The Rolling Stones will wrap their 50 & Counting Tour tonight, at London’s Hyde Park.
Highlights on the tour included the two trek closing spots at Hyde Park, marking the band’s first appearance there since 1969, the Stones’ first time as headliners at Glastonbury Festival and their brief set at Madison Square Garden for the 12-12-12 benefit for Hurricane Sandy relief.
Apart from a trio of “impromptu” club dates – two in Paris, one in L.A., the tour garnered far more press about the exorbitant ticket prices than the setlist.
Although original bassist Bill Wyman appeared for a couple of numbers at the band’s 2012 UK shows, he declined to travel to North America for such a limited amount of stage time. Former guitarist Mick Taylor frequently breathed new life into the Stones’ live act by reprising some of his signature licks on such classics as “Midnight Rambler,” “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking,” “Sway,” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” — but by tour’s end was usually allotted only two two songs to play on each night — three if there was no special guest.
The tour was most notable for the amount of indoor venues, which except for the three open air British shows played to arenas seating around 15-to-20,000. For the first time in their career – perhaps in response to the negative press regarding the ticket prices — nearly every show featured a special guest. Although many of the cameos were newsworthy, die-hard fans complained that the guest stars were mainly a distraction from the main event – even from the handful of guests who also came from the rock world.
Over the course of the 50 & Counting dates, the Rolling Stones welcomed the following special guests: Mary J. Blige, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Florence Welch, Keith Urban,Gwen Stefani, Tom Waits, John Fogerty, Bonnie Raitt, Katy Perry, John Mayer, Dave Grohl, the Black Keys, Carrie Underwood, Taj Mahal, Sheryl Crow, Taylor Swift, Win Butler of Arcade Fire, Gary Clark Jr., Brad Paisley, and Aaron Neville.
