "Anybody Seen My Baby?" opened at No. 4.

The Mainstream tally was introduced the week of March 21, 1981. The Stones' first single to appear on this survey was "If I Was a Dancer (Dance, Pt. 2)," which entered the week of April 18, 1981, ultimately peaking at No. 26. Four months later, "Start Me Up" debuted, and became the Stones' first No. 1 hit on this list, spending 13 weeks on top.

The group made its first appearance on a Billboard chart during the week of May 2, 1964. England's newest hitmakers opened at a lowly No. 98 on the Hot 100 tally with a cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away."

Reuters/Billboard

[reception]

Rolling Stones tune takes aim at Bush policies

[banet2001]

Stones Delight Toronto Club Crowd

The Rolling Stones entertained 1,100 lucky fans last night (Aug. 10) at a surprise show at Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre, in the midst of rehearsals for their upcoming On Stage tour. The group played four cuts from the new Virgin album, "A Bigger Bang," including opener "Rough Justice," the blues-driven "Back of My Hand" and "Infamy," featuring Keith Richards on vocals.

Other surprises included the "Emotional Rescue" cut "She's So Cold" and covers of Bob Marley's "Get Up Stand Up" and Otis Redding's "Mr. Pitiful." The group also played such Stones standards as "Brown Sugar" and "Jumping Jack Flash."

"Thank you for leaving us alone but giving us enough attention to boost our egos," lead singer Mick Jagger said halfway through the show, acknowledging the band's frequent use of Toronto as a home base before kicking off major tours.

Unlike on the Licks world tour, the Rolling Stones will perform all their North American On Stage shows this year in stadiums and arenas. But as has become a tradition, the group settled in for a club show in Toronto last night (Aug. 10) in the midst of rehearsals for its next big run around the world.

Roughly 600 people were lined up by 8 p.m. Tuesday evening for a shot at purchasing, as was later reported, somewhere between 200 to 350 tickets to the show at Phoenix Concert Theatre (VIPs, friends and family brought the audience to about 1,100). Those fortunate enough to get in witnessed a show that, despite a few hiccups, demonstrated the Stones still have a lot to give five decades in.

After an introduction by tour organizer Michael Cohl, the band's 14-song, 80-minute set opened with the new "Rough Justice," one of their stronger songs in recent memory. Mick Jagger, wearing jeans, a black dress shirt and a metallic-colored jacket, was in fine form with his different gestures, working the crowd by standing on a small platform jetting out from center stage and slapping hands.

Next up was the punchy "Live With Me" from 1969's "Let It Bleed," with Keith Richards doing his signature shoulder shrugs while playing off of guitarist Ron Wood. Indulging the chance to dust off some rarities, the Stones then reworked "19th Nervous Breakdown" from a once frantic, giddy pop tune into a deliberate, mid-tempo roadhouse blues. Richards also helped on high harmonies while Wood played lead guitar.

But the bouncy "She's So Cold" seemed a tad ragged, with Jagger's eyes occasionally glancing down at a teleprompter. After a steady "Dead Flowers," the group delivered one of the highlights of the evening in "Back of My Hand." The new blues tune, sounding like it came straight from the Mississippi Delta, found Jagger playing elementary slide guitar while drummer Charlie Watts chimed in with a creepy, crawling backbeat that ensured tune chugged along perfectly.

Continuing the one-up, one-down trend, "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" was marred by saxophonist Bobby Keys' faulty microphone, requiring his solo to be temporarily replaced by guitar.

Noting the band's longstanding relationship with Toronto, Jagger told the crowd, "You leave us alone but give us enough attention to boost our egos!" From there Richards took lead vocals for another live debut, "Infamy." The song brought to mind his work on "Main Offender" yet didn't come across nearly as strong as "Oh No Not You Again." The track was extremely tight and definitely more polished than its premiere at the band's New York press conference earlier this year.

The true surprise of the evening, however, was a cover of Bob Marley's "Get Up Stand Up." The band fed off the audience's energy, extending the song with Keys adding accents to each line as Jagger became highly animated, jumping around and wagging his finger.

It was refreshing to hear the Stones in a pared-down setting, with minimal flourishes from the horns and backing vocalists. But they were both out in force for a homestretch of "Tumbling Dice," "Brown Sugar" and the lone encore, "Jumpin' Jack Flash" as Richards, caught up in the moment, truly nailed the closing with one foot stomping as he kept dishing out licks.

While millions will witness the band during the On Stage tour in the next year-plus, few will get to experience the Stones deliver such an intimate, age-defying show. A very good way to start it up, even if it is for "the last time."

Here is the Rolling Stones' set list:

"Rough Justice"
"Live With Me"
"19th Nervous Breakdown"
"She's So Cold"
"Dead Flowers"
"Back of My Hand"
"Ain't Too Proud To Beg"
"Infamy"
"Oh No Not You Again"
"Get Up Stand Up"
"Mr. Pitiful"
"Tumbling Dice"
"Brown Sugar"
"Jumpin' Jack Flash"

www.billboard.com/bb/daily/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001013389

[Chelsea Press 2]

reception said:

Rolling Stones tune takes aim at Bush policies

I really like that track!

[reception]

The Rolling Stones have decided to offer a limited number of on stage tickets for their tour.

[Deleted]

THE ROLLING STONES
Rough Justice (3:10), Streets of Love (5:09), Back of My Hand (3:32)
Producer(s): Don Was, the Glimmer Twins
Writer(s): Promopub B.V.
Label/Catalog Number: Virgin Records (digital download)
Source: Billboard Magazine
Originally Reviewed: August 20, 2005

This three-pack of singles builds the appetite for the upcoming "A Bigger Bang," the first Rolling Stones studio album in eight years. "Rough Justice" is a steamy snapshot of the band's relentless live energy; it is already off to a jump-start at rock radio, although (or perhaps because) the chorus echoes "Brown Sugar." The stadium ballad "Streets of Love" —predictable but soulful—features a deliciously lovesick Mick Jagger hooked on phonics and "drenched with tears." At an average age of 61, the Stones sound raw and real. The smoky footnote "Back of My Hand" delivers a generic late-night blues jam, however. Marketing aside, why not release just one song with a bigger bang?—Sven Philipp

[reception]

Boston to gauge Stones' decibel level

BOSTON (AP)
While fans are rocking to the Rolling Stones inside Fenway Park, police officers armed with noise meters will be positioned outside the ballpark on Sunday night.

If the noise surpasses 70 decibels on the surrounding streets, Patricia Malone, director of the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing, will be alerted, and she will tell concert host Clear Channel to turn it down.

It's all part of the city's effort to minimize the impact of the Fenway concerts - now in their third year - on the neighborhood.

"It's something they've done for the past two concerts, and I've asked them to do it for this concert as well," Malone told the Boston Globe.

She said any major problems would be fixed between Sunday and the second Stones concert on Tuesday night.

The Stones are kicking off their North American tour at Fenway Park. The 93-year-old ballpark had never hosted a concert before Bruce Springsteen played there in the summer of 2003. Jimmy Buffett played two shows at Fenway last September.

[Fedepeti]

The tour starts today.

Fenway Park, Boston
Attendance: 36,000 (sold out)
Opening acts: Black Eyed Peas, Maroon 5

The stage:

[Fedepeti]

Other pic from the air (today)

[Fedepeti]

Setlist and first pics:

1. Start Me Up
2. You Got Me Rocking
3. Shattered
4. Tumbling Dice
5. Rough Justice
6. Back of my Hand
7. Beast of Burden
8. She's So Cold
9. Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
10. Night Time (Ray Charles cover)
Band Introductions
11. The Worst (Keith Richards on vocals)
12. Infamy (Keith Richards on vocals)
13. Miss You (Main stage moves out to B-Stage area during Miss You)
14. Oh No Not You Again
15. Satisfaction (with crowd on the stage)
16. Honky Tonk Woman (b-stage moves back to front during HTW)
17. Out of Control
18. Sympathy for the Devil
19. Jumpin' Jack Flash
20. Brown Sugar
Encore
21. You Can't Always Get What You Want
22. It's Only Rock'n Roll

Show time: 8:25 / 10:30

[reception]

Rock of ages: Stones keep rolling

[reception]

Rolling Stones' Keith Richards, left, and Ron Wood perform at Fenway Park in Boston on Sunday.

[sleepy time]

No "Under my Thumb".... hmmm.

I wonder if they ever even play that live. It's my favorite RS song.

[reception]

Rolling Stones set for Memphis concert

[reception]

Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones perform an outdoor concert on Magnetic Hill in Moncton, N.B., Canada, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2005.

[Fedepeti]

"A Bigger Bang" reviews:

ROLLING STONE ****1/2 (9 out of 10)

Let's just get this out of the way: A Bigger Bang isn't a good Rolling Stones album considering their age. It isn't a good Rolling Stones album compared to their recent work. No, A Bigger Bang is just a straight-up, damn fine Rolling Stones album, with no qualifiers or apologies necessary for the first time in a few decades.
The sixteen songs on this disc, their first studio album in eight years, mark the closest collaboration between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in ages -- they wrote many of them nose to nose on acoustic guitars while waiting for Charlie Watts to recover from treatment for throat cancer. Whether fueled by their notorious competitive camaraderie or inspired by their oldest mate's brush with mortality, the results sound like a genuine band effort -- loose, scrappy and alive. A Bigger Bang recalls the best things about rough, underrated Stones albums like Dirty Work or Emotional Rescue, though it's also impressively consistent. The key here comes from surrendering to the groove. Most of the tracks are built around the incomparable spark that's lit when Keith's guitar and Charlie's drums lock into a rhythm. There's never been another team that can drive a band quite like these two, but on their post-Seventies work that magic has usually been buried in the mix. On hard-charging songs like "It Won't Take Long" or the rave-up single "Rough Justice," the Stones reassert themselves as the World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band, and not just as the Greatest Show on Earth.

Mick and Keith have always said they want to grow old like the bluesmen they idolize, and on Bang they finally figure out how: The album revels in the Chuck Berry boogie and classic R&B pulse that's always been their lifeblood. The latter-day Glimmer Twins have often felt the need to coat their songs with layers of winking irony or studio gloss. Here, the dance-floor strut "Rain Fall Down" and the soul ballad "Laugh, I Nearly Died" are powerful because they're played straight, never turning cartoonish or mannered. Jagger's voice throughout is a knockout, deeper and more forceful than seems possible after forty-plus years of rocking the mike. The subject matter on A Bigger Bang, though, is thankfully a bit less mature. The album mostly sticks to familiar, nasty Stones territory: being heartbroken and breaking hearts, the evils that women (and, sometimes, men) do. Maybe his palimony suit and much-publicized tabloid romances have given Mick some new fire -- the women on these songs have "burglarized my soul," "wipe the floor with me" and are "fucking up my life." Not that our boy is much better himself, confessing that "I took her for granted/I played with her mind" and -- leaving us to guess at the details -- "I was awful bad." On "Dangerous Beauty," we return to the S&M underworld, as previously featured on "When the Whip Comes Down." The CNN-ready chart-buster "Sweet Neo Con" savages an unnamed born-again, war-happy politician with ties to Halliburton -- a surprisingly direct attack from a band whose best-known political statements expressed the ambivalence of "Street Fighting Man" or "Salt of the Earth." But Jagger works up more passion concentrating on what happens when "I see love/And I see misery/Jammin' side by side." The only unseemly moments come from these sexagenarians' frequent usage of words like "cock," "tits" and "booty." (As for the line "Come on in/Bare your breasts" on the otherwise enchanting "This Place Is Empty" -- um, Keith, ick.) Of course a disc that clocks in at sixty-four minutes (just two minutes less than Exile on Main Street) is too long. In their defense, there isn't a single track that's a real lemon, though little would be lost if the perfunctory rocker "Look What the Cat Dragged In" was left for an iTunes exclusive. A Bigger Bang may not be a perception-shattering comeback like Bob Dylan's Time Out of Mind/Love and Theft combo, but by returning to their roots and embracing their age, the Rolling Stones have come up with an album that's a worthy successor to their masterworks. Jagger and Richards are still standing -- grumpy old men, full of piss and vinegar, spite and blues chords, and they wear it well.



ALAN LIGHT
(Posted sep 22, 2005)

[Deleted]

All Music Guide gave the album 4/5 stars. That's their highest rated album on All Music Guide since 1981's Tattoo You.

Eight years separate 2005's A Bigger Bang, the Rolling Stones' 24th album of original material, from its 1997 predecessor, Bridges to Babylon, the longest stretch of time between Stones albums in history, but unlike the three-year gap between 1986's Dirty Work and 1989's Steel Wheels, the band never really went away. They toured steadily, not just behind Bridges but behind the career-spanning 2002 compilation Forty Licks, and the steady activity paid off nicely, as the 2004 concert souvenir album Live Licks proved. The tight, sleek, muscular band showcased there was a surprise — they played with a strength and swagger they hadn't in years — but a bigger surprise is that A Bigger Bang finds that reinvigorated band carrying its latter-day renaissance into the studio, turning in a sinewy, confident, satisfying album that's the band's best in years. Of course, every Stones album since their highly touted, self-conscious 1989 comeback, Steel Wheels, has been designed to get this kind of positive press, to get reviewers to haul out the cliché that this is their "best record since Exile on Main St." (Mick Jagger is so conscious of this, he deliberately compared Bigger Bang to Exile in all pre-release publicity and press, even if the scope and feel of Bang is very different from that 1972 classic), so it's hard not to take any praise with a grain of salt, but there is a big difference between this album and 1994's Voodoo Lounge. That album was deliberately classicist, touching on all of the signatures of classic mid-period, late-'60s/early-'70s Stones — reviving the folk, country, and straight blues that balanced their trademark rockers — and while it was often successful, it very much sounded like the Stones trying to be the Stones. What distinguishes A Bigger Bang is that it captures the Stones simply being the Stones, playing without guest stars, not trying to have a hit, not trying to adopt the production style of the day, not doing anything but lying back and playing.

Far from sounding like a lazy affair, the album rocks really hard, tearing out of the gate with "Rough Justice," the toughest, sleaziest, and flat-out best song Jagger and Richards have come up with in years. It's not a red herring, either — "She Saw Me Coming," "Look What the Cat Dragged In," and the terrific "Oh No Not You Again," which finds Mick spitting out lyrics with venom and zeal, are equally as hard and exciting, but the album isn't simply a collection of rockers. The band delves into straight blues with "Back of My Hand," turns toward pop with "Let Me Down Slow," rides a disco groove reminiscent of "Emotional Rescue" on "Rain Fall Down," and has a number of ballads, highlighted by "Streets of Love" and Keith's late-night barroom anthem "This Place Is Empty," that benefit greatly from the stripped-down, uncluttered production by Don Was and the Glimmer Twins. Throughout the album, the interplay of the band is at the forefront, which is one of the reasons the record is so consistent: even the songs that drift toward the generic are redeemed by the sound of the greatest rock & roll band ever playing at a latter-day peak. And, make no mistake about it, the Stones sound better as a band than they have in years: there's an ease and assurance to their performances that are a joy to hear, whether they're settling into a soulful groove or rocking harder than any group of 60-year-olds should. But A Bigger Bang doesn't succeed simply because the Stones are great musicians, it also works because this is a strong set of Jagger-Richards originals — naturally, the songs don't rival their standards from the '60s and '70s, but the best songs here more than hold their own with the best of their post-Exile work, and there are more good songs here than on any Stones album since Some Girls.

This may not be a startling comeback along the lines of Bob Dylan's Love and Theft, but that's fine, because over the last three decades the Stones haven't been about surprises: they've been about reliability. The problem is, they haven't always lived up to their promises, or when they did deliver the goods, it was sporadic and unpredictable. And that's what's unexpected about A Bigger Bang: they finally hold up their end of the bargain, delivering a strong, engaging, cohesive Rolling Stones album that finds everybody in prime form. Keith is loose and limber, Charlie is tight and controlled, Ronnie lays down some thrilling, greasy slide guitar, and Mick is having a grand time, making dirty jokes, baiting neo-cons, and sounding more committed to the Stones than he has in years. Best of all, this is a record where the band acknowledges its age and doesn't make a big deal about it: they're not in denial, trying to act like a younger band, they've simply accepted what they do best and go about doing it as if it's no big deal. But that's what makes A Bigger Bang a big deal: it's the Stones back in fighting form for the first time in years, and they have both the strength and the stamina to make the excellent latter-day effort everybody's been waiting for all these years.

[reception]

Entertainment Weekly review: 'Bigger Bang' isn't an all-time great but that's OK

Hysterical reports to the contrary, the most notable thing on 'A Bigger Bang' isn't the Bush-bashing "Sweet Neo Con," an intentionally crude grinder with lyrics a little too 2003 to have much bite.

The real news flash is that the Stones have finally accepted that they are truly grown men. For once, they don't seem concerned with pop stars a third of their age, instead of playing it slick, they've made their dirtiest, most homemade-sounding album since "Some Girls."

And the strongest tracks are the slowest and most adult: the spooked out "Laugh, I Nearly Died," Keith's honky-tonk-noir "This Place Is Empty," the arch country tune "Biggest Mistake."

On "Back Of My Hand," they sound like the tattered bluesmen they've long threatened to become. But like every one of their albums since 1981's "Tattoo You," Bang also bogs down in autopilot rockers ("Rough Justice" sounds like a sped-up "Mixed Emotions"), soggy ballads, and the latest dispatches from Mick's aging-jetsetter life. The bang is hardly bigger, but for once the Stones seem to realize it doesn't have to be.

EW grade: B-

[Ragin]

I bought the album. I am in awe of these guys. It really is good, highly recommend it if you are into the Stones at all.

[reception]

The Rolling Stones land at No. 3 after selling 129,000 copies of A Bigger Bang, the only debut in the top 50 accrding to Billboard.

[Fedepeti]

A Bigger Bang is the #1 album worldwide.
www.mediatraffic.de

First debuts:
World chart: 1
Eurochart: 1

Germany: 1
Holland: 1
Austria: 1
Italy: 1
Sweden: 1
Switzerland: 1
Denmark: 1
Canada: 1
Argentina: 1
Uruguay: 1
England: 2
Spain: 2
Norway: 2
Iceland: 2
Poland: 2
Czech Republic: 2
New Zealand: 2
Mexico: 2
USA: 3
France: 3
Finland: 3
Chile: 3
Australia: 4
Japan: 5
Honk Kong: 5
Portugal: 5
Belgium: 9
Hungary: 10
Irleland: 18
Brazil: 25

[reception]

#5 at Tower Records Honolulu (9/16/2005)

[reception]

Jagger denies reports of Stones rift