Jagger Stones the Nostalgia Trip

Mick Jagger says it’s “boring” to celebrate a band’s past--and that’s “the last thing” the Rolling Stones will be doing on its first U.S tour in eight years.

In a phone interview tied to the announcement Wednesday that the Stones will perform at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Oct. 21 with Guns N’ Roses and Living Color, a frisky Jagger said he wouldn’t have considered touring without some new music to play.

Though Jagger didn’t mention the Who by name, his comments seemed a slap at the Stones’ longtime rock rivals, whose current farewell tour has a decidedly nostalgic aura.

Where the Who’s Pete Townshend refused to record a new album for the tour because he feels the band has long been what he calls “a spent force” creatively, the Stones will release a new album, “Steel Wheels,” in connection with its two-month tour, which begins Aug. 31 in Philadelphia.

“I think what is important is that you have a new record and some new music that you really enjoy,” Jagger, 46, said during a break in the Stones’ rehearsal in Washington, Conn. “The last thing we wanted to do was a totally nostalgic exercise.

“We didn’t want to go out (under the banner) that said, ‘You’d better see us now because this is the last time’ or ‘They are going to play their 25 years of rock’ or something. That’s not the push at all. I think it is boring to do that.

“We’re obviously not going to just play the new album, but that’s not unusual because all bands play the music from throughout their career. In fact, we’ll probably only play about three songs on the early dates, until the music from the new album gets on the radio and fans get familiar with it.

“But we don’t just want to come on stage and say, ‘Remember how good we used to be?’ We want to show people what we can still do.”

At a Coliseum press conference Wednesday, Brian Murphy, president of Avalon Attractions, said tickets for the Oct. 21 stop will be $35, including a $4.50 service charge. The seats, all reserved, will go on sale at 9 a.m. Saturday at Ticketmaster outlets in Music Plus stores throughout Southern California.

Numbered wristbands will be given out from noon to 10 p.m. Friday at the Ticketmaster outlets--with a lottery system used Saturday to determine which number gets the first tickets.

Tickets can also be purchased for $37, including a $6.50 service charge, plus a $2 per order handling charge, through Ticketmaster’s phone lines, starting 9 a.m. Saturday. There is a limit of eight tickets per person at both the stores and on the phone.

These are Los Angeles’ highest-priced stadium concert tickets ever, topping the $30 Michael Jackson shows in 1984 at Dodger Stadium. A survey of several local ticket agencies indicated that that the brokers’ prices for choice Stones field seats could go as high as $400, while the cheapest tickets would be in the $50 range. With approximately 72,000 seats available, a Coliseum sellout would mean a gross of nearly $2.2 million--minus the service charge. Murphy, whose firm is producing the local show in association with Toronto-based Concert Productions International, said a second date may be added if the Oct. 21 concert sells out quickly. The Stones gave two performances at the Coliseum and one at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium on its 1981 tour, but Avalon’s Murphy said there will be no San Diego stop this time.

The Who will be at the Coliseum on Aug. 26 for one of the three Southern California appearances on its tour. Approximately 10,000 of the original 72,000 tickets--priced at $25 plus $3.50 service--remain available for the show.

In addition, the Who will be at the 52,000-capacity Jack Murphy Stadium on Aug. 22. Tickets are also available for that concert. The Who is also doing a star-studded, benefit performance of the rock opera “Tommy” on Aug. 24 at the 6,251-seat Universal Amphitheatre.

In the phone interview, Jagger said he never doubted the Stones would eventually tour again, despite his break from the band in recent years to do two solo albums and brief solo tours in Japan and Australia. Those moves were bitterly criticized by Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who followed with his own solo album and U.S. solo tour.

“I enjoyed very much the solo tour, especially Australia because there were more shows than in Japan and I got my teeth into it,” Jagger said. “But I always thought we would do this tour this year. The only question I had was whether we could get the record done in time.

“I think it’s a great improvement over ‘Dirty Work,’ ” Jagger added, comparing “Steel Wheels” (due in stores Aug. 29) to its 1986 predecessor. “That album had a couple of nice things in it but, on reflection, not a lot of depth. This one has a lot more variation musically and lyrically.”

Jagger said the band has rehearsed between 45 and 50 songs but is now concentrating on about 30 for the show, which he estimates will run about two hours.

“My attitude of that is you can’t play a high-energy show for more than two hours,” he said. “You can go three hours if you play a lower-energy show and take some rests and throw in a few long ballads. We’re aiming for more energy this time, and two hours is about the max for that.”

Murphy said the Coliseum is the only place Guns N’ Roses--the most celebrated new hard-rock band in years--will appear with the Stones. Living Color is the only support act in most of the cities.