The Rolling Stones live in Charlotte 1972
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July 6, 1972: Coliseum, Charlotte, NC, USA

From The Selvedge Yard:
The Rolling Stones embarked on their 1972 American tour to support the release of Exile on Main Street— which in and of itself was a push into new territory for the band, both musically and commercially. What followed rewrote the game for The Stones and the music industry, and basically set the stage for a decade of big, balls-out tours that went from being simple promotional vehicles the pop culture events. Nothing like this had been done in Rock ‘n’ Roll prior and all subsequent tours would follow the ’72 tour blueprint for scale, attempted musicality, logistics, legal entanglements, drugs, women, hilarity, hangers-on, and general debauchery.

Every stop on the 1972 tour had its attendant bedlam in the form of crowd riots and arrests. Throw into this bubbling cauldron– Hells Angels putting a bounty on Mick’s ass over the lingering Altamont mess, Keith’s increasingly dark drug use and carrying a gun throughout most of the tour out of fear of the Angels as well, the verbal needling between dueling divas Bianca Jagger and Anita Pallenberg, Mick & Keith getting thrown in jail in Rhode Island for getting into a fight with photographer Andie Dickerman– and you have Rock ‘n’ Roll my friends!

Interestingly, The Stones (& company) were probably never better musically– once they all got into their groove. With the swirl around them, they were dialed-in on stage. During the Exile recording The Stones brought in a lot of supporting musicians, and driven by Keith, really stretched themselves musically. The horn player Bobby Keys was the greatest example of a supporting player who would become part of the inner circle and would be a key contributor to The Stones’ sound in the 1970s. Robert Greenfield summed up the tour best, “The musicians completely locked into one another and on time, like a championship team in its finest most fluid moments. But only the people, who listen, like Ian Stewart, and the Stones themselves and their supporting musicians, are aware of the magic that’s going down. Everyone else is either worrying about logistics or trying to get off.”
Indeed, indeed…
(Ref. rolling stones charlotte 1972)