Six Things We Learned From the Rolling Stones Rehearsal Set List
The Rolling Stones have uploaded a photo of a yellow legal pad with the titles of 22 songs written on it to their official Twitter account. It appears to be in Mick Jagger’s handwriting. The band is rehearsing in Europe right now for their upcoming four-date tour, and this is clearly a list of songs they’re rehearsing. Here’s the list as it appears on the page, along with six things we’ve learned from it.
“She’s So Cold”
“You Got Me Rocking”
“All Down the Line”
“Respectable”
“Tumbling Dice”
“Honky Tonk Women”
“Beast of Burden”
“Wild Horses”
“Can’t Always Get”
“It’s All Over Now”
“Lady Jane”
“Rt. 66”
“Little Red Rooster”
“Miss You”
“Not Fade Away”
“She’s So Cold”
“Start Me”
“Sweet Virginia”
“Worried About You”
“Paint It Black”
“The Last Time”
“Ruby Tuesday”
“Midnight Rambler”
— The Rolling Stones (@RollingStones) October 15, 2012
1. Some real deep cuts might surface on this tour. The Stones haven’t performed “Lady Jane” since the Sixties, and “Route 66,” “Little Red Rooster,” “Not Fade Away” and “The Last Time” are also not songs they trot out very often.
2. They aren’t neglecting the Eighties. That work is much better than its reputation suggests, and it’s good to see they’re at least considering “She’s So Cold” and “Worried About You” for the tour. (They even list “She’s So Cold” twice.)
3. There’s no escape from “You Got Me Rocking.” The track is definitely one of the better songs from 1994’s Voodoo Lounge, but it’s been played live an absurd number of times over the last two decades. Hey Mick, it’s time to move on. Reminds us of Bob Dylan’s fixation with “Silvio” during the Nineties.
4. As always, the show will be focused on the hits. Jagger says he hates to look at the audience and see blank faces, so the Stones’ set lists are always chock-full of giant hits. The fact they’re bothering to even rehearse “Tumbling Dice,” “Honky Tonk Women,” “Miss You” and “Start Me Up” suggests those songs are very likely to surface yet again. They don’t list “Satisfaction,” “Jumping Jack Flash” and “It’s Only Rock and Roll” here, but that’s probably because they could all play those songs in their sleep.
5. This is clearly not going to be the running order of the show. It would be cool if they opened with “She’s So Cold” and played it again halfway through the show, skipping many of their signature songs – but that ain’t gonna happen.
6. This is a bit more pre-Beggars Banquet songs than we usually see. Often they only break out “Satisfaction,” “Paint It Black” and a tiny handful more from this period, but there are six of them here. Hopefully they’re trying to acknowledge their entire history here, as opposed to just 1968 to 1981.