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The Rolling Stones in the press: “Rolling Stones: Rock’s Royalty Still on Road After a Decade”
By 1978, The Rolling Stones had already survived a decade of excess, reinvention, and relentless touring—yet they were still on top. The Miami Herald said it best: this wasn’t just a successful band, it was rock royalty. Night after night, the Stones packed arenas, delivering sweat-soaked shows powered by timeless hits and raw swagger. Mick Jagger commanded the stage, Keith Richards fueled the fire, and the machine kept rolling without mercy. Ten years in, most bands slowed down. The Stones did the opposite. Louder, bigger, and hungrier than ever, they proved that longevity in rock wasn’t about survival—it was about domination.
They remain among rock’s royalty, and their tour starting in Lakeland has many of the trappings of an imperial entourage, complete with security guards and accountants.
As the only newspaper reporter with the Stones here, I had a bit of the feeling of what it must be like to cover a presidential campaign – the tight security, the hectic scheduling, the long hours, the occasional sense of the bizarre and also of being on the inside of something important.
Despite all the changes since the Stones’ first big U.S. hit in 1965, the concert Saturday night seemed like old times. The concert hall was packed, ticket holders arriving hours in advance. Once inside, the fans — older, like the musicians, had to make more of an effort — pushed to the stage, cheered for the band and never sat down once.
The music was good Saturday night, a selection of Stones’ favorites like Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Brown Sugar, Tumbling Dice — and songs from the newest album, which is called Some Girls.
The excitement of the Stones is always, much of it generated by lead singer Jagger, who endlessly careened from one side of the stage to the other, made facial screams and provoked cheers and adulation of a typically worshipful Rolling Stones audience.
Saturday night’s show at the Lakeland Civic Center was the first stop in a tour of the United States that is tentatively scheduled to end July 23 in Oakland, Calif. It’s the first large-scale U.S. tour by the Stones since their 1975 campaign.
There was talk that this could be the Stones’ last tour, that the band would quit, not long after this one. Even though people around the group have proved to be wrong, it doesn’t seem to be true now — even through guitarist Keith Richards is facing heroin-trafficking charges that are scheduled to go to trial this fall in Canada.
The self-billed “world’s greatest rock and roll band” has every intention of continuing the tour this year. After more than a decade, it’s almost too late to stop now.
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