The Rolling Stones (with Mick Taylor), rehearsing live in Montreux, May, 1972. 20 minutes spread over 3 videos. With versions of “Tumblin‘ Dice,” “Shake Your Hips” and a couple of nameless jams, proving once again how essential The Stones are live when Mick’s not playing to the crowd.

The Rolling Stones Tour of the Americas '75

The Rolling Stones' Tour of the Americas '75 was a 1975 concert tour originally intended to reach both North and South America. The plans for concerts in Central and South American never solidifed, however, and the tour covered only the United States and Canada.

This was the Stones first tour with new guitarist Ronnie Wood, after Mick Taylor left the band. (An 14 April announcement merely said he would be playing on the tour; he was not officially named a Rolling Stone until 19 December.)

The announcement of the tour became famous in itself. On May 1, reporters were gathered inside the 5th Avenue Hotel on 5th and 9th Street to attend a press conference where the Stones were scheduled to appear. But the Stones never went into the hotel.

The handful of curiosity seekers standing outside the hotel - who'd heard a rumor of the press conference and who were hoping to catch a glimpse of the Stones entering the hotel - were instead treated to the sight of a flatbed truck rolling down 5th Avenue carrying the Stones, their instruments and a wall of amps.

The truck stopped in front of the hotel entrance and the band played an extended version of "Brown Sugar". Charlie Watts had suggested this adaptation of a promotional gimmick often used by New Orleans jazz musicians.

The mid-1970s were the era of extravagant stage shows, from the likes of Elton John, Alice Cooper and Queen—a new format for the Stones, with their usual act freshly aided by theatrical stage props and gimmicks, including a giant inflatable phallus(nicknamed 'Tired Grandfather' by the band, since it sometimes malfunctioned) and, at some shows, an unfolding lotus flower-shaped stage that Charlie Watts had conceived.

The tour officially began on 3 June 1975 at the Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas; however first the group played two warmup shows on 1 June at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

The tour continued, playing mostly arenas in the United States and Canada, including six consecutive nights at Madison Square Garden in New York and five nights at The Forum in Los Angeles.

However a planned series of dates in Mexico, Brazil, and Venezuela for the balance of August was cancelled, due to a combination of currency flunctuations and security concerns. Four additional US dates were then added, concluding the tour on 8 August at Rich Stadium in Buffalo, New York.

Tour band

Mick Jagger - lead vocals, guitar, harmonica

Keith Richards - guitar, backing vocals

Ronnie Wood - guitar, backing vocals

Bill Wyman - bass guitar

Charlie Watts - drums, percussion

Additional musicians

Ian Stewart - piano

Billy Preston - keyboards, vocals

Ollie Brown - percussion

Bobby Keys - Saxophone

The 1977 live album Love You Live has Fingerprint File and It's Only Rock 'n Roll from Toronto, June 17, 1975 and Sympathy for the Devil from Los Angeles, July 9, 1975.