Stones Tour: All Over the Map

Few bands can cause as much excitement announcing a tour as actually playing the shows, but the Rolling Stones did it again Tuesday. And it wasn’t just arriving via blimp at a New York City press conference.

Trumping speculation about whether the veteran British rock group would focus on stadiums or sports arenas for its 40th anniversary tour, the Stones announced they will play both, as well as a handful of small theaters. In several major cities, they’ll do all three.

When the tour reaches Southern California in October, the group will play Anaheim’s Edison Field, Staples Center in downtown L.A. and the 2,200-seat Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles.

In an era of escalating concert prices, tickets for the small-venue shows will cost just $50, while prices will average $85 at stadium shows and $100 for the arena stops. The Stones will compensate for the low-priced theater tickets with premium-priced seats at the arena and stadium dates that will run $250 and up.

“The idea just evolved,” tour promoter Michael Cohl said Tuesday of the three-tiered approach. “They had talked about doing all stadiums, or all arenas, and it just wasn’t getting the band excited. They were like, ‘Done that ... done that.’”

Cohl added that singer Mick Jagger “mentioned that somebody in the deep, dark past once said they wished they could do it all in each city, and I immediately said, ‘We could do that.’”

“It’s innovative,” said veteran Los Angeles concert promoter Andy Hewitt, who has promoted Stones shows on previous tours and will be involved in dates in Los Angeles, Anaheim and Las Vegas on the new tour.

“We found that the club date we did in Las Vegas was the easiest Stones show we’d ever done,” Hewitt said of a stop at the MGM Grand. “They downsize very easily and get back to their roots very easily.”

The Stones hold the record for the highest-grossing concert tour ever with $121.2 million in 1994, but it would appear that topping their own record isn’t the first priority on this tour.

“Obviously they could have charged a lot more,” said Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the concert industry tracking publication Pollstar. “It’s nice to see they’re being sensitive to the fans, and not out to gouge people.” Industry speculation has been that premium tickets could go as high as $750 to $1,000.

Said Cohl: “Just because you can charge more, it doesn’t mean you should. We’re keeping prices within what we think the market is. This tour clearly won’t be in the top three or four [highest-grossing] tours ever. There aren’t enough dates.”

The Stones have played club shows occasionally on previous tours, but they were usually unannounced warmup dates or surprise added shows rather than part of the official tour.

It’s rare for major acts to include small theaters, arenas and stadiums on the same tour because staging, sound and lighting requirements typically are drastically different for each.

The Stones tour includes 32 dates in the U.S. and Canada, beginning Sept. 5 in Boston and arriving in Southern California for a Halloween show at Staples Center. The Anaheim show follows on Nov.2 and then the Wiltern stop on Nov.4. The only other Southern California appearance announced is a Nov. 14 show at the San Diego Sports Arena.

Tickets for the Los Angeles-area shows are slated to go on sale May19.

Tickets also will be sold through an online venture between Clear Channel Entertainment and Sam Goody music stores. Anyone who joins the GetAccess program for a $60 annual fee will be allowed to buy two tickets to any show on the tour, including the small-venue shows, before they are offered to the public, as long as quantities hold out.

After the North American dates, including some in Mexico, the tour will continue in Europe, Australia and Asia, where the band hopes to play its first shows in China next year.

The Stones are scheduled to record a few new songs to be included on a career retrospective album.