July 15, 2005
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Mick Jagger, seen during an April 1999 concert at the MGM, and the Rolling Stones will be back in town Nov. 18.
Photo by Clint Karlsen
Stones coming to town
Sources say Mick and company to return to MGM
By MIKE KALIL
© Copyright 2005, REVIEW-JOURNAL
The Rolling Stones have been booked to play the MGM Grand Garden in November during a gap between Northern California shows, sources confirmed Thursday.
Although officials with the MGM Grand declined to comment, three sources with knowledge of the deal verified that the British rock legends are slated to perform Nov. 18 at the hotel’s arena.
“This has been kept pretty quiet, but it’s a done deal,” said one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “They’re sandwiching the Vegas dates between the ones in California.”
Ticket prices and an on-sale date remained unclear Thursday.
Attempts to reach Stones tour promoter Michael Cohl in Toronto were unsuccessful.
Singer Mick Jagger, drummer Charlie Watts, and guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood were holed up with backup musicians Thursday in that Canadian city’s Greenwood College School practicing for the tour, which kicks off Aug. 21 at Boston’s Fenway Park.
The four-day opening between a Nov. 15 appearance in San Francisco and a Nov. 20 gig in Fresno suggests the group could schedule a second Las Vegas date, as it has on its past two tours.
In the late 1990s and in 2002, the Stones played both the 14,800-seat MGM Grand Garden arena and a more intimate show at The Joint, the 2,000-capacity theater at the Hard Rock Hotel.
Hard Rock officials were tight-lipped Thursday.
“We cannot confirm a date,” said Phil Shalala, Hard Rock’s vice president of marketing.
It also remains unclear who will open for the band here. Confirmed acts for early East Coast and Canadian dates include Beck, Black Eyed Peas, Maroon 5, John Mayer, Pearl Jam and Joss Stone.
While ticket prices have not been announced, fans who want to spend the night together with the Stones better make sure they got the silver.
During the past 11 years, Las Vegas has four times been the host city for the Stones to set a new benchmark for ticket prices.
The band’s Las Vegas debut during the Voodoo Lounge tour in October 1994 saw tickets offered for $100 to $300, prices unheard of at the time.
But that was a bargain by the time of the group’s November 2002 appearance at The Joint. Tickets for that gig topped out at $1,000, but several concertgoers reported paying several times that to scalpers
