1998
The world was a carpet laid before me
1998
The world was a carpet laid before me
January 5, 1998: The Rolling Stones
resume the North American leg of their Bridges to Babylon tour with
their first
ever concert in Quebec City, in Canada, at Le Colisée. The 1998
North American tour
mixes in many
arena shows, with a simplified stage, along with the stadium gigs.
January 7-11, 1998: The Rolling
Stones' concerts in Syracuse, Toronto and Montreal are cancelled and
rescheduled
because Mick Jagger gets laryngitis and an ice storm severely impacts Quebec.
The
concerts are
only the second time Rolling Stones concerts are cancelled due to illness
(following the
July 1990
British shows cancelled because of Keith Richards' finger infection), and
the first related to
Mick Jagger.
January 14-17, 1998: The Rolling
Stones perform three concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York
City, their
first performances in the venue since 1981.
January 21-24, 1998: The Rolling
Stones play their first shows in Hawaii since 1973, with a concert on
the island
of Kona for the first time ever, and two shows in Honolulu.
January 28-February 3, 1998: The
Rolling Stones perform concerts along the West Coast, in Vancouver,
Portland and
San Diego.
January 29, 1998: It's Keith Richards' turn to do an AOL live online chat.
February 4, 1998: Ron Wood does the AOL online chat.
February 7-9, 1998: The Rolling
Stones head south to Mexico, where they perform two stadium concerts
in Mexico
City.
February 11, 1998: From Houston, Texas, Charlie Watts does his AOL chat.
February 12-15, 1998: The Rolling
Stones conclude the originally scheduled North American leg of their
tour with
two arena shows in Houston, Texas, and a club-sized show in Las Vegas at
The Joint.
Sheryl Crows
guests onstage in Las Vegas.
March 7, 1998: Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts fly from New York to Tokyo,
Japan.
March 9, 1998: Keith Richards and Ron Wood arrive in Tokyo from New York.
March 10, 1998: The Rolling Stones
hold a press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Tokyo, Japan,
to promote
their third trip to Japan.
March 12-17, 1998: The Rolling
Stones perform four concerts at Tokyo Dome.
March 20-21, 1998: The Rolling
Stones play their first ever concerts in Osaka, ending the Japanese leg
of the tour.
March 28, 1998: The Rolling Stones
hold a press conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to promote their
second ever
South American visit.
March 29-April 5, 1998: The Rolling
Stones perform five concerts at Buenos Aires' Estadio River Plate,
with Bob Dylan
opening and, as in 1995, guesting with them onstage on Like a Rolling
Stone.
April 7, 1998: The band flies in to Brazil.
April 9, 1998: Ron Wood narrowly escapes injury from a fire on a boat near
Rio de Janeiro.
April 11-13, 1998: The Rolling
Stones end their South American jaunt with a visit to Brazil, performing
in
Rio de Janeiro
and Sao Paulo.
| Keith Richards
(October 1998): You got me rocking
What interested me about (You Got Me Rocking) is that Mick suddenly loved the song on this tour, and I could barely get him to record it for Voodoo Lounge! He wasn't interested in it at all then. You live and learn... To me, You Got Me Rocking, it does rock. |
April 17-20, 1998: For the first
time in their career, the Rolling Stones return to North America after
performing
elsewhere on a tour, mostly to play the rescheduled January concerts. They
perform at
Syracuse'
Carrier Dome, followed by two arena shows in Montreal's Molson Center.
April 23-26, 1998: The Rolling
Stones perform an arena concert in Chicago, before closing the North
American tour
with the rescheduled show at Toronto's SkyDome.
April 27, 1998: Suzanne Accosta gives birth to her and Bill Wyman's third
daughter together, Matilda Mae.
May 18, 1998: The Rolling Stones'
European tour, set to open in Berlin, Germany on May 22, is delayed
for nearly
a month as Keith Richards falls off a library ladder (reaching for a book
on Leonardo da
Vinci) at
his home in Connecticut, breaking three ribs.
| Keith Richards
(1998): Book attack
The Encyclopedia Britannica, heavy volumes bombing me. It was one of those moments where you have to make a decision: take it on the ribs or take a shot in the temple on the desk. (Laughs) All part of life's rich pageant. |
June 8, 1998: The Rolling Stones'
British concerts are postponed until 1999 because of new tax laws.
This means
the Bridges to Babylon tour will spread over three calendar years,
by far the longest in
the Stones'
history up to this point. Because of its financial motives, the postponement
causes
controversy
in the media.
June 10-11, 1998: The Rolling
Stones rehearse at Eisbach Studios in Munich, Germany, then hold a
press conference
at the Hilton in Munich to announce the European tour.
June 13, 1998: The Rolling Stones
finally open their European tour with an outdoor concert for 91 000
fans in Nuremberg,
Germany, their first ever in the city.
June 16-18, 1998: For the third
time on this world tour, the Rolling Stones postponed/cancel concerts
because of
illness. Mick Jagger is afflicted with laryngitis again and concerts in
Italy and Spain are
rescheduled.
June 16, 1998: Keith Richards, Ron Wood and Charlie Watts leave Milan,
Italy, following the cancellation and travel
to Spain for a short holiday.
June 17, 1998: Charlie Watts visits the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain.
June 20-21, 1998: The Rolling
Stones resume the tour with two concerts in Werchter, Belgium.
June 24-26, 1998: Back in Germany,
the Rolling Stones perform in Dusseldorf (for the first time) and
Hannover.
June 29-July 6, 1998: The Rolling
Stones perform five concerts at the stadium-sized Amsterdam Arena
in The Netherlands,
for a total of 600 000 spectators.
June 30, 1998: On a day off, Mick Jagger travels to St. Etienne, France,
to watch a World Cup soccer/football match
between Argentina and England.
| Keith Richards
(October 1998): Recording in Amsterdam
It was the first dome in Europe, and so we didn't have to deal with the weather. What happens when you're recording live, everybody gets to know the room over four or five shows, and you can hone it down. You have virtually a controlled environment. You weren't dealing with the rain or the wind... It was a pretty lousy summer in Europe! |
| Keith Richards
(October 1998): The web choice
With this website thing, which basically we didn't rig very much - once or twice because the thing had broken down and nobody knew what it was, so we guessed what it would be - we wouldn't know until half an hour before. She's a Rainbow, Jesus Christ! That was the element of surprise for the band every night as to what was going to be the catch of the day. |
July 9-13, 1998: The Rolling Stones
play in Frauenfeld, Switzerland, for the first time, followed by
Vienna and
Munich.
July 16-20, 1998: The Rolling
Stones perform in the Spanish cities of Malaga, Vigo and Barcelona, the
first two
for the first time.
July 22-24, 1998: The Rolling
Stones mix live tracks for their upcoming live album at Devout Studios
in Paris,
France.
July 25, 1998: The day before
Mick Jagger's 55th birthday, the Rolling Stones perform at the Stade de
France in
Paris, to wild fans still celebrating their recent World Cup victory.
July 26, 1998: Mick Jagger holds a birthday party at his hotel in Paris,
which Anita Pallenberg and Marianne
Faithfull attend.
July 27, 1998: Back in Germany
yet again, the Stones perform in Gelsenkirchen.
July 29-August 5, 1998: The Rolling
Stones perform their usual Scandinavian mini-tour, hitting Denmark,
Sweden, Norway
and Finland.
August 8, 1998: The Rolling Stones
perform for the first time in Estonia,
in Tallinn.
August 11, 1998: After over twenty
years of trying, the Rolling Stones finally succeed in performing in
Russia,
at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium. The Rolling Stones are also photographed
walking around
Red Square.
| Charlie
Watts (1998): Playing in Russia
Mick was trying to make us go there for years, saying, Oh, wouldn't it be great to play there and all that, but as I grew up in the Cold War, I must admit I had these preconceptions. I thought it would be grey and dismal and snowing all the time. Everyone would look like Khruschev and all that silly stuff. Of course, when we finally went there, I looked out my window and and I could see Red Square and Basilica and it was absolutely fantastic. It was magical - like we were in Disneyland, but the real thing. |
August 14, 1998: The Rolling Stones
return to Poland after 31 years, performing in Chorzow.
August 16, 1998: Keith Richards makes a special trip to England, to his
old home Redlands, to perform at his
daughter Angela's wedding.
August 20, 1998: The Rolling Stones
perform in Zagreb, Croatia, again after their last performance in
1976 (then
part of Yugoslavia).
August 22, 1998: The Rolling Stones
perform in Prague in the Czech Republic for the third tour in a row.
August 28-September 2, 1998: The
Rolling Stones make a fifth visit to Germany on this tour, performing
concerts in
Berlin, Leipzig, Hamburg and Bremen.
| Keith Richards
& Mick Jagger (October 1998): Rising to the occasion
Keith: The band plays so well. It never stopped every night. I was so impressed with everybody... (Mick) performed so well, he sang great. There's a hundred-odd shows in varying conditions, and he hung in. I promised him the best band yet, and I said, You're gonna have to rise to it, and he did. I'm very impressed with the way the whole band dealt with this tour, because it seemed to go on a steady upward plane. There were no real lows and highs. Usually with a tour, it's good show, great show, terrible, average and then you sort of build up. This has gone so well from a musical point of view, from a performance point of view. I guess that's what they're going to continue. Mick: It was a really good vibe, the tour, really. It had a few ups and downs: I had laryngitis twice and Keith broke his ribs. That was, like, not very good, but we kind of got over it. |
September 5-8, 1998: The Rolling
Stones return to the Netherlands to perform at The Hague, then
return to
Sweden to perform in Stocholm's Globen arena.
September 10-12, 1998: The Rolling
Stones are back yet again in Germany, and back again in Berlin to
perform an
arena show at the Waldbühne, followed by a concert in Mannheim.
September 16, 1998: After 31 years,
the Rolling Stones are back again in Greece, performing to nearly
100 000 at
the Olympic Stadium in Athens.
| Keith Richards
(October 1998): Coming down again
You don't realize until you finish (that you're exhausted) because you're kind of running on empty. There's a feeling in the last week where you feel your body trying to relax and you're trying to say to it, Come on, we ain't finished yet. There's another few more to go, and then sort of coax it along. It's generally like that, and then there's this period of decompression. You try and figure out how to deal with it by hanging with friends. But then you can't really deal with it because around showtime, the body gets antsy! The adrenalin. After a year of it, it is a drug we do create ourselves, and when you suddenly cut it off, it's cold turkey and I know all about cold turkey! |
September 19, 1998: The Rolling
Stones complete their 1998 European Bridges of Babylon Tour with
their first
ever concert in Turkey,
at Ali Sami Yen Stadium.
October 1998: Mick Jagger works on unrealized film projects. Charlie Watts
and Jim Keltner resume work in Paris
on their electronic/experimental jazz album started the previous year.
October 19-20, 1998: Mick Jagger
and Keith Richards are in Toronto, Canada, conducting press
interviews
for the upcoming release of the Rolling Stones' live album.
| Mick Jagger,
Keith Richards & Charlie Watts (October 1998): Soldiering on
Mick: Every time you go out, I suppose it's like testing yourself again. But I just find it enjoyable and challenging, and, you know, it's not going to go on forever, is it? It can't last forever, so I'm glad to be able to do it for as long as possible. In some ways, it's a bit of a joke; but in other ways, people seem to really enjoy it. The audience really, really loves this stuff, so it makes me feel good about it... I want to continue to do music that I'm very involved with. I love performing and I don't see why we can't carry on doing it in various ways. It doesn't always have to be exactly the same. Keith: My lifestyle and the way I look (at the world) evolved out of being on the road... Why stop? People reach creative peaks at different times and you never know when it's going to come again. Especially with a team, with a band. So, in a way, I suppose the quest is: Let's find out how long a rock and roll band can go. Nobody knows because the music's not been around for that long. There's a certain missionary sense that goes unspoken amongst us. And I've always felt that there's a slight racial bias because if you're white you're not supposed to do it. If I was black, nobody would go on about how old I was, they'd say wonderful that he's still going. They wouldn't go on about thinning hairlines and wrinkles and all that crap. Charlie: It's genuinely enjoyable what I do. It's a lot of fun. Being in this band is a lot of fun. It's bloody hard work. But it is a lot of fun... We are very lucky. We have a huge crowd of people who like us and they just love looking at Keith Richards and looking at Mick wiggling his arms. They've been doing it for 30 years. |
November
2, 1998: The Rolling Stones' 7th live album, No Security, is released.
| Keith Richards,
Mick Jagger & Ron Wood (October 1998): No Security
Keith: We were under certain restrictions from the record company as to what tracks they didn't want - tracks that had been on the previous four or five live albums. It made us hop around and bring up a different set list: not another Jumpin' Jack Flash, as good as it is... We had to come up with a more eclectic list of songs... (H)aving developed a second stage thing, which I think has really given a whole new spatial feel to what you can do, then you approach the record in the same way. In actual fact, you look for the best takes of the songs, and get the different feels from different places. I believe it's definitely the best-sounding live Stones record there is. Mick: I think I (came up with the title). I was looking at this picture on the front. And it's this couple out of the crowd and they look kind of like Us and the world. It looks like the life holds no security for anyone. I don't know, it's something in their faces. I don't think (live albums are a necessary) evil. I spent a lot of time thinking about whether one could do something that was different from the others, and I just thought that the song choice was kind of key to this: to put out slightly unsual songs. There' some well-known songs, but none of them have been out on live albums at least for twenty-odd years, which is quite a long time... (Virgin Records) would have been happy if it was a load of more well-known ones. The only thing that Virgin cared about was that I got it done quickly so it would come out in the autumn. That's all they worried about. Ron: For No Security we spent a lot of time figuring out what songs had been done for other live albums, because we didn't want to do anything that had been recorded before... I didn't go to a studio once for overdubs. All the tracks are taken directly from the shows, so it shows we were pretty hot on that tour. |
November 16, 1998: The Rolling
Stones' 1999 No Security North American Tour is announced, a
redesigned
and reconceptualized arena-only tour, loosely based on the new live album,
before they
perform the
postponed British Bridges to Babylon dates.
| Keith Richards
(October 1998): The never-ending tour
The tour has taken on a life of its own due to several reasons, probably one of them being the change in the tax laws in England, which made it impossible to play there while we wrangle with the British government... In the meantime, it should be interesting to play the smaller theaters and arenas... I'm not a fountain of information on what's going to happen next year, except I know that I pick up the axe around January 20, 1999... It doesn't really matter to me. Just point me in the right direction. As long as the stage is there, it's cool. |
December 16, 1998: Keith Richards joins Ronnie Spector onstage at Joey
Ramone's Christmas party at the Life Club
in New York City.