THE ROLLING STONES - STEEL WHEELS TOUR - GRAND CENTRAL STATION PRESS CONFERENCE.

JULY 11, 1989

Mick Jagger was anticipating the questions before they were even raised. “I know you guys will ask, ‘Will this be the last tour?’ or ‘How much money are you going to earn?”‘ he said with a grin. “But I won’t preempt you completely.”

Jagger and his fellow Rolling Stones, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Ron Wood and Bill Wyman, were addressing more than 300 reporters, photographers and television-crew members at a press conference in New York City’s Grand Central Station to promote the band’s new album, Steel Wheels, and tour, the first by the Stones in eight years.

Indeed, it took just minutes for the “last tour” question to come up. “Thank you!” Jagger said gleefully. “Who was that?” He then noted that he first heard the question in 1966 (His answer was no, this would not be the band’s last tour.) And while the Stones weren’t asked how much money they would get, they were asked if they were doing it for the money. “That’s the Who,” answered Wood.

Very much aware of the other big veteran rock tour of the season, Jagger and company didn’t pass up any opportunity to rib their fellow countrymen. Jagger pretended not to hear several of the questions and suggested giving Pete Townshend a hearing aid if the Who is inducted into the Hall of Fame next year. Later, when the Who’s Tommy was mentioned, Jagger said coolly, “We don’t do opera.”

Defining the kind of show the Stones are planning, Jagger noted that the band was not planning “a historical tour” for North American audiences. “I don’t see it as a retrospective or a farewell or any thing like that,” said Jagger. “It’s the Rolling Stones in 1989.”

The American dates of the tour — which begins September 1st in Buffalo — will be sponsored by MTV. Described as a “promotional arrangement” by tour promoter Michael Cohl, whose Concert Productions International (CPI) is presenting the shows, the MTV deal includes an agreement by the Stones to provide a taped performance for MTV’s Video Music Awards Show, in September.

MTV, whose logo will be on the tickets and posters, will also air tour updates and behind-the-scenes reports, as well as a special on the tour. Canada’s Labatt Breweries, which owns forty-five percent of CPI, will sponsor the Canadian dates. A separate documentary about the album and the tour is being made by Lorne Michaels in association with the BBC. It will be broadcast early in the fall. There is also talk of a pay-per-view special, but nothing has been settled.