The Licks Tour was a worldwide concert tour undertaken by The Rolling Stones during 2002 and 2003, in support of their 40th anniversary compilation albumForty Licks. The tour grossed over $300 million, becoming the second highest grossing tour at that time, behind their own Voodoo Lounge Tour of 1994–1995. The itinerary continued the Rolling Stones' practice of mixing theatre, arena, and stadium venues. With little new music to promote, set lists were dynamic and featured a total of 80 different songs. Planned dates in East Asia and the final date of the tour were cancelled in response to the SARS outbreak of 2002–2003. Additionally, because Toronto, Ontario, Canada was also affected, the Rolling Stones headlined the Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto concert on 30 July 2003 to help the city recover from the effects of the epidemic. It was attended by an estimated 490,000 people. Finally, on 7–9 November 2003, the band played its first ever concerts in Hong Kong, as part of the Harbour Fest celebration. The tour was sponsored by E-Trade.
Set list
The Set List for each show depended on what type of venue they were played, Stadium, Arena, or Theatre. The Typical Stadium show looked like this
In Chicago, U2 frontman Bono joined the Stones for "It's Only Rock'n Roll ". But after the conclusion of the song, Bono left the stage without acknowledging the audience. Dr. John also guested as well. In January, American cable networkHBO broadcast a concert from Madison Square Garden in New York. The Rolling Stones played "drastically different" shows depending upon the size of the venue. The production was designed by Mark Fisher, Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, and Patrick Woodroffe. The design included a wide digital print created by Jeff Koons. During the song "Honky Tonk Women", an animated video was shown of a topless woman riding the famous Rolling Stones Tongue logo before being devoured. In Sydney, Leipzig, Hockenheim, Oberhausen and TorontoAngus and Malcolm Young of AC/DC played "Rock Me Baby" with the Rolling Stones. The Leipzig performance can be found on disc 2 of AC/DC's Plug Me In, while the Toronto performance was included in the Toronto Rocks DVD.
Personnel
The Rolling Stones
Mick Jagger – lead vocals, guitars, harmonica, additional keyboards