rolling stones babylon tour

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The Rolling Stones: Bridges to Babylon Tour '97-98

Filmed in the TWA Dome in St. Louis Missouri on 12-12-97 Filmed in the TWA Dome in St. Louis Missouri on 12-12-97 Filmed in the TWA Dome in St. Louis Missouri on 12-12-97

• Bruce Gowers
• Matt Taylor
• Mick Jagger
• Charlie Watts
• Ronnie Wood
• 4 User reviews
• 3 Critic reviews

Top cast 16

• Self (Lead Vocals, Harmonica, Guitar)
• (as The Rolling Stones)

• Self (Drums)

• Self (Guitar)

• Self (Guitar, Vocals)

• Self (Saxophone)
• Self (Keyboards)

• Self (Bass)

• Self (Backing Vocals)

• Self (Trombone)
• Self (Trumpet)
• (as Kent Smith)
• Self (Saxophone
• (as Andy Snitzer)

• Self (Guest Vocals)

• Self (Guest Saxophone player on "Waiting on a Friend")

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia Of the 23 songs played, four songs were left off from the DVD. "Anybody Seen My Baby?", "Corinna, Corinne", "All About You" and "The Last Time" were played.
• Soundtracks (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards

User reviews 4

• Apr 14, 2008
• December 12, 1997 (United States)
• United States
• St. Louis, Missouri, USA
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed.

• Manage Account

Every Rolling Stones Tour, Ranked: Critic’s Picks

The legendary rock band has been performing live since the early '60s.

By Gary Graff

• Share on Facebook
• Share to Flipboard
• Share on Pinterest
• + additional share options added
• Share on Tumblr
• Share on Reddit
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Whats App
• Send an Email
• Print this article
• Post a Comment

On July 12, 1962, The Rolling (then Rollin’) Stones played their first show at the famed Marquee Club in London. By the fall of 1963 they were on the road in Europe, on the low end of a package with the Everly Brothers, Little Richard, Bo Diddley and more.

Flash forward 60-plus years, and they’re filling the world’s biggest stadiums — as they have been since the mid-’70s — with the current North American leg of their Hackney Diamonds Tour.

Few acts boast the kind of road resume the Stones have built over the decades. Conservative estimates put the group’s tally at more than 2,000 concerts for more than 45 million people — including an estimated 1.5 million alone on Feb. 18, 2006 at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And sometimes it seems like Mick Jagger has worn precisely that same number of outfits during all those years of performing.

Two of the Stones’ treks — A Bigger Bang from 2005-2007 and No Filter from 2017-2021 — are among the top 10 grossing tours of all time, according to Billboard Boxscore . The group’s two ’90s tours, Voodoo Lounge and Bridges to Babylon, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 for that decade, and A Bigger Bang topped the 2000s. Clearly, we like it when the Stones come to town — yes we do.

Why? So many reasons — not the least of which is a wealth of rock anthems the Stones dependably deliver most every time they hit the stage. There’s also staging, which is just as dependably awesome, and a sense of seeing bona fide history on display. We can certainly marvel at (and maybe be a little jealous of) Jagger’s continued vigor as he nears 81, and take comfort in the fact that Keith Richards, also 80, is still inexplicably with us despite behaviors that would take most everyone else off this mortal coil. “How do you make rock ‘n’ roll grow up? It seems to me that’s a very interesting question, and we’re the only answer,” Richards told this writer back in 2005. “When we finally croak, you’ll find out how long we can do this.”

The Hackney Diamonds Tour, which began April 28 in Houston and runs through July 17 in North America, is showing that the Stones have yet to gather any moss. Invigorated by a strong new album of the same name, the early shows have featured strong performances and changing set lists, and fans are still coming in droves.

And that has us thinking back over the group’s touring history, and the enormous legacy that’s been created since those Stones started rolling. Check out our ranking of the band’s 17 tours below,

British and American Tours (1964) / Irish Tour (1965)

Dubbed “England’s Newest Hitmakers,” The Stones began headlining on Jan. 6 at London’s Granada Theatre and would not be looking back after that. With Ian Stewart alongside on piano, the group was more exciting than seasoned, playing mostly covers, along with the “I Wanna Be Your Man” single John Lennon and Paul McCartney gifted to them. The footage and recordings that exist seem charmingly modest and rudimentary now, but those deafening audience screams showed that, undeniably, this was just the start of something substantial.

British, European, American and Irish Tours (1965)

The Stones had every reason to have more swagger throughout 1965, as the group released three albums ( The Rolling Stones No. 2, The Rolling Stones, Now! and Out of Our Heads ) and began to put originals on the charts. “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” started being played on the second Irish Tour (documented in the film Charlie Is My Darling ), while “Get Off My Cloud” and “19th Nervous Breakdown” also became part of the setlists before the end of the year. Got Live If You Want It! , recorded during the year’s first British Tour in March and released in late 1966, captures that early mania.

Australasian, European, American and British Tours (1966-1967)

The Stones were clearly coming into their own, with increasingly evolved albums like Aftermath and Between the Buttons , which meant the shows became more about the band than its influences — especially by the time the U.S. arena dates started in June. It was still hard to hear the group over the screaming, but this last run with Brian Jones showed exponential growth — although it would be a couple years before they’d hit the road again.

U.K. Tour (1971)

About to go into tax exile in the south of France (and make Exile on Main Street ), the Stones made a quick (18 shows, 10 dates) March run of their homeland. They retained the horn section from Europe ’70 and played a number of songs from the Sticky Fingers album, which came out a month after the tour ended.

Bridges to Babylon Tour (1997-1998)

Playing 102 dates in 25 countries for more than 4.5 million people, this was one of the Stones’ most extensive tours yet — though box-office wise it came in second, at the time, to the Voodoo Lounge Tour in 1994-1995. Former Beach Boys member Blondie Chaplin joined the backing vocalist team this time, and a genuine bridge came forward from the front of the stage to take the Stones to a B-stage for three songs each night. The tour also introduced in Internet vote that allowed fans to choose one song each night; “Gimme Shelter,” in fact, was added to the regular set after topping the poll four shows in a row. The tour also brought the Stones to Russia for the first time, playing Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on Aug. 11, 1998.

Tour of the Americas (1975) / Tour of Europe (1976)

Another two-year break, and another new guitarist: Ron Wood had joined from the splintering Faces to replace Mick Taylor. The horn section was gone, but Billy Preston was back from ’72, even playing two of his own hits in the middle of the Stones set. The glimmering, flower-shaped stage was the Stones’ glitziest yet and Jagger’s wardrobe his most eclectic, while the shows were the longest the group had performed to date, clocking in at two hours or more to keep up with industry standards, after being criticized for being too short on previous tours.

The trek also took the Stones into stadiums for the first time. With no new album, the ’75 sets focused on the greatest hits, while the European leg repertoire the following year featured several tracks from the just-released Black and Blue album. Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana were guests at the Madison Square Garden spot, while Clapton returned for a ’76 show in Leicester, England. The Paris ’75 shows yielded three sides of eventual live release Love You Live , while notorious shows the following year at the El Mocambo club in Toronto — in the wake of Richards’ drug bust and near incarceration — filled out the fourth.

U.S. Tour (1978)

This relatively brief — 24 shows — trek came on the heels of Some Girls , the Stones’ best studio album in at least six years, and maybe more. Wood was clearly more comfortable in the ranks at this point, and the new material provided a spark that was missing on the previous North American run in ’75. The itinerary mixed stadiums, arenas and theaters, and an intriguing roster of opening acts — Patti Smith, Van Halen, Journey, Kansas, the Doobie Brothers, Peter Tosh, Eddie Money, Etta James, Peter Tosh — brought new flavors each night. This was also the first time the idea of a farewell tour was invoked, but 46 years on…well, yeah, right.

No Security Tour (1999)

The Stones got “small” again — a relative term, but they moved from stadiums to arenas, at least during the early-year winter leg in North America, for the first time since 1981. Promoting a live album of the same title, No Security was dominated by hits and other favorites, though it was nice to hear the Stones roll out “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” again. In Europe that spring, meanwhile, the group was back in stadiums, making up postponed dates from the Bridges to Babylon tour.

Steel Wheels Tour/Urban Jungle Tour (1989-1990)

The vaunted comeback after a seven-year hiatus and an acrimonious schism between Jagger and Richards that kept the Stones from rolling. They kissed, made up, made a new album ( Steel Wheels ) and then made a lot of money — a record-setting $175 million in North America alone. Also covering Japan and Europe, these tours introduced an expanded band with more than twice as many adjunct musicians than actual Stones, including the Uptown Horns, longtime saxophonist Bobby Keys, keyboardist/musical director Chuck Leavell (Allman Brothers Band, Sea Level) and backing vocalists Lisa Fisher and Bernard Fowler. The stadium-sized, Mark Fisher-designed staging was generous, introducing inflatables and pyrotechnics, which provided a title to the subsequent live album Flashpoint .

Zip Code (2018) / America Latina Ole / No Filter Tour (2017-2021) / Sixty (2022)

With these interchangeable tours the Stones introduced their contemporary modus, playing a limited number of shows at a time, with plenty of days in between. The result has been consistently strong performances although, without new material to speak of, a sense of treading water. That said, the hits have been as good as ever, and new arrivals such as Karl Denson on saxophone and Sasha Allen fit in well. The 2021 U.S. dates, of course, were the Stones’ first ever without Charlie Watts, who passed away Aug. 24, 2021 at the age of 80; Steve Jordan proved to be the right fill-in, and with mortality raising its inevitable head (unless, perhaps, you’re Richards), the Stones seemed a different kind of driven and more visibly appreciative of the legacy they’re maintaining.

50 & Counting (2012-2013) / 14 On Fire (2014)

They did it for 40, so why not 50? The Stones’ golden anniversary tour was a limited affair, with just 30 dates in North America, the U.K. and France, mostly in arenas. Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor made guest appearances in London, while Mary J. Blige, Gwen Stefani, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, John Mayer, Keith Urban and others showed up at various dates. For those who couldn’t join the celebration in person, there was a book ( The Rolling Stones: 50 ), a documentary ( Crossfire Hurricane ) and a compilation album ( GRRR! ). During 2014, the Stones took the party to Europe, Asia, Oceania and Israel — the band’s first appearance there, after authorities had banned the band back in the 60s.

Voodoo Lounge World Tour (1994-1995)

The Stones’ first trek without founding bassist Bill Wyman (and with Darryl Jones, who’s been there ever since) was another box office triumph, setting a new record with $320 million in North America and 6.5 million attendees worldwide. Songs from another solid new album, Voodoo Lounge , took their place alongside the weathered favorites as the Stones rolled their way through Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand on the band’s most comprehensive global journey yet. And keeping to the Voodoo theme, there were stilt-walkers and other New Orleans-style touches, plus more inflatables.

A Bigger Bang (2005-2007)

The Stones’ first new studio album in eight years — at No. 3, its 23rd consecutive Top 5 on the Billboard 200 — put the group back on the road again for two years (albeit with long breaks between legs). The vehicle to the second stage this time was a moving platform, which glided along the ramp Jagger also used to get closer to the crowd. An extensive video production and pyrotechnics dominated the visuals, and balconies were constructed as part of the stage set for big spenders.

A Bigger Bang set another box office record, with $558.3 million just in North America, and special shows included the Stones’ first-ever appearance in China; a Beacon Theatre date in New York City and a benefit for the Robin Hood Foundation at New York’s Radio City Music Hall nearly seven months later; a halftime performance at Super Bowl XL in Detroit; and a Feb. 18, 2006 performance on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for a reported crowd of more than 1.5 million. On that night, the Stones may well have gotten some satisfaction.

Licks Tour (2002-2003)

The Stones’ celebrated their 40th anniversary in exuberant fashion, with flexible set lists — reportedly 80 songs were played throughout the tour — and three night stands in some cities that included a gig each at a stadium, arena and theater. For some shows the group included segments spotlighting one of its classic albums. The outing took the group from Toronto to it’s first-ever performances in Hong Kong, with an HBO special filmed at Madison Square Garden. Its most notable show, perhaps, was July 30, 2003 at the Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto, a day-long benefit before nearly half a million fans to help the city recover from the SARS outbreak that began the year before.

American Tour (1981) / European Tour (1982)

The Stones had another solid album, the vault-diving Tattoo You (its eighth consecutive No. 1 on the Billboard 200), to promote on its return to the road after three years off — and made the most of it with long (at least two dozen songs) shows that included covers of the Temptations’ “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me),” Eddie Cochran’s “Twenty-Flight Rock” and the Miracles’ “Going to a Go-Go,” which was released was released as a single from 1982’s Still Life souvenir. Kazuhide Yamazaki designed the colorful stage, which included a cherry picker that took Jagger above the crowd.

Ticket sales broke records, and the band raised eyebrows by accepting a reported $1 million sponsorship from Jovan Musk — which opened the floodgates for the practice within the industry. Mick Taylor, meanwhile, returned to guest at the Dec. 14 show in Kansas City — and, on Oct. 9 a pre-superstardom Prince was booed off stage while opening for the Stones at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and only appeared the next night after getting a pep talk from Jagger.

American Tour (aka S.T.P. Tour) (1972) / Pacific Tour (1973) / European Tour (1973)

Legends of drugs, debauchery (this was where the unreleased Cocksucker Blues documentary was filmed, after all) and riots abound from this global jaunt — especially the U.S. leg, where memories of the 1969 Altamont tragedy fueled sensational coverage and there were battles between fans and police in many cities. A bomb blew up the Stones’ equipment truck in Montreal, and after Jagger and Richards were jailed following a fracas with a photographer in Boston, Mayor Kevin White bailed them out to keep things peaceful at Boston Garden. Phew.

On stage, meanwhile, the Stones were hot, and buoyed by strong new material from that year’s Exile on Main Street . Guitarist Mick Taylor was even more fully integrated into the band, the horn section made its U.S. debut, Nicky Hopkins joined Ian Stewart on piano and Stevie Wonder kicked ass in the opening slot. The cycle included a Jan. 18, 1973 benefit concert for victims of the December 1972 earthquake in Nicaragua, before the Stones headed Down Under — and the arrival of Goats Head Soup before the European tour brought more fresh material into the set, while Billy Preston served double duty as opening act and keyboardist for the Stones.

American Tour (1969) / European Tour (1970)

This is arguably where the Stones earned their Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band in the World sobriquet. The group had been off the road for a then-unheard-of two years, but had made plenty of news with drug busts, new albums ( Their Satanic Majestics Request, Beggars Banquet ) and so on. The cycle was both triumphant and tragic; it began with Brian Jones’ dismissal from the band and his subsequent death, with the famed July 5, 1969 concert in front of up to half a million people in London’s Hyde Park occurring just days after his passing.

The American Tour, meanwhile, ended with the ill-fated closing concert at the Altamont Speedway in Tracy, Calif., where security clashed with fans and one man was fatally stabbed (documented, along with the tour, in the Maysles brothers’ 1970 documentary Gimme Shelter ). Prior to that, however, the Stones were on fire, as captured by the Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out live album, with material from the Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed albums and opening sets by Ike & Tina Turner, B.B. King and Terry Reid. The group added two horn players for the European Tour, and even began previewing Sticky Fingers songs such as “Brown Sugar” and “Dead Flowers.”

Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox

Want to know what everyone in the music business is talking about?

Get in the know on.

Billboard is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Billboard Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

optional screen reader

Charts expand charts menu.

• Billboard Hot 100™
• Billboard 200™
• Hits Of The World™
• TikTok Billboard Top 50
• Songs Of The Summer
• Song Breaker
• Year-End Charts
• Decade-End Charts

Music Expand music menu

• R&B/Hip-Hop

Videos Expand videos menu

Culture expand culture menu, media expand media menu, business expand business menu.

• Business News
• Record Labels
• View All Pro

Pro Tools Expand pro-tools menu

• Songwriters & Producers
• Artist Index
• Royalty Calculator
• Market Watch
• Industry Events Calendar

Billboard Español Expand billboard-espanol menu

• Cultura y Entretenimiento

Get Up Anthems by Tres Expand get-up-anthems-by-tres menu

Honda music expand honda-music menu.

• Latest News

Best Songs For The Fall: 20 Autumn Classics

Rediscover the beach boys’ ‘surfer girl’, dj shadow’s ‘endtroducing’ explained, ‘top priority’: why you need to hear this rory gallagher album, ‘laughing stock’: the timeless appeal of talk talk’s final album, ‘that’s where it’s at’: the last hit of sam cooke’s life, george harrison – the first beatle on american soil, aerosmith celebrate ‘pump’ anniversary with music and merch, watch the video for queen’s ‘the night comes down’, andrea bocelli’s ‘il mare calmo della sera’ set to make vinyl debut, little big town announce ‘the christmas record’, mumford and sons announce new compilation ‘gentlemen of the road’, tito jackson, jackson 5 singer, dies aged 70, the weeknd is back and ‘dancing in the flames’, ‘bridges to babylon’: remembering the rolling stones’ historic tour.

The Bridges to Babylon Tour was another huge jaunt for The Rolling Stones, starting in Chicago in September 1997, and ending a year later in Istanbul.

Published on

According to Mick Jagger, the title for Bridges To Babylon “came from looking at the stage.” “Because it was going to be the name of the tour as well as the record – it all had to fit together. We were looking at the stage one day and trying to find where we were with it. What does this design say to us? I came up with the ‘Bridges’ idea and a friend of mine came up with the ‘Babylon’ thing. The bridge to the B-stage worked perfectly most nights, except when it was too cold or too hot, and then it had to be sort of manually got together. It was always my worry that it wasn’t gonna actually open.”

Listen to Bridges To Babylon now .

The Rolling Stones ’ Bridges To Babylon tour was announced in a press conference held underneath the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, and began on September 9, 1997, with a warm-up show in Toronto, Canada, followed by another at The Double Door in Chicago. The tour officially began on September 23 at Chicago’s Soldier Field, and was followed by 55 more shows in North America, nine shows in South America, six in Japan, and 37 shows across Europe.

The production was designed by Mark Fisher, Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, and Patrick Woodroffe, and opened with a circular central screen exploding with fireworks, from which guitarist Keith Richards emerged playing the riff to “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”

This was the first tour on which the B-stage featured at almost every gig; the stage design included a 46m (150ft) long telescoping cantilever bridge that extended from the main stage to a B-stage in the center of the stadiums. The only issue, according to Keith, was the fact that outdoor shows had the unpredictability of the weather to contend with: “There’s another guy that joins the band on outdoor stages: God. Either he’s benign or he can come at you with wind from the wrong direction and the sound is swept out of the park. The weather normally comes good around show time… but not always.”

Keith also pointed out that, “The bigger shows are harder to play, even though that’s what we do most of the time, because we are so locked into lighting systems and computers: the more constructed you have to be, because of the size of the operation. When we play on the B-stage or at a club venue, for us it’s just like coming back home – sweating it up a bit.”

The tour concluded nearly a year later on September 19, 1998, in Istanbul, Turkey. All in all, this was another massive step forward in terms of the number of people who watched the Stones perform on the Bridges To Babylon tour: 4.8 million at 108 shows in 25 countries.

Bridges To Babylon can be bought here .

Kevin Gilsenan

September 21, 2016 at 3:19 am

Was at the show in New Mexico, University of New Mexico Stadium. Drove from Denver, Colorado to see this tour. I’ve seen the band 18 times and will keep going as long as the band goes on. First time for me was 1978 In Philadelphia. Drove from Staten Island, New York to be there. New York, Toronto, Kansas City, Denver, New Mexico, Las Vegas traveling to see the Stones. Lucky me as I’m going to the next Vegas show. Can’t wait… it’s Only Rock n Roll but we need it!!!

Shelton Jones

September 21, 2016 at 4:06 am

Thinking I’d never manage to have the money or time to facilitate seeing them again, lo and behold– it all came together at the last minute –caught them at Dodger’s Stadium– sat behind Ed McMahon and Tom Arnold (and thousands of others, but hey!). The B stage was the great surprise, and highlight–made this old fan wish they did the whole show like that. Did not disappoint!

Flynn Welles

September 21, 2016 at 5:36 am

I believe I went to 34 shows in the USA and 14 in Europe. I finally got them to play LOVE IS STRONG in Munich and again in Istanbul. I jumped on the train in Athens w/out a rail ticket for Istanbul, because my Rail Pass did not include Turkey. So I prayed to the Gods and was able to pay on the train. It was worth it, I got LOVE IS STRONG played again at that last show on the BRIDGES TOUR:) Flynn. aka / STONESBABE, LIS@MM

Douglas Ellis

September 21, 2016 at 6:13 am

Went to the UK Wembley Stadium gig which was the final concert ever played before Wembley Stadium was demolished and re-built.Had no idea about the secondary stage or the mechanical footbridge extending from the main stage , but suddenly found myself 50 feet away from the band performing on the mini stage. Thought I might nevr have the chance to see the Stones live again, but have seen them 3 times in the last few years at Abu Dhabi, Lisbon and summer in Hyde Park. Waiting for my lottery ticket to come up trumps so I go to sold out LA next month !

Tony Hagman

September 21, 2016 at 6:28 am

saw you in Gothenburg, unfortunately my t -shirt from the show was stolen at Stockholm Central Station, a few years later !

September 22, 2016 at 5:15 am

I was in Moskow 11 aug. 1998 the first time in life!

Ren Rodriguez

September 22, 2016 at 5:37 am

I caught this tour in Chicago and then in Honolulu. I just caught the Stones in Mexico City this past March and they still ROCK

September 30, 2016 at 5:45 pm

Where’s the Blu-ray release?

' . esc_html__( 'Leave a Reply', 'zox-news' ) . '

The Rolling Stones' Bridges to Babylon tour concert at Vanderbilt in 1997 photos

• Statistics Stats
• You are here:
• Rolling Stones, The
• October 12, 1997 Setlist

The Rolling Stones Setlist at Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia, PA, USA

• Edit setlist songs
• Edit venue & date
• Edit set times
• Add to festival
• Report setlist

Tour: Bridges to Babylon Tour statistics Add setlist

• (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction Play Video
• It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (but I Like It) Play Video
• Flip the Switch Play Video
• Let's Spend the Night Together Play Video
• Gimme Shelter Play Video
• Sister Morphine ( Marianne Faithfull  cover) Play Video
• Anybody Seen My Baby? Play Video
• 19th Nervous Breakdown Play Video
• Out of Control Play Video
• Memory Motel ( web choice ) Play Video
• Miss You Play Video
• All About You ( Keith Richards on lead vocals ) Play Video
• Wanna Hold You ( Keith Richards on lead vocals ) Play Video
• Little Queenie ( Chuck Berry  cover) Play Video
• Crazy Mama Play Video
• The Last Time Play Video
• Sympathy for the Devil Play Video
• Tumbling Dice Play Video
• Honky Tonk Women Play Video
• Start Me Up Play Video
• Jumpin' Jack Flash Play Video
• Brown Sugar Play Video

Edits and Comments

20 activities (last edit by ExecutiveChimp , 27 Oct 2020, 22:14 Etc/UTC )

Songs on Albums

• Anybody Seen My Baby?
• Flip the Switch
• Out of Control
• Memory Motel
• (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
• The Last Time
• Honky Tonk Women
• Jumpin' Jack Flash
• Little Queenie by Chuck Berry
• Sister Morphine by Marianne Faithfull
• Sympathy for the Devil
• Let's Spend the Night Together
• 19th Nervous Breakdown
• All About You
• Tumbling Dice
• It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (but I Like It)
• Gimme Shelter
• Brown Sugar
• Start Me Up
• Wanna Hold You

Complete Album stats

More from The Rolling Stones

• More Setlists
• Artist Statistics
• Add setlist

Related News

Today is Don Was' Birthday

The Linda Lindas Live Debut New Song while Opening for The Stones

Five Rolling Stones Hits They've Only Played Once On This Tour

Rolling Stones Kick Off Tour with a Classic Never Performed in US

Veterans stadium.

• The Rolling Stones This Setlist Add time Add time
• Blues Traveler Add time Add time
• Sheryl Crow Add time Add time

The Rolling Stones Gig Timeline

• Oct 08 1997 Rich Stadium Orchard Park, NY, USA Add time Add time
• Oct 10 1997 Ericsson Stadium Charlotte, NC, USA Add time Add time
• Oct 12 1997 Veterans Stadium This Setlist Philadelphia, PA, USA Add time Add time
• Oct 16 1997 Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ, USA Add time Add time
• Oct 17 1997 Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ, USA Add time Add time

89 people were there

• BuddyCianci
• CherryGarcia420
• Chuckles-Galore
• cpolidoro04
• disposable77
• GoodPizzaPie
• JawdysBasement
• jchrisrodgers
• jerseyswamps44
• jmarcantonio228
• joemurphy519
• Joespeedracer
• KTroublesome
• livemusicfan
• lostintheair
• maninthetub
• midnightrambler
• missmaryfaith
• peterdepasquale
• PhillyLarry
• phillytrainride
• Polidorable
• RobZarzecki
• SpotTheLooney
• SpursFan5161
• Stonesfan187
• yergermeister
• zonecommander

Share or embed this setlist

Use this setlist for your event review and get all updates automatically!

<div style="text-align: center;" class="setlistImage"><a href="https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-rolling-stones/1997/veterans-stadium-philadelphia-pa-3d6899b.html" title="The Rolling Stones Setlist Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia, PA, USA 1997, Bridges to Babylon" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.setlist.fm/widgets/setlist-image-v1?id=3d6899b" alt="The Rolling Stones Setlist Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia, PA, USA 1997, Bridges to Babylon" style="border: 0;" /></a> <div><a href="https://www.setlist.fm/edit?setlist=3d6899b&amp;step=song">Edit this setlist</a> | <a href="https://www.setlist.fm/setlists/the-rolling-stones-bd6ad22.html">More The Rolling Stones setlists</a></div></div>

Last.fm Event Review

[url=https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-rolling-stones/1997/veterans-stadium-philadelphia-pa-3d6899b.html][img]https://www.setlist.fm/widgets/setlist-image-v1?id=3d6899b[/img][/url] [url=https://www.setlist.fm/edit?setlist=3d6899b&amp;step=song]Edit this setlist[/url] | [url=https://www.setlist.fm/setlists/the-rolling-stones-bd6ad22.html]More The Rolling Stones setlists[/url]

Tour Update

Setlist insider: foster the people.

• Foster the People
• Sep 14, 2024
• Sep 13, 2024
• Sep 12, 2024
• Sep 11, 2024
• Sep 10, 2024
• Sep 9, 2024
• FAQ | Help | About
• Terms of Service
• Ad Choices | Privacy Policy
• Songtexte.com

Bridges to Babylon Tour '97-'98: Live in Concert

The rolling stones.

STREAM OR BUY:

Release Date

Discography timeline, allmusic review, user reviews, similar albums.

Bridges to Babylon

By Mark Kemp

O n their last two albums, the Rolling Stones proved that they still had verve and stamina, and that they could re-create the sounds of their glorious past. But were we satisfied with those records simply because we expect less of the Stones these days? Steel Wheels , from 1989, was at least a welcome reprieve from the group’s floundering early ’80s years; 1994’s Voodoo Lounge was simply a “greatest hits” collection, with the actual hits replaced by new songs that tried to conjure the spirit (if not the substance) of classics like “Lady Jane.” It’s tempting to want the world’s greatest rock & roll band to still be good; it’s another thing when the Stones actually deliver the goods.

Enter Bridges to Babylon. Thirty-four years after the Stones released their first single, a kick-ass cover of Chuck Berry ‘s “Come On,” Mick, Keith and the boys show that they are still at their best when they’re mining American blues, soul and R&B, and giving those styles a new twist. Bridges finds the fiftysomething Stones bitching, moaning, boasting, grieving – and still yearning, with a wink and nod to political incorrectness, for hot, steamy sex. (Hey, so is John Lee Hooker. So why dis these wealthy white guys for wanting the same?)

With production credits divvied up among Voodoo Lounge helpmate Don Was, and newcomers the Dust Brothers ( Beck , the Beastie Boys ) and Danny Saber (Black Grape), Bridges rocks out of the gate with the ballsy classic-Stones riffing of “Flip the Switch,” wherein Jagger suggests that he needs turning on. “Three black eyes and a busted nose,” he sings. “Pick me up, baby, I’m ready to go.” From there, he swaggers from alleycat whispers in “Anybody Seen My Baby” and “Out of Control” to soulful crooning in the self-pitying “Already Over Me” to cock-rock confidence in the fickle “Too Tight.” Richards checks in with some of the stronger songs: the reggaefied “You Don’t Have to Mean It” and the soulful “Thief in the Night.” The album’s powerful finale, “How Can I Stop,” is a gruff, tear-stained Richards tune that seems to be vying for a position among the pantheon of Stones ballads like “Memory Motel.”

Editor’s picks

The 100 best tv episodes of all time, the 250 greatest guitarists of all time, the 500 greatest albums of all time, 25 most influential creators of 2024.

Although Bridges has its quota of hard rockers, much of the material here – like that of the Stones’ underappreciated 1976 album Black and Blue – is slow-paced, with pensive lyrics that explore themes of betrayal and domestic upheaval. In the desperate “Anybody Seen My Baby,” Jagger asks, “Has she disappeared? Has she really gone for good?” Then there’s the pleading of “Low Down” (“I just want to know where I stand”), the emotional insecurity of “Already Over Me” (“I’m so hurt, so confused/I’ve been burned; I’ve been bruised”) and the brute anger of “Gunface” (“I taught her all she knows; I taught her how to lie/I taught her everything; I’m gonna teach her how to cry”).

Along with the pangs of jilted love, the decadent Jagger of old appears, straddling the line between heaven and hell in “Saint of Me.” Over a warm gospel melody and a cool Dust Brothers drum loop, he sings, “I do believe in miracles, and I do want to save my soul,” yet concludes, “You’ll never make a saint of me.” In the Beck-meets-Robert Johnson blues of “Might As Well Get Juiced” (which might as well be aimed at Richards), Jagger gets bitingly sarcastic: “If you really wanna tear up your mind … you might as well get juiced.”

Scooter Braun Hijacks Trump's 'I Hate Taylor Swift' Post to Endorse Harris

John oliver curses out emmys as he eulogizes his dead dog: 'play me off now', maná pulls nicky jam collab after he endorses trump: band 'doesn't work with racists', 'i hate taylor swift': trump is big mad that star endorsed harris.

The Stones can thank the Dust Brothers for giving Bridges its welcome surprises. Toward the end of “Anybody Seen My Baby,” they throw in a sample of rapper Biz Markie. It’s an insane juxtaposition of old-school hip-hop and new-school production values set against a classic midtempo Stones ballad – and it’s just as effective as it is absurd. The Brothers’ buzzing electronic effects in “Juiced” provide a nice cushion of sound for Jagger’s ragged vocals and moaning harmonica, and Ronnie Wood ‘s raw slide guitar; aside from that touch, the song’s fuzzy, gritty sound harks back to the Stones’ stripped-down-blues excursions on Exile on Main St. (“Ventilator Blues”) and Sticky Fingers (“You Gotta Move”). The Dust Brothers’ sensibility extends to other songs, too, such as “Gunface,” produced live in the studio by Saber, in which Charlie Watts’ legendary rock-solid beat sounds like it was electronically looped.

Not everything comes off so seamlessly. Jagger gets maudlin on the acoustic ballad “Always Suffering,” and on “Too Tight,” Richards resorts to pedestrian bar-band licks. But two out of 13 ain’t bad. Most of Bridges’ songs come off feral without sounding forced, contemporary without succumbing to modern-rock trendiness. It’s the Stones we loved back in the day, the Stones who made albums that were neither too self-consciously up-to-date nor too giddily nostalgic. Now we can really be satisfied.

Bruce Springsteen Joins Trey Anastasio, the Gaslight Anthem at Sea.Hear.Now Fest

• By Althea Legaspi

All the Things Donald Trump Has Said About Taylor Swift

• By Tomás Mier

Maná Pulls Nicky Jam Collab After He Endorses Trump: Band 'Doesn't Work With Racists'

• Latino Vote

Why A ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ Video Probably Isn't Coming Soon — And More Things We Learned Hanging With Chappell Roan

• Bonus Chappell
• By Brittany Spanos

See Billy Joel and Rod Stewart Perform 'Stay With Me' Together at Cleveland Concert

• one night only
• By Daniel Kreps

Most Popular

Jane's addiction concert ends abruptly after perry farrell throws a punch at dave navarro, is forced offstage by crew, "it's a cult, and walt's the messiah": meet the couple who sued disney over secretive club 33, prince harry & meghan markle made this announcement mere hours after kate middleton’s cancer update video, jay-z explains why kendrick lamar was chosen to perform at super bowl halftime show, you might also like, ‘the twelve,’ sam neill-starring courtroom drama, renewed for third season, dresses with subtly sheer layers are trending on the emmy awards 2024 red carpet, the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors, the emmys could’ve been an email, ufc 306 at sphere pulls in record $22m for ufc, sphere.

Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.

THE BRAND NEW STUDIO ALBUM OUT NOW FEATURING “ANGRY” & “SWEET SOUNDS OF HEAVEN”

Embark on the ultimate Rolling Stones Experience and delve deep in to the band’s multitude of albums and tours, packed with exclusive material from the Rolling Stones’ extensive audio visual archive.

No.9 Carnaby St

There was an error submitting the form. Please try again later.

Newsletter Signup

By submitting you are confirming you agree with the terms of our Privacy Policy

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Emails will be sent by or on behalf of Universal Music Operations Ltd, 4 Pancras Square, London. N1C 4AG, UK. +44 (0)20 3932 6000. You may withdraw your consent at any time. See Privacy Policy at https://www.umusic.co.uk/privacy.html .