Rolling Stones to Rock Rose Bowl Aug. 22
By DONNA BALANCIA
Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones are gearing up for the rescheduled North American leg of their “No Filter” tour, which stops at The Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Aug. 22.
Jagger recently spoke with radio host John Derringer of Toronto’s Q-107 in his first interview since undergoing heart surgery.
“I’m feeling pretty good, been rehearsing a lot in the last few weeks,” Jagger said via phone to Derringer at the Toronto station.
In late March, The Rolling Stones announced that their summer tour would be postponed because Jagger would undergo a medical procedure. Jagger apologized to fans in a statement and said he would work hard to be back on stage soon. He had the operation to replace a heart valve in New York on April 5.
On May 16, the Rolling Stones announced that No Filter Tour would kick off June 21 in Chicago and the tour would wrap in Miami on Aug. 31. In an Instagram post that rocked Rolling Stones fans off their feet, Jagger shared a video showing him dancing during a rehearsal for the upcoming tour.
View this post on Instagram
Derringer commented on the “amazing” Instagram post.
“There’s always different ways of doing things,” Jagger responded.
Derringer asked what Jagger’s typical day is like and how he was spending the day.
“This morning a bit of gym, not crazy but a little bit of gym and stuff like that,” Jagger said. “Then I’m going to rehearse with the rest of the band.
Jagger remembered fondly the 2003 Rolling Stones concert at Down’s View Park.
“That was amazing,” he said. “It was such a wonderful turnout and such beautiful day. I remember flying in the helicopter up there, flew over the crowd it was incredible to see. Such a good lineup of acts. Good talent there. I will never forget that. I really enjoyed it.”
Do you enjoy playing venues you’ve never been before, Derringer asked.
“I always enjoy it,” Jagger said. “You do a lot of repeats of places you play and I’ve never been to Burl’s Creek (Toronto). We’re looking forward to that.”
Are there any places that the Rolling Stones haven’t played but really want to?
“So many countries we haven’t played,” Jagger said. “We’ve only been to India once. We’ve only been to Africa once. Most of the time we stay on the tried and true the same as everybody else. There are lots of places on the planet we haven’t played, don’t stop me going there but playing there is another thing.”
Derringer mentioned that with the release of the 1998 “Bridges to Bremen” movie and music due June 21, at that Germany concert the fans requested “Memory Motel.” He asked if Jagger is surprised by fan favorites.
“They come up with some funny ones sometimes,” he said. “I can usually sing the first line of anything. First line yeah, second line yeah, but sometimes after that I can’t remember them. Stuff like Memory Motel we actually rehearsed that one the other day. We try to pick some ones we haven’t done recently and some we haven’t done before. always try to get into a bit of the Unusual. Most of the time people don’t want too much unusual, people like a little bit of unusual but they don’t want 100 percent unusual.
Derringer asked about how many favorites the band will play in one night.
“I don’t know, the favorite ones people like to hear ‘Paint It Black,’ ‘Honky Tonk,’ ‘Satisfaction’ and things like that,” he said. “I mean we don’t always necessarily do all of them. We sometimes drop one or two. There are 10 favorites, I don’t know how people would feel If you didn’t do any of them, people would say ‘That’s a bit unfortunate, I came to hear this.’ If you’re doing a small club or a theatre or something then it doesn’t matter so much that you don’t do those numbers because people expect to hear much more unusual songs in a small place. But when you’re in a big place they expect to hear the songs they ‘came to hear’ up to a point.”
When asked if the Stones would be doing some songs they don’t normally play, Jagger said: “Maybe we’ll do some different ones. … Absolutely.”
How does he feel about touring?
“I don’t do it all the time 12 months a year,” Jagger said. “When you’re young that’s what you do. We spend three or four months on the road, it’s a good balance.
Derringer pointed out that there is nothing like the Rolling Stones “Rock N Roll Circus” coming to town.
“It feels wonderful and you want feel to feel a part for a few moments of that town’s atmosphere,” he said. “There’s always things to see, get out and about a bit, see what they’re doing, It’s always fun.”
Rescheduled No Filter 2019 tour dates
June 21 — Chicago, Ill. @ Soldier Field
June 25 — Chicago, Ill. @ Soldier Field
June 29 — Oro-Medonte, Ont. @ Burl’s Creek
July 3 — Washington, D.C. @ FedExField
July 7 — Foxboro, Mass. @ Gillette Stadium
July 14 — New Orleans, La. @ Mercedes-Benz Superdome
July 19 — Jacksonville, Fla. @ TIAA Bank Field
July 23 — Philadelphia, Pa. @ Lincoln Financial Field
July 27 — Houston, Tex. @ NRG Stadium
Aug. 1 — East Rutherford, N.J. @ MetLife Stadium
Aug. 5 — East Rutherford, N.J. @ MetLife Stadium
Aug. 10 — Denver, Colo. @ Broncos Stadium at Mile High
Aug. 14 — Seattle, Wash. @ CenturyLink Field
Aug. 18 — Santa Clara, Calif. @ Levi’s®️ Stadium
Aug. 22 — Pasadena, Calif. @ The Rose Bowl
Aug. 26 — Glendale, Ariz. @ State Farm Stadium
Aug. 31 — Miami, Fla. @ Hard Rock Stadium