The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

' 1971 UK Tour was a brief concert tour

Rolling Stones concerts

Since 1963, the English rock group The Rolling Stones has performed hundreds of concerts around the world, being one of the world's most popular live music attractions....

 of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 that took place over two weeks in March 1971.

History

The Stones had not staged a tour proper in their homeland since autumn 1966. Now they were going out after having announced on the day of their first show that they were becoming tax exile

Tax exile

A tax exile is one who chooses to leave a country with a high tax burden and instead to reside in a foreign nation or jurisdiction which takes a lower portion of earnings. Going into tax exile is a means of tax mitigation or avoidance.-Legal status:...

s and decamping to the South of France, which they did shortly after finishing the tour. As a result, this tour was also called the Good-Bye Britain Tour or formulations thereof.

The tour was not lengthy, but audience numbers were enlarged by playing two shows on almost every night. Although Sticky Fingers

Sticky Fingers

-Personnel:The Rolling Stones*Mick Jagger – lead vocals, acoustic guitar on "Dead Flowers", electric guitar on "Sway", percussion*Keith Richards – electric guitar, six & twelve string acoustic guitar, backing vocals...

was still not released, the group expanded the number of selections from it played compared with the previous Fall's European Tour

The Rolling Stones European Tour 1970

The Rolling Stones' 1970 European Tour was a concert tour of Continental Europe that took place during the late summer and early fall of 1970.-History:...

; "Wild Horses" and "Bitch

Bitch (Rolling Stones song)

"Bitch" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones from their 1971 album Sticky Fingers.Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "Bitch" was recorded during October 1970 at London's Olympic Studios, and at Stargroves utilising the Rolling Stones Mobile studio.The track was featured on...

" were among those added. Nicky Hopkins

Nicky Hopkins

Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins was an English pianist and organist.He recorded and performed on noted British and American popular music recordings of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s as a session musician....

 took over from Ian Stewart

Ian Stewart (musician)

Ian Andrew Robert Stewart was a Scottish keyboardist, co-founder of The Rolling Stones and inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...

 the role of stage keyboardist.

Several performances were recorded by the Rolling Stones crew, most famously the Leeds show on 13 March, which later was broadcast by the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

. A stereo version of the Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...

 cover "Let It Rock

Let It Rock (Chuck Berry song)

"Let It Rock" is a song by Chuck Berry from his 1960 album Rockin' at the Hops. The same year, it was released as the B-side of the single "Too Pooped to Pop " and reached #64 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #6 in the UK. The song is about working on a train track as a train is...

" from the same concert was officially released on single with the studio versions of "Brown Sugar" and "Bitch" in 1971 (also reissued on the collection Rarities in 2005). The rest of this show has been released unofficially numerous times, making it one of the most well-known bootleg recordings of the Rolling Stones to date (most famously with the title Get Your Leeds Lungs Out).

Press opportunities focused on the usual banter with lead singer Mick Jagger

Mick Jagger

Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....

:

Reporter: "Many remark on the tendency of Mick Jagger to be as feminine as masculine. Would you like to be a woman?"

Jagger: "If God wants me to become a woman, then a woman I will become."

The Groundhogs

The Groundhogs

Groundhogs are a British rock band founded in late 1963, that toured extensively in the 1960s, achieved prominence in the early 1970s and continued sporadically into the 21st century.-Career:...

 served as supporting act for the shows.

Tour band

• Mick Jagger
  Mick Jagger
  Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
  
   - lead vocals, harmonica
• Keith Richards
  Keith Richards
  Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
  
   - guitar, backing vocals
• Mick Taylor
  Mick Taylor
  Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...
  
   - guitar
• Bill Wyman
  Bill Wyman
  Bill Wyman is an English musician best known as the bass guitarist for the English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1992. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings...
  
   - bass
• Charlie Watts
  Charlie Watts
  Charles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...
  
   - drums

Additional musicians

• Nicky Hopkins
  Nicky Hopkins
  Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins was an English pianist and organist.He recorded and performed on noted British and American popular music recordings of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s as a session musician....
  
   - piano
• Bobby Keys
  Bobby Keys
  Bobby Keys is an American saxophone player, and has performed with other musicians as a member of one of the notable horn sections of the 1970s. He appears on albums by The Rolling Stones, The Who, Harry Nilsson, Delaney Bramlett, George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, Eric Clapton and Joe...
  
   - saxophone
• Jim Price
  Jim Price (musician)
  Jim Price was, together with Bobby Keys and Jim Horn, one of the most in demand horn session players of the 1970s. He toured extensively with The Rolling Stones from 1970 until 1973, including their 1972 American Tour, and appears on the albums, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St. and Goats Head Soup...
  
   - trumpet

Tour set list

In Newcastle the set was:

1. "Jumpin' Jack Flash"
2. "Live With Me"
3. "Dead Flowers"
4. "Stray Cat Blues"
5. "Love In Vain"
6. "Prodigal Son"
7. "Midnight Rambler"
8. "Bitch"
9. "Can't You Hear Me Knockin'"
10. "Wild Horses"
11. "Honky Tonk Women"
12. "Satisfaction"
13. "Little Queenie"
14. "Brown Sugar"
15. "Street Fighting Man"

Encore:

1. "Sympathy For The Devil"
2. "Let It Rock"

For the rest of the tour some songs were dropped, at certain shows.

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
4 March 1971 2 shows	Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...	England England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...	City Hall Newcastle City Hall Newcastle City Hall is a concert hall, located in Newcastle upon Tyne which has hosted many popular music and classical artists throughout the years, as well as standup and comedy acts. Opened in 1927, the City Hall was built as a part of a development which also included the adjacent City Pool...
5 March 1971 2 shows	Manchester Manchester Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...		Free Trade Hall Free Trade Hall The Free Trade Hall, Peter Street, Manchester, was a public hall constructed in 1853–6 on St Peter's Fields, the site of the Peterloo Massacre and is now a hotel. The hall was built to commemorate the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. The architect was Edward Walters The hall subsequently was...
6 March 1971 2 shows	Coventry Coventry Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...		Coventry Theatre
8 March 1971 2 shows	Glasgow Glasgow Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...	Scotland Scotland Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...	Greens Playhouse
9 March 1971 2 shows	Bristol Bristol Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...	England	Colston Hall Colston Hall The Colston Hall is a concert hall and grade II listed building situated on Colston Street, Bristol, England. A popular venue catering for a variety of different entertainers, it seats approximately 2,075 and provides licensed bars, a café and restaurant....
10 March 1971 2 shows	Brighton Brighton Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...		Big Apple
12 March 1971 2 shows	Liverpool Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...		Empire Theatre Liverpool Empire Theatre Liverpool Empire Theatre is located on the corner of Lime Street and London Road in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The theatre is the second to be built on the site, and was opened in 1925. It has the largest two-tier auditorium in Britain and can seat 2,350 people...
13 March 1971	Leeds Leeds Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...		University of Leeds University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
14 March 1971 2 shows	London London London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...		Roundhouse

External links

• 'Rocks Off' 1971 tour setlists
• 'Frayed' 1971 tour pages