Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour
The Rolling Stones' Steel Wheels Tour was a concert tour which was launched in North America in August 1989 to promote the band's album Steel Wheels; it continued to Japan in February 1990, with ten shows at the Tokyo Dome. The European leg of the tour, which featured a different stage and logo, was called the Urban Jungle Tour; it ran from May to August 1990. These would be the last live concerts for the band with original member Bill Wyman on bass guitar. This tour would also be the longest the band had ever done up to that point, playing over twice as many shows as their standard tour length from the 1960s and 1970s.
The tour was a financial success, cementing the Rolling Stones' return to full commercial power after a seven-year hiatus in touring marked by well publicized acrimony among band members.
History
The Rolling Stones began pre-tour preparations in July 1989 at the Wykeham Rise School, a former boarding school for girls in Litchfield, Connecticut. A 25-member entourage, was hired to support the band.The group performed a pre-tour 'surprise show' that took place on 12 August 1989 at Toad's Place in New Haven, Connecticut, with a local act, Sons of Bob, opening the show for an audience of only 700 people who had purchased tickets for $3.01 apiece. Toad's owner, Mike Spoerndle, had promoted the event as a private birthday party for Jim Koplik, the club's promoter. The official Steel Wheels Tour kicked off later that month at the now-demolished Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. During the opening show in Philadelphia, the power went out during "Shattered (song)", and caused a slight delay in the show. Jagger came out and spoke to the crowd during the delay. The Stones returned to Vancouver, B.C. in Canada and played two sold-out concerts at B.C. Place Stadium. Fan reaction for tickets was unprecedented. One local radio station, 99.3 The Fox, even had a man sit in front of the station in a bath tub filled with brown sugar and water for free tickets to the concert.
The stage was designed by Mark Fisher with the participation of Charlie Watts and Mick Jagger. Lighting design was by Patrick Woodroffe.
Canadian promoter Michael Cohl made his name buying the concert, sponsorship, merchandising, radio, television, and film rights to the Steel Wheels Tour. It became the most financially successful rock tour in history up to that time. Rival promoter Bill Graham, who also bid on the tour, later wrote that "Losing the Stones was like watching my favourite lover become a whore."
Performances from the tour were documented on the album Flashpoint, and the video Live at the Max, both released in 1991.
Opening acts for the tour included Living Colour, Dan Reed Network, Guns N' Roses and Gun.
The original two dates at Wembley Stadium that originally were set to take place on 13 and 14 July 1990 had to be rescheduled for 24 and 25 August 1990 due to Keith Richards cutting a finger the previous week.
In August 1990, an extra concert in Prague, Czechoslovakia, was added. Czechoslovakia had overthrown the Communist regime nine months earlier, and the Rolling Stones' concert was perceived as a symbolic end of the revolution. Czechoslovakia's new president Václav Havel, a lifelong fan of the band, helped to arrange the event, and met the band at the Prague Castle before the show. Performance expenses were partially covered by Havel and by the Czechoslovak Ministry of Industry. The attendance was over 100,000. The band chose to donate all revenues from the gig to the Committee of Good Will, a charity run by Havel's wife Olga Havlová.
Recordings
Released in 1991, Flashpoint is a 17-song live album of material recorded during the Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour.In July 2020, Eagle Rock Entertainment released a recording and DVD set of the final date of the North American tour titled Steel Wheels Live. The performance, recorded at the Atlantic City Convention Center, features guest appearances by John Lee Hooker, Eric Clapton, Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin.
Personnel
The Rolling Stones
- Mick Jagger – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, percussion
- Keith Richards – rhythm guitars, lead guitars, vocals
- Ronnie Wood – lead guitars
- Bill Wyman – bass guitar
- Charlie Watts – drums
Additional musicians
- Matt Clifford – keyboards, backing vocals, percussion, French horn
- Bobby Keys – saxophone
- Chuck Leavell – keyboards, backing vocals and musical director
- Bernard Fowler – backing vocals, percussion
- Lisa Fischer – backing vocals on the North American & Japanese tours only
- W. "Bindy" Bindeman – backing vocals, keyboards- Japanese tours only
- Cindy Mizelle – backing vocals on the North American & Japanese tours only
- Pamela Quinlan – backing vocals on North American & European tour only
- Lorelei McBroom – backing vocals on the European tour only
- Sophia Jones – backing vocals on the European tour only
- The Uptown Horns:
- Arno Hecht – saxophone
- Bob Funk – trombone
- Crispin Cioe – saxophone
- Paul Litteral – trumpet
Entourage
- Michael Cohl – Tour Director
- Norman Perry – Assistant Tour Director
- Alan Dunn – Logistics
- Arnold Dunn – Band Road Manager
- Timm Wooley – Financial Controller
- Bob Hurwitz – Tour Accountant
- Stan Damas – Police Liaison
- Jim Callaghan – Security Chief
- Rowan Brade – Security
- Bob Bender – Security
- Joe Seabrook – Security
- William Horgan – Security
- Linn Tanzmann – Band Press Representative
- Neil Friedman – Assistant Tour Publicist
- Bennett Kleinberg – Advance Tour Publicist
- Dimo Safari – Tour Photographer
- Beth Kittrell – Administrative Assistant
- Caroline Clements – Makeup
- Robern Pickering – Wardrobe
- Fiona Williams – Stylist
- LaVelle Smith – Choreographer
- Torje Eike – Physiotherapist
- Joseph Sakowicz – Band/Entourage Luggage
- Shelley Lazar – Ticket/Credentials Coordinator
- Miranda Guinness – Asst. to Mick Jagger
- Tony Russell – Asst. to Keith Richards
- Jo Howard – Asst. to Ron Wood
- Tony King – Mick Jagger Press Liaison
- Patricia Aleck – Travel Advance
- Cliff Burnstein – Creative Consultant
- Peter Mensch – Creative Consultant
Production
- Michael Ahern – Production Manager
- Chuch Magee – Backline Crew Chief
- Roy Lamb – Stage Manager
- Mark Fisher – Set Designer
- Patrick Woodroffe – Lighting Designer
- Benji Lefevre – FOH Sound Engineer
- Chris Wade-Evans – Monitor Sound Engineer
- Gary Epstein - Universal System Engineer
- Pierre De Beauport – Guitar Technician
- Andy Topeka – Keyboard Technician
- Steve Thomas – Production Advance
- Steve Howard – Promoter Production Rep
- Bruce Haynes – Electrician
- Shane Hendrick – Electrician
- David Sinclair – Electrician
- Henry Wetzel – Electrician