The Rolling Stones have finally announced the dates for their 2015 tour, and tickets are on sale. The tour will be the first time they visit North America since their 2007 Bigger Bang tour, and it starts in May at Petco Park in San Diego before crossing the continent. The tour is named the Zip Code tour, both a reference to the location and to the cover of their iconic 1971 Sticky Fingers album, which featured a working zipper as well as artwork from Andy Warhol.
The Stones tickets for this tour have been hotly anticipated in the run-up to the on sale debate, with the ticket release attracting news coverage from around the US. The original announcement was supposed to go out on March 19th, but it was pushed back — resulting in swirling rumors that have finally been cleared up.
The tour will be stopping all across North America, including at the largest sporting venue in the world, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (It’s the first time in history the Speedway will host a concert on a non-race weekend.)
The Zip Code tour name and connection to the Sticky Fingers album is a nod to the reissue of the album, which will be coming out a day before the band is scheduled to play their first gig. The deluxe album reissue will include previously-unreleased outtakes from the studio sessions where Sticky Fingers was recorded, as well as live performances from the Sticky Fingers era. The new album will come out in a variety of formats, keeping the iconic zip cover design.
The original Sticky Fingers album, featuring tracks like “Brown Sugar” and “Wild Horses,” was recorded at Olympic Studios in London as well as Alabama’s Muscle Shoals, and produced by Stones confidant Jimmy Miller. It came out just before the Stones left the UK to become tax exiles in southern France, following a major farewell tour. The Sticky Fingers original album design was considered ground breaking, with a working zipper and Andy Warhol artwork.
Stage design for the new Zip Code tour is said to feature a “thrust” extending “deep into the audience” that will let the Stones interact with their fans, as well as special effects and video screens to boost the “high-octane experience” of going to a Stones show.
The Zip Code tour is following on the band’s 2014 On Fire tour, which took them across New Zealand, Australia, Europe, and Asia. A number of dates on that tour had to be rescheduled after L’Wren Scott, Mick Jagger’s girlfriend, died in March of 2014. Long-time Stones saxophonist Bobby Keys also died last year — he appeared on many of the most famous Stones recordings, including Sticky Fingers, Let It Bleed, and Exile on Main Street.
Once the Zip Code tour is completed, Keith Richards has announced that he will release his third solo record, which is already finished. Apparently the album, which has been done for some time, has simply been waiting for “the right time slot” to come out, since the band have been spending so much time working lately. The band has also been talking about doing a new album, but “there’s nothing definite,” he told Rolling Stone.
