¥MICK JAGGERhasaclearmemoryof
being onstage in the summer of 1972,
singing “Love in Vain”, the Robert
Johnson song the Rolling Stones had
recently reworked into a soul ballad.
Jagger still marvels at the live version
–particularlyMickTaylor’ssearing
lead guitar, which slowly took over
thesongandculminatedinaminute
andahalfofmournful,melodicvir-
tuosity. “He was playing beautiful-
ly at this point,” says Jagger. “It was
chilling.Itwassosadandhaunting.
And the horns were really justsub-
tlythere. The beats and stops were
usuallyperfect.Thatwasoneofmy
favourites.”
TheRollingStoneswereatthe
peakoftheirpowersinthesummer
of 1972: Keith Richards was play-
ing the most fearless rhythm guitar
of his career; Taylor stretched out
their music to improbable peaks; and
Jagger stalked the stage, whipping
his belt and perfecting his ability to
turn music, as critic Robert Green-
fieldobserved,intoapsychodrama.
It was the band’s first North Amer-
ican tour since Altamont, the disas-
trous, deadly California festival in
December 1969. Shaken by that de-
bacle and the death of Brian Jones,
the band hunkered down in the stu-
dio, recording three masterpieces:
1969’s Let It Bleed, 1971’s Sticky Fin-
gers and 1972’s Exile on Main Street.
Their Sixties peers – the Beatles,
Bob Dylan – were less prolific, with-
drawing from public view. In their
absence, the Stones had only grown
in stature. “After 10 years of playing
together, the Stones had somehow
become the number-one attraction
in the world,” Greenfield wrote in
his chronicle of the tour,AJourney
Through America With the Rolling
Stones.“Theonlygreatbandofthe
Sixties still around in original form
playing original rock & roll.... They
were royalty.”
Both Jagger and Richards remem-
ber the excitement they felt ahead of
theeight-weekrun.Iftheprospect
ofgettingbackontheroadweren’t
enough, the opening act on tour was
a 22-year-old Stevie Wonder, whom
Jaggermadeahabitofwatching
side-stage.“Itwasexciting,thefeel-
ingofanticipation–gettingbackin
touchwithwhatitiswedid,”says
Richards. Adds Jagger, “We were
tryingtogetoutofthestudio,outof
the South of France, and Keith had
allthesedrugproblems–soitwas
kind of good to get out on the road.”
The Stones’ office was overload-
ed with requests for tickets, priced
at $6.50 (some fans sent in as many
as 60 postcards each). A Dick Cavett
TVspecialonthetourdescribedthe
strange new phenomenon of scalp-
ing(plusthenewconceptofgroup-
ies). On opening night in Vancouver,
2,000 fans tried to force their way
into the Pacific Coliseum, leaving 31
policemeninjured–thefirstofsev-
eral violent incidents. “That was in
the day when people who didn’t have
a ticket wouldshowup,”saysJagger,
“and be like, ‘OK, we’re here, we’re
fucking going in.’ ”
Unlike the1969tour–whichfea-
tured slow, slogging rhythms – the
band played at breakneck speed.
“Keith was doing that,” says Jagger.
“I’m not trying to blame him for any-thing. He kept starting it.” Says Rich-
ards,“Thatwasprobablytryingto
catchupwithlosttime.”Songslike
“Street Fighting Man” ran several
minutes longer than the studio ver-
sions as the band ripped away. “We
were probably searching for the end-
ing,”Richardsjokes.
For Richards, the highlight was
playing the new songs fromExile
on Main Street,recorded the pre-
vious summer. “Playing theExile
stuffforthefirsttimewasareal
turn-on,”saysRichards.Afteropen-
ingwith“BrownSugar”,theband
tore through severalExileclassics:
“Rocks Off ”, “Rip This Joint”, “Sweet
Virginia”. Unlike later tours, Jagger
hung around during Richards’ songs,
howling away “Happy” into the same
mic. “I always enjoyed doing that,”
Richards says.
There were also a few throwbacks,
including a horn-fuelled version of
“Satisfaction”,and“ByeByeJohnny”,
aChuckBerrysongthattheStones
hadbeendoingsince1963.Accord-
ing to Richards, they picked the deep
cutforitsrhythm:“There’saninter-
esting reverse beat going on that al-
ways intrigued us.”
On the road, the Stones encoun-
tered an older audience – one that
ranged from about age 15 to 30.
“There always used to be screamers,
andtheydidn’tseemtoworrymuch
aboutthemusic,”BillWymantold
Cavett.Asaresult,thebandplayed
withmorefocus.Ithelpedthatarena
sound had improved: “Now you hear
everything and you see everything,
and there’s so much tension,” said
Wyman.THE
ROLLING
STONES
1972
NORTH
AMERICAN
TOUR
58 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com July, 2017
GREATEST
50 CONCERTSGETTY IMAGESIgotup
and hit in the
general
direction of
the light and
busted the
guy’s camera.
Things
escalated
from there.
Then the
fucking FBI
got involved.KEITH
RICHARDS