Name: From Akron to NYC: Rolling Stones brought bedlam and brilliance to America in 1972
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From Akron to NYC: Rolling Stones brought bedlam and brilliance to America in 1972

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NEW!3,617sharesCLEVELAND, Ohio -- Rock and Roll may have been invented in the 1950s. But you could argue it didn’t become a larger-than-life spectacle until the 1970s. And no one exuded its spirit more than The Rolling Stones.The band’s 1972 American Tour was a livewire act that whipped across the country, forever changing the way bands would travel. Its details resemble that of . There were private planes, limos, sex, drugs, an insane amount of tequila and routine run-ins with the law. The trek also featured some of the best live performances in music history.[Listen to rock historians and writers relive The Rolling Stones’ 1972 tour on our latest episode of the CLE Rocks podcast via , , and .]“The bandmembers themselves on that tour were regarded as the exotic objects and given lavish media attention,” says veteran music journalist and Rolling Stones aficionado . “I think that was the first time that major magazines and mainstream American publications like ‘Life’ and ‘Saturday Review’ were covering a tour.”The Stones’ 1972 tour featured 48 shows in just under two months. There were just two outdoor shows, including a memorable one at the now-demolished Rubber Bowl in Akron.The run occurred smack dab in the middle of the Rolling Stones’ peak period. But it was also a tumultuous and anxious time for the biggest band in the world.The Rolling Stones’ 1969 American tour – a legendary excursion in its own right – didn’t end the way anyone expected. On Dec. 6, 1969, the band descended upon Altamont Speedway in Northern California to perform in front of a crowd of 300,000 people. It was billed as a “Woodstock West.” But peace and love did not rule the day.Tensions escalated within the unruly crowd during a performance of “Under My Thumb.” A scuffle broke out between members of the Hells Angels, who were serving in a security function at the show, and concert-goer Meredith Hunter. The captured in the 1970 documentary “Gimme Shelter” shows Hunter brandishing a gun just before a member of the Hells Angels stabs and kills him.The event would become a critical pop-culture moment as the country moved from the hippie dream of the 1960s to the more aggressive 1970s. But The Rolling Stones marched forward, releasing “Sticky Fingers” in 1971. The album marked the debut of the band’s trademark tongue logo, was the first studio effort to feature guitarist Mick Taylor and cemented the Stones as the biggest band in the world.But The Rolling Stones weren’t without their troubles. Following the release of “Sticky Fingers,” the band members learned they owed seven years of back taxes to the UK government. As a result, the Rolling Stones would go into tax exile in the south of France, staying at the Villa Nellcote, a mansion rented by guitarist Keith Richards.There, Richards, Taylor, Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and an amazing group of session players would record “Exile on Main Street,” considered by many to be the holy grail of Rolling Stones albums. The record, released in May 1972, shot to both No.1 in the U.S. and the UK, selling close to a million copies in its first week.“I think the mystique around ‘Exile on Main Street’ gives it this aura that the band’s other records don’t have,” Perry says. “The backstory of Keith Richards holing up with the band in the south of France in this humid basement with people coming and going for all-night sessions feeds into the legend and myth that ‘Exile on Main Street’ has become.”In need of money and hoping to rebound from the disastrous conclusion to their 1969 American tour, The Rolling Stones began plotting a run in support of “Exile on Main Street.” And the pressure was on.Rumors swirled that the Hells Angels put a bounty out on Jagger after the frontman publicly blamed the motorcycle club for the troubles at Altamont. Meanwhile, a combination of drug use and paranoia led Richards to carry a gun with him everywhere he went.“Three years was an eternity for a band like the Stones,” says Perry. “There was a sense of urgency in coming back to America after Altamont and trying to conquer a new America in the Seventies and remain at the top of the heap of rock bands.”Extra security measures were put into place for the ’72 tour, such as the band having its own plane, using limos to travel to shows and larger stages to keep fans at bay.Just about every stop on the tour featured a heavy police presence and numerous arrests of concertgoers for either drug possession or violence. Before the band’s show in Montreal, a bomb blew up an equipment van, causing replacement gear to be flown in.All the drama added to the tour’s colossal feel. The Stones’ private plane came with the new tongue logo painted on it. The stage setup featured 40-foot mirrors with a lighting system that would reflect onto the band members. Celebrities like Truman Capote, Bob Dylan, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Woody Allen would tag along at various stops.The trip would become known as the S.T.P. tour, short for the “Stones Touring Party” with the press following along every step of the way. Suddenly, The Rolling Stones were garnering the type of attention in America only presidents had seen.When one mentions the phrase “sex, drugs and rock &amp; roll,” they should look no further than The Rolling Stones’ 1972 American Tour. Debauchery and mayhem were on full display.During a stop in Chicago, the band members stayed at Hugh Hefner’s Chicago Playboy Mansion, a stint some journalists would refer to as a five-day orgy. While in Rhode Island, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were arrested after a fight with a photographer. The duo was eventually bailed out by then Boston Mayor Kevin White so the band could fulfill their tour stop at the Boston Garden.Still, the bedlam came secondary to the music. The Rolling Stones routinely put on one of the greatest live shows the world would ever see, something fans at the Akron Rubber Bowl would discover on July 11, 1972.The football stadium, which began hosting major rock and roll concerts that summer, had put together a stacked lineup of performers that included Faces, Black Sabbath, The Allman Brothers Band and Jefferson Airplane, among others. But nothing was bigger than The Stones.“It was big news when they were touring. We didn’t have the Beatles anymore. It was the Stones,” says pop culture historian and Vermillion native Dave Schwensen, who attended the show at the Rubber Bowl. “They made a big splash in 1969. But they didn’t come to Cleveland. The closest they came was Detroit. We had been waiting all these years for ’72. It was like, ‘They were coming to Akron? Are you kidding me? Let’s go!”The Akron show wasn’t without its tense moments. During opening act Stevie Wonder’s set, a fight broke out between police and a group of young fans in the middle of the crowd.“The field was just filled with as many people as possible,” remembers Schwensen. “The rumor was that some kids down there were smoking pot or selling pot, and the cops were not going to let that happen.“There was a line of policemen going through the crowd and the kids were fighting back. I remember one cop was bleeding from the top of his head. It was quite a scene. I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, they’re going to cancel this thing.’”More than two dozen fans were arrested at the Rubber Bowl. But the show was not canceled. Once the sun went down, the Rolling Stones took the stage for a near-perfect, 15-song set bookended by “Brown Sugar” and “Street Fighting Man.”“They opened up with Brown Sugar. Talk about energy. It just kicked in,” remembers Schwensen. “It was the first time I’d ever been to a concert where they had the giant screens on the side of the stage.“And there was nobody like Mick Jagger. He had on this denim jacket and jumpsuit and came out dancing from behind the amplifiers. John Lennon didn’t dance. Paul McCartney didn’t dance. Robert Plant didn’t dance. Mick Jagger danced. There was no one else like him.”After the show, Belkin Productions estimated that some 42,000 people attended The Rolling Stones concert at Akron Rubber Bowl. Many who were there estimate it was way more.The tour would continue for two more weeks, concluding with an epic four-night stand at Madison Square Garden in New York City.More than half a million people mailed in postcards in hopes of earning the right to buy tickets to one of the four shows. The cost of a seat in 1972 – just $6.50. Tickets were resold on streets for more than 10 times that. And the Stones delivered an extravaganza worthy of the hype.“Mick Jagger was an incredible ball of energy. He didn’t stop for one second,” recalls Grace Lichtenstein, who covered the shows for the New York Times. “He must have eaten huge meals because he used so much energy that you wonder where it all came from. And the answer I don’t think was cocaine. With Stevie Wonder as the opening act, it was one of the greatest rock shows I’ve ever seen.”The final show at Madison Square Garden concluded with Wonder joining The Stones for a medley of his hit “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” and the band’s “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” A cake was wheeled out to celebrate Jagger’s birthday, leading to a playful food fight between the band and the crowd.But the real celebration took place afterward on the roof of the St. Regis New York. Atlantic Records president Ahmet Ertegun threw a party for Jagger featuring various celebrities, cocaine, marijuana and a birthday cake that saw a woman wearing pasties hop out of it. A carefree Bob Dylan was along for the ride and told the New York Times the night was “the beginning of cosmic consciousness.”The celebration was warranted. The 1972 tour net The Rolling Stones more than $2 million in profits to split among the band and its crew.While the Stones would continue with epic tours in the decades that followed, nothing ever quite equaled the 1972 run. The music became less urgent (See: 1973′s “Goats Head Soup”) as the band grew into a corporate juggernaut. Mick Taylor would depart in 1974, replaced by Ronnie Wood.“For better or worse, that’s when the band started to become a brand and started coming into its own as a corporation,” says Perry. “Moving forward, I don’t think their music was about breaking new ground. They concentrated more on being a great working band and having fun.“So when you look at that 1972 tour, it’s kind of a blip. Two months isn’t a long time. But it looms large in their history and legacy.”Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

NEW!3,617sharesCLEVELAND, Ohio -- Rock and Roll may have been invented in the 1950s. But you could argue it didn’t become a larger-than-life spectacle until the 1970s. And no one exuded its spirit more than The Rolling Stones.The band’s 1972 American Tour was a livewire act that whipped across the country, forever changing the way bands would travel. Its details resemble that of . There were private planes, limos, sex, drugs, an insane amount of tequila and routine run-ins with the law. The trek also featured some of the best live performances in music history.[Listen to rock historians and...

From Akron to NYC: Rolling Stones brought bedlam and brilliance to America in 1972

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