There are posters in Milwaukee, a banner on Denver’s football stadium, a band logo plastered on a Houston sculpture, a logo-adorned race car outside the Vegas Grand Prix, and cryptic hints on the internet suggesting, “an exciting incoming announcement by the legendary rockers.”
Can this all point to an upcoming Rolling Stones tour in support of the band’s first album of new material in decades, “Hackney Diamonds,” released in October?
It's possible an announcement could come as soon as Tuesday morning. The Stones' official tour website is here.
One Stones fan site has shared a rumored itinerary, but that tour information seems in large part so detailed and specific that it looks more like a leak than a rumor.
That would be great news for Stones fans who thought they might never get a chance to see the band on tour again, especially after the passing of drummer Charlie Watts in August 2021. (He will surely be replaced on any tour by his chosen sub, Steve Jordan, who also played on "Hackney Diamonds.")
The potential bad news? This “rumored” itinerary doesn’t have any Milwaukee dates. Also, cities that are listed on the itinerary got bigger hints than the posters Milwaukee got.
The “rumored” itinerary kicks off in Houston at NRG Stadium on April 28 and runs through a July 17 show at Levi’s Stadium near San Francisco.
Good news: there are plenty of open dates in the schedule to add a Milwaukee show.
Bad news: venues on the “rumored” tour are between 50,000 and 80,000 capacity and Brew City doesn’t have anything that big. Am Fam Field has a capacity just shy of 42,000 for concerts. Lambeau Field has that kind of capacity but there don’t seem to be any cities in that size range on the tour.
So why the posters in Milwaukee?
Well, with two “rumored” Soldier Field dates – June 27 and 30 – at 60,000 seats per night, promoters would surely hope to draw fans from a radius of a few hours’ drive from the Windy City, especially considering the only other Midwestern show rumored is in Cleveland.
Two Soldier Field shows does not bode well for a Milwaukee concert.
The last time the Stones played in Milwaukee was in 2015 at Summerfest. The first time was in 1964.
Read a history of all the Rolling Stones’ Milwaukee performances here.
Do I think the Stones will announce a tour? Yes.
Do I think they'll come to Milwaukee? I sure hope so.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
