1994-1995 Voodoo Lounge World Tour

The tour to support the Voodoo Lounge album (equivalent to a double LP, their first since Exile on Main Street) commenced in summer 1994. Opening with 'Not Fade Away', their first US single from 1964, 30 years earlier, the set list included a generous helping of the tracks from Voodoo Lounge, various oldies not played since the 1960s or early 1970s ('It's All Over Now'), several tunes never recorded or played live (the Temptations 'Can't Get Next to You', Bo Diddley's 'Who Do You Love?' with the man himself joining them on stage), and Robert Johnson's 'Stop Breaking Down', covered on Exile in 1972.

After some abridged shows in Japan they were off to Europe where aficionados were treated to the set lists of their dreams whenever the Stones played smaller venues like the Paradisio in Amsterdam, the Olympia in Paris, and Brixton Academy in London. The band went back as far as some unreleased tunes from their earliest recordings like 'Down in the Bottom', 'Still a Fool', and 'Little Baby' as well as tunes they hadn't played for decades like 'The Spider and the Fly' and 'Connection' (Keith's first lead vocal on a Stones album, which he'd done on his 1988 solo tours).

An obscure tune 'Jump On Top of Me', recorded for the movie Pret a Porter, was also played at the Paradiso. Here it is:

2002 to 2003 Forty Licks Tour

Once again, but more than ever, the Stones consulted their vast catalogue for a repetoir e that varied considerably from show to show, most cities getting shows in large, medium and small venues,

1969 United States Tour

After an almost three year absence, and with the rejuvenating effect of a skilled young guitarist (Mick Taylor) added to the roster to replace Brian Jones, the Stones mounted a comeback tour to support their new album 'Let It Bleed' and present material from what most regard as their best album (Beggars Banquet).

Other than the inclusion of 'Gimme Shelter' at a few shows, there were no rarities or variants in the set list until the final (free) concert in Livermore California at Altamont Speedway. There the Stones played 'Brown Sugar', which they had recorded only days earlier, as well as Jimmy Reed's 'The Sun is Shining'.

1989 US, 1990 Japan and European Tours

After +/- five years of bickering and solo excursions by Jagger then Richards, the Stones reunited to reboot with a new album and a massive tour. The tour set list was a feeding frenzy for fans as they dug deep into their vast catalogue and included tunes that had not been played live since the mid 1960s ('Ruby Tuesday', 'Paint It Black', 'I Just Wanna Make Love to You', 'Play with Fire', 'Little Red Rooster'). The absolute high point throughout the tour was '2000 Light Years from Home', the first tune from the underrated album Their Satanic Majesties Request ever played live, and seguing into a completely revamped and dramatic 'Sympathy for the Devil'.

While the finesse of the Mick Taylor era cannot be replicated, all the Stones were in excellent health and mood for the tour and the performances were powerful. The massive staging, props, and back up musicians and vocalists created an appropriate backdrop for a premium presentation of the Rolling Stones musical history.

The only rarities were in the final concerts in Atlantic City, including Hound Dog Taylor's 'Boogie Chillen' and a first ever performance of 'Salt of the Earth' with Axl Rose sharing the lead vocal.

As the tour went to Japan and Europe in 1990 some tunes were substituted with new ones such as 'Blinded by Love' and 'Almost Hear You Sigh' from the Steel Wheels album.

1981 American and 1982 European Tours

The 1981 tour consisted, like 1975, of a great set list full of older classic tunes the Stones had never performed live at all ('Let It Bleed') or in the seventies era ('Under My Thumb', 'Let's Spend the Night Together'*, 'Time Is On My Side', 'Down the Road Apiece' and 'Mona'**). They also played a number of tunes never recorded in the studio or played live, such as Eddie Cochrane's 'Twenty Flight Rock', the Miracles 'Going to a Go Go', and (during the 1982 European tour) the Big Bopper's 'Chantilly Lace'.

The rest of the set list was made up of the usual hits, at least half the current 'Tattoo You' album*** (an interesting collection in it's own right in that it is a dog's breakfast of unused tracks dating as far back as 1972), a lot of their 1978 hit album Some Girls, and two tracks from 1980's Emotional Rescue.

* 'Let's Spend the Night Together' was played at the 1976 Knebworth Fair concert and at the 1977 El Mocambo shows.

** 'Everybody Needs Somebody to Love' was played once at the secret Sir Morgan's Cove Club warm up gig in Massachusetts.

*** 'Tops', a revamped Goat's Head Soup outtake, was played at only a couple of dates.

1976 Tour of Europe

Just as the 1973 European expedition was a pared down version of the 1972 US Tour, so the European jaunt in 1976 dropped half the 1975 US set list and added half of their latest studio album (Black and Blue, their first with Ron Wood as a member, though recorded long before he was ratified as such and thereby featuring exquisite guitar work from several other contenders including Wayne Perkins, Harvey Mandel and Jeff Beck).

Rarities from this tour...the marathon 'Knebworth Fair' grab bag of oddities not withstanding... included only 'Cherry Oh Baby' (played once only, in Paris*). The set list remained virtually identical from the early shows in Frankfurt right through to the finales in Paris and London. Here is a recording of that one off performance:

* 'Cherry Oh Baby' was played once, in it's very early interpretive stages, at one of the New York dates on the 1975 US Tour.

1973 European Tour

While the performances on this tour are generally considered to be the Stones at the absolute peak of their maturity and power as performers, the set list varied only nominally from that of the previous year's summer tour of the United States. Gone were 'Rocks Off', 'Love In Vain', and 'Bye Bye Johnny', with 'Bitch' being played for the first couple shows in Vienna along with '100 Years Ago' and 'Silver Train' (which was dropped for being too similar to 'All Down the Line' and wasn't played again until decades later (2017 in Japan).

The real curios from this period are the Goat's Head Soup tracks that were rehearsed but never played live including 'Hide Your Love' and 'Can You Hear the Music'. There exists very shoddy recordings of these tunes in rehearsal that are nonetheless fascinating...if a little meandering...jams.

The greatest live recordings of their entire career, in terms of both recording and performance, are far and away the 1973 Brussels and London recordings that were broadcast on the King Biscuit Flower Hour (thanks to that copyright anal retentive / cultural Philistine Allen Klein, no Stones tune recorded before their departure to Atlantic in 1971 could be released on record). Bootlegged for decades with varying degrees of quality, under names like Nasty Songs, Nasty Music, Brussels Affair, Rock Out Cock Out and Bed Spring Symphony among innumerable others, the recordings were finally cleaned up, remixed and remastered and officially released as part of the From the Vaults series of 'official' bootlegs.