Steel Wheels Tour/Urban Jungle Tour

Tour byThe Rolling Stones
Location	Asia Europe North America
Associated album	Steel Wheels
Start date	31 August 1989
End date	25 August 1990
Legs	3
No. of shows	115
Box office	US$175 million (US$421,185,685 in 2024 dollars[1])
The Rolling Stones concert chronology
European Tour 1982 (1982) Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour (1989–90) Voodoo Lounge Tour (1994–95)

The Rolling Stones'Steel Wheels Tour was aconcert tour which was launched in North America in August 1989 to promote the band's albumSteel Wheels; it continued to Japan in February 1990, with ten shows at theTokyo Dome.^[2] The European leg of the tour, which featured a different stage and logo, was called theUrban Jungle Tour; it ran from May to August 1990. These would be the last live concerts for the band with original memberBill Wyman on bass guitar. This tour would also be the longest the band had ever done up to that point, playing over twice as many shows as their standard tour length from the 1960s and 1970s.^[2]

The tour was a financial success, cementing the Rolling Stones' return to full commercial power after a seven-year hiatus in touring marked by well publicized acrimony among band members.^[3]

The Rolling Stones began pre-tour preparations in July 1989 at the Wykeham Rise School, a former boarding school for girls inLitchfield, Connecticut. A 25-member entourage, was hired to support the band.^[4]

The group performed a pre-tour 'surprise show' that took place on 12 August 1989 atToad's Place inNew Haven, Connecticut, with a local act, Sons of Bob, opening the show for an audience of only 700 people who had purchased tickets for $3.01 apiece.^[5] Toad's owner,Mike Spoerndle, had promoted the event as a private birthday party forJim Koplik, the club's promoter.^[6] The official Steel Wheels Tour kicked off later that month at the now-demolishedVeterans Stadium inPhiladelphia. During the opening show in Philadelphia, the power went out during "Shattered (song)", and caused a slight delay in the show. Jagger came out and spoke to the crowd during the delay. The Stones returned toVancouver, B.C. in Canada and played two sold-out concerts atB.C. Place Stadium. Fan reaction for tickets was unprecedented. One local radio station,99.3 The Fox, even had a man (Andrew Korn) sit in front of the station in a bath tub filled with brown sugar and water for free tickets to the concert.^{[citation needed]}

The stage was designed byMark Fisher with the participation ofCharlie Watts andMick Jagger. Lighting design was byPatrick Woodroffe.

Canadian promoterMichael Cohl made his name buying the concert, sponsorship, merchandising, radio, television, and film rights to the Steel Wheels Tour. It became the most financially successful rock tour in history up to that time.^[3] Rival promoterBill Graham, who also bid on the tour, later wrote that "Losing the Stones was like watching my favourite lover become a whore."

Performances from the tour were documented on the albumFlashpoint, and the videoLive at the Max, both released in 1991.

Opening acts for the tour includedLiving Colour,Dan Reed Network,Guns N' Roses andGun.

The original two dates at Wembley Stadium that originally were set to take place on 13 and 14 July 1990 had to be rescheduled for 24 and 25 August 1990 due to Keith Richards cutting a finger the previous week.^[7]

In August 1990, an extra concert inPrague,Czechoslovakia, was added. Czechoslovakia hadoverthrown the Communist regime nine months earlier, and the Rolling Stones' concert was perceived as a symbolic end of the revolution. Czechoslovakia's new presidentVáclav Havel, a lifelong fan of the band, helped to arrange the event, and met the band at thePrague Castle before the show. Performance expenses were partially covered by Havel and by the Czechoslovak Ministry of Industry. The attendance was over 100,000.^[8][9] The band chose to donate all revenues from the gig (over 4 millionCzechoslovak korunas) to the Committee of Good Will, a charity run by Havel's wifeOlga Havlová.^[10]

Released in 1991,Flashpoint, is a 17-song live album of material recorded during the Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour.

In July 2020, Eagle Rock Entertainment released a recording and DVD set of the final date of the North American tour titledSteel Wheels Live.^[11] The performance, recorded at the Atlantic City Convention Center, features guest appearances byJohn Lee Hooker,Eric Clapton,Axl Rose andIzzy Stradlin.^[12]

• Mick Jagger – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, percussion
• Keith Richards – rhythm guitars, lead guitars, vocals
• Ronnie Wood – lead guitars
• Bill Wyman – bass guitar
• Charlie Watts – drums

• Matt Clifford – keyboards, backing vocals, percussion, French horn
• Bobby Keys – saxophone
• Chuck Leavell – keyboards, backing vocals and musical director
• Bernard Fowler – backing vocals, percussion
• Lisa Fischer – backing vocals on the North American & Japanese tours only
• W. "Bindy" Bindeman – backing vocals, keyboards- Japanese tours only
• Cindy Mizelle – backing vocals on the North American & Japanese tours only
• Pamela Quinlan – backing vocals on North American & European tour only
• Lorelei McBroom – backing vocals on the European tour only
• Sophia Jones – backing vocals on the European tour only
• The Uptown Horns:

1. Arno Hecht – saxophone
2. Bob Funk – trombone
3. Crispin Cioe – saxophone
4. Paul Litteral – trumpet

Source^[13]

• Michael Cohl – Tour Director
• Norman Perry – Assistant Tour Director^[14]
• Alan Dunn^[15] – Logistics
• Arnold Dunn – Band Road Manager
• Timm Wooley – Financial Controller
• Bob Hurwitz – Tour Accountant
• Stan Damas – Police Liaison
• Jim Callaghan^[15] – Security Chief
• Rowan Brade – Security
• Bob Bender – Security
• Joe Seabrook – Security
• William Horgan – Security
• Linn Tanzmann^[16] – Band Press Representative^[4]
• Neil Friedman – Assistant Tour Publicist
• Bennett Kleinberg – Advance Tour Publicist^[17]
• Dimo Safari – Tour Photographer
• Beth Kittrell – Administrative Assistant
• Caroline Clements – Makeup
• Robern Pickering – Wardrobe
• Fiona Williams – Stylist
• LaVelle Smith – Choreographer
• Torje Eike – Physiotherapist^[18]
• Joseph Sakowicz – Band/Entourage Luggage
• Shelley Lazar – Ticket/Credentials Coordinator^[19]
• Miranda Guinness – Asst. to Mick Jagger
• Tony Russell – Asst. to Keith Richards
• Jo Howard – Asst. to Ron Wood
• Tony King – Mick Jagger Press Liaison^[20]
• Patricia Aleck – Travel Advance
• Cliff Burnstein – Creative Consultant
• Peter Mensch – Creative Consultant

• Michael Ahern – Production Manager
• Chuch Magee – Backline Crew Chief
• Roy Lamb – Stage Manager
• Mark Fisher – Set Designer
• Patrick Woodroffe – Lighting Designer
• Benji Lefevre – FOH Sound Engineer
• Chris Wade-Evans – Monitor Sound Engineer
• Gary Epstein - Universal System Engineer
• Pierre De Beauport – Guitar Technician
• Andy Topeka – Keyboard Technician
• Steve Thomas – Production Advance
• Steve Howard – Promoter Production Rep
• Bruce Haynes – Electrician
• Shane Hendrick – Electrician
• David Sinclair – Electrician
• Henry Wetzel – Electrician

• List of highest grossing concert tours
• List of most-attended concert tours
• List of most-attended ticketed multi-night concerts

• Mark Fisher's "Steel Wheels" gallery
• Mark Fisher's "Urban Jungle" gallery

• 1989 concert tours
• 1990 concert tours
• The Rolling Stones concert tours
• 1989 in American music
• 1989 in Canadian music
• 1990 in Japanese music
• 1990 in Europe
• All-stadium concert tours

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