1972

Tours/Shows Setlists and Dates:
1972 American Tour:
6-3-72 to 7-26-72

Studio/Album Info:
1972 Releases
1972 Session Info

1972 Tour Posters:
1972 Winterland (Dice)
1972 US Tour (Sold Out)
1972 American Tour
1972 Ladies and Gentlemen 1
1972 Ladies and Gentlemen 2
1972 Ladies and Gentlemen 3
1972 Ladies and Gentlemen 4

Live Info:
Songs Played Live in 1972

The Stones began 1972 by mixing Exile On Main Street. On May 12th, 1972 Exile On Mainstreet was released and was immediately trashed as the Stones worst album to date by critics around the world. However, it should be noted that after time, this critical opinion was dramatically reversed, and the album has since been hailed as one of, if not the, finest moments in the band's history. In fact, in Rolling Stone Magazine's 1987 Top 100 Albums of Rock History (1967 - 1987), Exile On Main Street was ranked 3rd best album of all time. Exile has also garnered Rolling Stones Magazine's Best Double Album of all time. All in all, Exile On Mainstreet is nothing short of a masterpeice. At its time it was greatly underappreciated, but thankfully, as the years roll by, it has earned well deserved praise as one of the greatest rock records ever.

On a side note, the name of the album was chosen to mark a period in the Stone's own history. The band left England as tax exiles and recorded the entire album in Nelcot, France and Los Angeles. The band lived in Keith's house and recorded and wrote most of the album there.

Following the release of Exile, the band prepared for a summer tour of North America. The tour would showcase many new songs from Exile On Mainstreet, as well as bringing back a few older numbers which hasn't been played in years. Some shows included an encore with Stevie Wonder. Parts of the tour were recorded for two movies and for a live album. The first movie, Cocksucker Blues, was a not pretty thing. It showed the Stones having sex, doing drugs, and in general having way too much fun. The public would have been very turned off by the all too candid view into the life of a rock star, but the movie played only a short, limited run in select theaters, mostly art houses. It was also lambasted by critics for being, among other things, very boring. Many of the most notorious scenes were replayed in the Stones own historical perspective movie, 25X5, and Keith commented that many of those scenes were done specifically because the camera was there. The upside of this movie was that the Stones decided they should probably have something that portrayed them as they should be seen, on stage. The band released, in 1974, Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones. Ladies and Gentlemen actually went on tour, playing only in one moviehouse at a time. The movie was in special quadrophonic sound, and showed almost an entire Stones show, with songs cut from Houston and Ft. Worth. For unknown reasons, the movie was never released in any form for home viewing. Hopefully, some day the Stones will give the movie a second run in the theatres and release on Videa and DVD this wonderful view into what many regard as the band's finest moments on stage. Besides the two movies, a live album was supposed to be released as well. Due to problems with Decca, the album to this day remains on a shelf in the Stones Vault. much of it, in imperfect quality has appeared on bootlegs through the years, however, another Stones fan's dream is that one day the band will release this as well. Much of this album was broadcast on US Radio on August 11, 1972, but unfortunately, no perfect recording of this broadcast was made and the tapes were never released.

After the tour, the band took a few months off and then headed to Jamaica to record. May of the songs from this session ended up on Goat's Head Soup.

The 1972 American Tour

Line Up:
Mick Jagger: Vocals and Harmonica
Keith Richards: Guitars and Vocals
Mick Taylor: Guitars
Bill Wyman: Bass
Charlie Watts: Drums
Nicky Hopkins Piano and Organ
Bobby Keyes: Saxophones
Jim Price: Trumpet and Trombone