The Rolling Stones are gearing up for
a new European tour that will come to Italy with a single date
in the Tuscan city of Lucca on September 23.
"I am so excited to be on tour in Europe this autumn and to
return to familiar places and see others that I have never been
to before," said Mick Jagger.
"Hey guys, we're coming. See you there," added Keith
Richards.
"Stones - No Filter" opens in Hamburg on September 9 and
closes in Paris on October 22.
The veteran band that celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2012
will be in Italy for the Lucca Summer Festival, which marks 20
years this year.
Some 55,000 fans are expected to descend on the medieval
walled city with a resident population of 90,000.
The stage measuring 55 m in width and 24 m in depth will be
set up in an open space the size of two football pitches near
the city centre, against the backdrop of the monumental walls.
Despite the aches and pains of age the Stones are still here;
since 2012 they have completed two American tours and a long
tour in Europe, Middle East and Pacific (with a date at Rome's
Circo Massimo in June 2014), to a total of 57 concerts with 2.5
million tickets sold and box office takings of nearly 400
million dollars.
Then at the start of last year they embarked upon their
"Latina Olè Tour", the tour of South America that culminated in
the historic concert in Havana on March 25.
The tour generated two docufilms and related DVDs: "Havana
Moon" devoted to the concert in Cuba; and "Olé Olé Olé! A trip
across South America", directed by Paul Dugdale, documenting the
tour both on and off the stage.
In the meantime, they have published a new album, "Blue &
Lonesome", dedicated to the music on which their myth is largely
based.
Lastly, in October 2016 the band took part in the Desert Trip
Festival along with the likes of Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, the
Who, Roger Waters and Neil Young.
This is not bad going for a group whose youngest member, Ron
Wood, turns 70 on June 1 and last year became father to twins,
Gracie Jane e Alice Rose, in addition to the four children he
has by two previous marriages.
Mick Jagger, 74 like Keith Richards, became a father for the
eighth time last year when Deveraux Octavian Basil was born to
his ballerina partner Melanie Hamrick.
At 76 Charlie Watts is the oldest member of the band. In
March he released an album dedicated to the concerts performed
with the Denmark Radio Big Band in which he reinterprets the
Stones' classics in a jazz key.
There will be a spectacular new production for the "No Filter
Tour", but what will really count will be to see the four
together again on stage performing their legendary music.
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