1975 Tour of the Americas

The most grandiose undertaking the Stones had mounted so far was intended to hit an unprecedented number of cities throughout north and south america (five nights in a row in both New York and L.A., though the south american leg was cancelled) is also generally regarded as the sloppiest. This is probably due to a combination of factors including the assimilation of Ron Wood (a far less virtuoso guitarist than Mick Taylor, who left the band six months earlier), Richards being at the peak of his heroin addiction and insane lifestyle, the fact that they were supporting their two last...and least acclaimed to date...studio albums, and the general reality that Jagger had so exhausted all creativity in terms of how to reinvent his self presentation visually...in the face of now enormous preconceived ideas and expectations...that any pretenses of mystique, new dance moves, or outlandish attire he adopted was doomed to be characterized as self parody.

That having been said, the 1975 set list drilled down deep into their archive and presented a spectacular cross section of their later back catalogue: only two of the +/- 25 tunes in the set list were non-originals ('Ain't Too Proud to Beg', Y'ou Got to Move'), only one predated Beggars Banquet ('Get Off of My Cloud' which, regardless, was completely revamped into a more modern funk style), and the epic mini-operas like 'Midnight Rambler' and 'Sympathy for the Devil' were extended, embellished and joined by a new sibling ('Fingerprint File').

A huge cadre of extra musicians (and army of kettle drummers, Billy Preston, Ollie Brown, Ron Wood, guest appearances by Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana etc.), a massive, high tech mechanical lotus stage with integral neon lighting, special effects like a confetti vomiting dragon, a trapeze that flew Jagger out over the audience, and...of course...the giant inflatable phallus (that they affectionately nicknamed "old grandpa" because it's inadequate air compressor rendered it dysfunctional in failing to bring it to full 'erection').

With so many songs, cities and musicians you'd expect more rarities than there was: 'Rocks Off' was played once at the opening show, 'Dance Little Sister' twice, and 'Sure the One You Need' (Keith's lead vocal contribution to Wood's first solo album) once. 'Luxury' was played frequently. Special note must be given to the first live performances of 'Wild Horses', rendered hauntingly in both instrumentation and vocal (it was supposedly played at the first 1971 British Tour gig but there is no proof of this).

1978 United States 'Some Girls' Tour

This back to basics outing was a departure from the extravagance of the lotus stage, extra musicians, 20 plus song set list and many cities tour in 1975. A simple stage and a shorter set list, consisting of just the major hits and at least half the new 'Some Girls' tunes, stayed basically the same from the warm up show in Lakeland, Florida to final date at the Oakland coliseum. The special treats were opening with Chuck Berry's 'Let It Rock', played for the first time since the 1971 British Tour (as the encore), and revving up for the finale with Berry's 'Sweet Little Sixteen'.  

The only rarities were the inclusion of Big Mama Thornton's 'Hound Dog' in both Elvis' hometown of Memphis and XXX...an homage to Presley (who had died the previous summer), check it out:

 

...and Jagger's occasional forays on to the stage with their opening act (and new Rolling Stones Records protege) Peter Tosh for a duet on his reggae version of the Temptations hit '(You Got to Run and) Don't Look Back'.

The only other new feature of this tour, aside from the two night stint at the El Mocambo in March 1977, was playing in a number of smaller venues such as the Capitol Theater in Passaic, New Jersey.

2019 No Filter US Tour

The big surprise was 'Mercy, Mercy', the 1965 opening track from 'Out Of Our Heads' played throughout 1965 to 66 but last played live at the 1969 Hyde Park free concert / Brian Jones memorial. The only other rarities played during this tour were 'Harlem Shuffle' and Sad, Sad, Sad' (last played during 1989/90).

2012 50th Anniversary Tour

The five or so shows done towards the end of 2012, to mark their 50th anniversary as a performing unit (pre-Charlie Watts) included some great rarities:

I Wanna Be Your Man - their second UK single and first quasi-hit, not performed since their 1963 tour with Little Richard and the Everly Bros. They opened with it at the UK shows and the first US show then dropped it...too obscure and didn't entirely work, but I loved it (it's all over YouTube).

Lady Jane - not performed since the Brian Jones days (latest 1967 Europe), although they did hum a few bars of it at one USA 1975 show (Baton Rouge I think).

Around and Around - last played at Knebworth (UK) in 1976 and El Mocambo (Toronto) in 1977.

Who Do You Love? - last played, as far as I know, at 1994 Miami simulcast with the author himself (Bo Diddley) on stage.

Goin' Down - while both Jagger and Richards have played this tune on their own here and there in recent decades, this is the first time they've played it as the Stones and/or on stage. Not to be confused with the 'Let It Bleed' era outtake that was included on the disjointed ABKCO package 'Metamorphosis' (totally different song).

1973 Southeast Asian Tours

"OY OY!"

Little Queenie
It's All Over Now (LA Benefit and 2 Honolulu shows only)
Route 66 (LA Benefit only)
Stray Cat Blues (LA Benefit only)
Live with Me (LA Benefit only)
No Expectations (LA Benefit only)

'Silver Train' is alledged to have been played on this tour, prior to the release of 'Goat's Head Soup', but I have yet to hear any recording or see any substantive evidence of it (they did play it at a couple shows at the beginning of the fall 1973 Europe tour, but it was considered to be too similar to 'All Down the Line' and was dropped).  

1972 U.S. Tour

There were several gems attempted on stage once in some cases, twice or three times in others, then dropped. These include 'Ventilator Blues', 'Torn and Frayed' (both once each in Vancouver on the first night of June 3rd) and 'Loving Cup', which was kept in the set list for the next few dates on the west coast. Surprisingly they played 'Honky Tonk Women' only once on the tour as an encore in L.A.. Chuck Berry's 'Don't Lie to Me', 'Dead Flowers' and 'Sweet Black Angel' were attempted once each (and never again on the tour) for the filming of Ladies and Gentlemen The Rolling Stones' in Fort Worth (click image below to hear 'Sweet Black Angel' live):



'Hip Shake' was among several other Exile tracks rehearsed in Rotterdam and (mid-tour in preparation for filming) Dallas, but only those mentioned above made it to the stage. The aforementioned performance of 'Sweet Black Angel' in Fort Worth, Texas later in the tour (June 24) was presumably to celebrate Angela Davis' (about whom it was written) release from prison on June 4th.

1971 UK Tour

There are only a couple tunes not played at every date and therefore not included on every bootleg recording of this tour. The rarest of these is a single performance of 'Wild Horses', on the second date of the tour only. There is no known recording of this performance, and 'Wild Horses' did not appear again until the 1975 Tour of the Americas.