Rolling Stones, Las Vegas Sun, Nov. 21, 1997

Vegas gets Stoned Lisa Ferguson Friday, Nov. 21, 1997 | 9:46 a.m. It's the question of the year -- make that the last 30 years: Will this be The Rolling Stones' final tour? Not if you believe the bad boys of rock and roll themselves, quintessential frontman Mick Jagger and guitar legend Keith Richards. Earlier this year, during the New York press conference announcing the current "Bridges to Babylon" tour, Jagger turned the tables on reporters by cynically posing the question himself to Richards, who retorted: "Yeah, this and the next five." Still, rumors of a swan song have chased The Stones since its 1966 tour, a mere four years after "The World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band" was formed in London. "They've never, ever said, 'This is our last tour,' " insists Howard Kramer, assistant curator at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, where a display dedicated to The Rolling Stones' history features costumes, rare tour posters and staging elements. Kramer blames the decades of unconfirmed rumblings on the media. "It makes good copy," he says. "I think The Stones were clever enough not to discourage that (over the years) because it meant more press. But they've never said it themselves." So don't count on the band to make any surprise announcements to the fact Saturday night, when it performs to a sold-out crowd at the MGM Grand Garden. "There's no reason for it to be their last tour," says Melinda Newman, senior talent editor at Billboard Magazine. "They can keep doing this as long as they want. There's clearly a huge, huge public demand for them. They're selling hundreds of thousands of tickets." And, in Las Vegas at least, for hundreds of dollars apiece. While seats at most other venues on the "Babylon" tour start at around $35 and top out at about $75, local concert-goers are having to fork over as much as $500 per ticket, thanks to concert promoter politics and area hotels which had first crack at large blocks of tickets, according to longtime local concert promoter Michael Schivo. "They can get (those prices) because Las Vegas is foolish enough to pay for it," he says. But, says Newman, who has been in the audience at four previous Stones' concerts, any price is worth it. "They really put on an excellent show. When they're in the pocket, there is no one better. On their worst day, they can still wipe most bands off the face of the Earth." Still, Geritol-flavored quips about the over-50-year-old rockers persist, much to the chagrin of Stones aficionados. "I think the age jokes are kind of ridiculous," says Kramer, a "huge" Stones fan who's seen the band perform eight times, including a recent "Babylon" stop in Columbus, Ohio. "No one ever said anything to (jazz legends) Dizzy Gillespie or Max Roach about their age," he says. "No one goes up to (saxophone great) Sonny Rollins today and says, 'You've been doing this too long. Sit down, old man.' I think (the age bias is) strictly specific to rock and roll, which is unfair. We're not allowing great artists to age. "Keith may be visually war torn, but I will listen to him play guitar over anybody. I think Mick is singing better now than he has in a long time. The point is, they're still great." Dennis Mitchell, host of KKLZ 96.3-FM's weekly "Breakfast with the Beatles" show, agrees. "It gets down to the music and the fact that Mick and Keith can write songs that are unique," he says. Besides classic Stones' tunes, including "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "It's Only Rock and Roll," Mitchell says the radio station has also featured "Babylon's" first single, "Anybody Seen My Baby," in recent months. "We got good phone reaction" about the song from listeners, he says. "People said, 'It sounds like vintage Stones.' "There's always been this kind of dangerous side to them, so that naturally has this kind of allure," Mitchell says of the band's popularity. "But I think that's where a lot of people get cynical and poke fun (saying), 'Well, they're in their 50s, how dangerous is it?' " Mitchell has also attended four previous Rolling Stones concerts, including the band's 1994 Las Vegas show, and will be in the audience again Saturday night. "For a long time, you could see the Stones and it was a 50-50 deal," he says. "You didn't know if you were going to get their full, best performance, or they might be off a little bit and you were there for the event and the fun of it all. "It seems like in the mid-'80s they turned a corner and are just producing some of the sharpest, clearest, best rock and roll they've ever done. Like any great entertainer, they want to deliver (the hit songs) the people come for." But for how long? Schivo, who has seen the tides turn on many a band in his 35 years of promoting concerts, isn't sure. "I don't know how many times after this (concert) the Stones can do it." That prediction is based on Schivo's theory that big-name acts are good for "two plays" in Las Vegas before local residents get their fill. "Strictly by having seen it once before or by ... having to make the decision of, 'Is it really worth it?' " when the cost of a pair of ticket tops the $700 mark. "I think that when (The Rolling Stones') audience starts to slow in terms of interest or economic choices in life, that will be the end of the legends of rock and roll, such as The Rolling Stones or Pink Floyd." But rumors are that a third Stones date that would possibly have the band performing at The Joint in February, is being negotiated. "Right now, nothing is confirmed," says Hard Rock hotel-casino's marketing and public relations director Dana Olliges. For now, Kramer is keeping the faith. "I think as long as their interest in it and their health holds out, they're going to continue (touring). Keith has said many times he wants to be like (blues singer) Muddy Waters, and if they have to put him in a wheelchair, he'll go out (on stage) in a wheelchair." Wheelchairs aside, part of what keeps the Stones rolling is that its one of the last vestiges of the famed '60s "British Invasion," he says. "Who else is left ... that is relatively intact?" Kramer asks. "The Beatles have been gone for 27 years. The Who have been dragging a carcass around too long. Led Zepplin has been gone for a long time. "(The Rolling Stones are) not the tightest band in the world. They're not the greatest musicians who ever took to the stage, but no one does what they do as well as they do, which is play American rock and roll. You can't slight greatness no matter what it is."