THE ROLLING STONES
1973 Pacific tour

[1965 tour] [1966 tour] [Ned Kelly] [1973 tour]

Promoter: Paul Dainty Lineup: Mick Jagger (vocals, percussion, harmonica) Keith Richards (guitar, vocals) Mick Taylor (guitar) Bill Wyman (bass) Charlie Watts (drums) Bobby Keyes (sax) Jim Price (trumpet/trombone)  Nicky Hopkins (keyboards) Support acts: Madder Lake (Melbourne) Right: the famous tour posters by Ian McCausland

The 1973 Tour

Right: the cover of the 1973 Pacific Tour programme. 

In February 1973 The Rolling Stones returned to Australia and New Zealand for the firs time since 1966, and this tour was also originally scheduled to include their first visit to Japan. The Stones were arguably at the peak of their career, and this tour saw them mainly performing material from their two most recent albums Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main St. Madder Lake were the support band for the Melbourne concerts at the Kooyong Tennis Centre, and members of Madder Lake also attended the Stones' reception at Montsalvat. Support acts in other cities are yet to be confirmed.

The tour was widely covered in the media, including a special made by Jeune Pritchard for the ABC's pop show GTK. This mini-documentary is doubly significant because it includes a brief interview with New York-based Aussie journalist and pioneer rock encyclopedist Lillian Roxon, who was covering the tour (which also enabled her to also visit her family in Sydney). Sadly this proved to be her last visit home before her untimely death from asthma later that year, and her appearance in this film is probably one of the few surviving filmed records of her.

Prior to the tour there were fears that it might not go ahead, due to previous drug convictions incurred by various members of the group. On 4 January 1973 Australia's Immigration Ministry announced that one of the Stones (unnamed) was banned from entering the country and on 8 January the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Jagger would not be allowed into their country due to his prior drugs convictions. However on 9 January 1973 the Immigration Minister Al Grassby approved the band's visas, enabling the tour to go ahead. 

On 18 January, just before the tour began, The Stones performed a benefit concert at the Los Angeles Forum for victims of the recent 23 December 1972 earthquake in Nicaragua (Bianca Jagger's home country). This event, which served as the warm-up concert for the Pacific Tour, was opened by Santana and Cheech & Chong and raised several hundred thousands dollars for earthquake victims.

The tour proper commenced with three shows on 21-22 January in Hawaii, at the Honolulu International Center. These proved to be Mick Taylor's last shows with the Stones in the United States, and the Pacific tour was his only visit here with them. The next concerts were slated for the Budokan in Tokyo, scheduled from 28 January to 1 February, and 55,000 tickets had already been sold, but on 27 January the Japanese Imigration Ministry confirmed its decision to refuse the band entry into Japan. The shows were scrapped and the concert promoter had to refund all tickets. Some sources report that the Stones played a 5 February show at Hong Kong's Football Club Stadium, but this never took place.

There were a few drug-related incidents during the Australian tour, one of which reportedly resulted in a crew member being sent out of the country, but considering that Keith Richards was then at the height of his heroin addiction -- he is clearly 'whacked' during his interview with Jeune Pritchard --  the tour was remarkably trouble-free, largely thanks to the efforts of the Stones crew and Dainty's veteran tour manager Ron Blackmore. The only major incident took place during one of the concerts at Adelaide's Memorial Drive Park, when members of the 5000-strong crowd clashed with police, resulting in 21 arrests. Three days later, however Immigration Minister Al Grassby said: 

"The Stones are an excellent example to Australian youth. I told them I was putting my faith in them and hoped they would do the right thing. I have no regrets that I let them in -- yes, I went out on a limb to give them visas -- to give a man a bad name and hang him is immoral and un-Australian."

Tour Itinerary & Set Lists

February 9: Sydney

- Arrival & airport press conference
- press conference at The Old Spaghetti Factory, The Rocks, Sydney

February 11: Western Springs Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand

Set list: Brown Sugar/Bitch/Rocks Off/Gimme Shelter/Happy/Tumbling Dice/Love In Vain/Sweet Virginia/You Can't Always Get What You Want/ All Down The Line/Midnight Rambler/Rip This Joint/Jumping Jack Flash/Street Fighting Man

Note: A b&w private film of the Auckland show exists with the following songs - Brown Sugar / Bitch / Rocks Off / Gimme Shelter / Happy / Love In Vain

Photographer Lloyd Godman has some excellent photographs of the Stones in action at Wesern Springs on his website:
http://www.lloydgodman.net/bedrock/stones/Stone1.html

February 14: Milton Park Tennis Courts, Brisbane

Set list: Brown Sugar / Bitch/Rocks Off / Gimme Shelter / Happy / Tumbling Dice / Love In Vain / Sweet Virginia / You Can't Always Get What You Want / All Down The Line / Midnight Rambler / Band introduction / Bye Bye Johnny / Rip This Joint / Jumping Jack Flash / Street Fighting Man

February 16: Press conference, Montsalvat, Melbourne.

Reception and press conference, interviews with Jagger, Richards, Wyman and Mick Taylor. Charlie Watts , Bobby Keys and Jim Price attended but did not participate in the interviews. Melbourne support band Madder Lake also attended. Segments of the interview were broadcast on Melbourne radio later in the day. Mick & Keith were also interviewed by the ABC's Juene Pritchard for a GTK special.

February 17: Kooyong Tennis Centre, Melbourne (two shows)

Both shows were the same set list as the Brisbane show, minus "Rip This Joint". Part of the the first concert was filmed by ABC TV for a GTK special (original broadcast date unknown.)

Support: Madder Lake

February 18: Kooyong Tennis Centre, Melbourne

Set list: Brown Sugar / Bitch/Rocks Off/ Gimme Shelter / Happy / Tumbling Dice / Love In Vain / Sweet Virginia / You Can't Always Get What You Want / Honky Tonk Women / All Down The Line / Midnight Rambler / Band introduction/Bye Bye Johnny/Jumping Jack Flash/Street Fighting Man

Support: Madder Lake

February 20: Memorial Drive Park, Adelaide

Set list: Brown Sugar / Bitch/Rocks Off / Gimme Shelter / Happy / Tumbling Dice / Love In Vain / Sweet Virginia / You Can't Always Get What You Want / Honky Tonk Women / All Down The Line / Midnight Rambler / Bye Bye Johnny / Jumping Jack Flash / Street Fighting Man

February 21: Memorial Drive Park, Adelaide

Set list: Brown Sugar / Bitch / Rocks Off / Gimme Shelter / Happy / Tumbling Dice / Sweet Virginia / You Can't Always Get What You Want / Honky Tonk Women / All Down The Line / Midnight Rambler / Little Queenie / Jumping Jack Flash / Street Fighting Man

February 24: Western Australia Cricket Ground, Perth

Set list: Brown Sugar/Bitch/Rocks Off/Gimme Shelter/Happy/Tumbling Dice/ Honky Tonk Women/All Down The Line/Midnight Rambler/Band introduction/Happy Birthday To You Nicky/Little Queenie

Note: A soundboard recording was made of this concert and is now widely available on the Internet as an MP3 downlaod

February 26: Royal Randwick Racecourse, Sydney

Set list: Brown Sugar/Bitch/Rocks Off/Gimme Shelter/Happy/Tumbling Dice/Love In Vain/Sweet Virginia/You Can't Always Get What YouWant/Honky Tonk Women/All Down The Line/Midnight Rambler/Band introduction/Little Queenie/Rip This Joint/Jumping JackFlash/Street Fighting Man

Note: A soundboard recording was made of this concert

February 27: Royal Randwick Racecourse, Sydney

Set list: Brown Sugar/Bitch/Rocks Off/Gimme Shelter/Happy/Tumbling Dice Love In Vain/Sweet Virginia/You Can't Always Get What YouWant/Honky Tonk Women/All Down The Line/Midnight Rambler/Band introduction/Little Queenie/Rip This Joint/Jumping JackFlash/Street Fighting Man

Note: A soundboard recording was made of this concert.

February 27: ABC-TV interviews with Charlie Watts, Keith Richards

References / Links

Bill Wyman
Rolling With The Stones (Dorling Kindersley, 2002)

Stuart Coupe
The Promoters (Hodder, 2003)

Rolling Stones Database 1973
http://www.nzentgraf.de/books/tcw/1973.htm

YouTube: GTK special
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5ahqyRnaVA
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS_jwp7RxcE&feature=related
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mfZW0pcEnw&feature=related

Smuggled Sounds: The Rolling Stones
http://live-bootleg.blogspot.com/2008/02/rolling-stones-back-strap-jacket.html
This site includes downloads of MP3 recordings of concerts in Perth and Sydney

"The Band's On Stage" 
MP3 recording of Feb. 20 Adelaide concert
http://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?2,911261,911261

Ian McCausland official website
http://www.ianmccausland.com.au/psale.html

Please email webmaster@milesago.com if you have more information or corrections, or to report any broken links.