Licks Tour

The Licks Tour was a worldwide concert tour undertaken by the Rolling Stones during 2002 and 2003, in support of their 40th anniversary compilation album Forty 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.^[2]

Licks Tour 2002–2003

Tour by The Rolling Stones
Location	Asia Europe North America Oceania
Associated album	Forty Licks
Start date	3 September 2002
End date	9 November 2003
Legs	5
No. of shows	117
Box office	US$311 million ($531.59 in 2024 dollars)[1]
The Rolling Stones concert chronology

Background

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.^[3][4]

The production was designed by Mark Fisher, Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, and Patrick Woodroffe.^[5] The design included a 60-metre (200 ft) 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.^[6]

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.^[7] Finally, on 7–9 November 2003, the band played its first ever concerts in Hong Kong, as part of the Harbour Fest celebration.^[8] The tour was sponsored by E-Trade.^[9]

In Chicago, U2 frontman Bono joined the Stones for "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)" while Dr. John guested on piano during "I Just Want to Make Love to You."^[10]

In January, American cable network HBO broadcast a concert from Madison Square Garden in New York.^[11]

In Sydney, Leipzig, Hockenheim, Oberhausen and Toronto, Angus and Malcolm Young from 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.

Set list

Typical set list

1. "Brown Sugar"
2. "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)"
3. "Start Me Up"
4. "Don't Stop"
5. "Tumbling Dice"
6. "Angie"
7. "You Can't Always Get What You Want"
8. "Midnight Rambler"
9. "Monkey Man"
10. "Love Train"
11. "Little Queenie"
12. "Slipping Away"
13. "Happy"
14. "Sympathy for the Devil"
15. "You Got Me Rocking"
16. "When the Whip Comes Down"
17. "Miss You"
18. "Gimme Shelter"
19. "Honky Tonk Women"
20. "Street Fighting Man"
21. "Jumpin' Jack Flash"

    Encore

22. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"

Set list on 4 November 2002 at Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, CA^[12]

1. "Jumpin' Jack Flash"
2. "Live with Me"
3. "Neighbours"
4. "Hand of Fate"
5. "No Expectations"
6. "Beast of Burden"
7. "Stray Cat Blues"
8. "Dance (Pt. 1)"
9. "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" (with Solomon Burke)
10. "That's How Strong My Love Is"
11. "Going to a Go-Go"
12. "Thru and Thru"
13. "You Don't Have to Mean It"
14. "Can't You Hear Me Knocking"
15. "Rock Me Baby"
16. "Bitch"
17. "Honky Tonk Women"
18. "Start Me Up"
19. "Brown Sugar"

    Encore

20. "Tumbling Dice"

Tour dates

List of 2002 concerts

Date	City	Country	Venue	Opening act(s)
16 August 2002[nb 1]	Toronto	Canada	Palais Royale	Danko Jones
3 September 2002	Boston	United States	FleetCenter	The Pretenders
5 September 2002	Foxboro		Gillette Stadium
8 September 2002	Boston		Orpheum Theatre	Buddy Guy
10 September 2002	Chicago		United Center	The Pretenders
13 September 2002			Comiskey Park
16 September 2002			Aragon Ballroom	Dr. John
18 September 2002	Philadelphia		Veterans Stadium	The Pretenders
20 September 2002			First Union Center
22 September 2002	Upper Darby		Tower Theater	—
26 September 2002	New York City		Madison Square Garden	The Pretenders
28 September 2002	East Rutherford		Giants Stadium
30 September 2002	New York City		Roseland Ballroom	Jonny Lang
4 October 2002	Landover		FedExField	The Strokes
5 October 2002	Hartford		Hartford Civic Center
12 October 2002	Detroit		Ford Field	No Doubt
14 October 2002	Cleveland		Gund Arena	Elvis Costello
16 October 2002	Toronto	Canada	Air Canada Centre	The White Stripes
18 October 2002			SkyDome	No Doubt
20 October 2002	Columbus	United States	Nationwide Arena	The White Stripes
22 October 2002	Sunrise		Office Depot Center	Shaggy
23 October 2002	Miami		American Airlines Arena
26 October 2002	Atlanta		Turner Field	No Doubt
31 October 2002	Los Angeles		Staples Center	Sheryl Crow
2 November 2002	Anaheim		Edison International Field
4 November 2002	Los Angeles		Wiltern Theatre	Solomon Burke
6 November 2002	Tacoma		Tacoma Dome	Sheryl Crow
8 November 2002	San Francisco		Pacific Bell Park
9 November 2002
12 November 2002	Oakland		The Arena in Oakland
14 November 2002	San Diego		San Diego Sports Arena
16 November 2002	Las Vegas		The Joint (Private show hosted by David Bonderman – no public admission)	John Mellencamp
23 November 2002	San Antonio		SBC Center	Lifehouse
25 November 2002	Nashville		Gaylord Entertainment Center
29 November 2002	Las Vegas		The Joint	Solomon Burke
30 November 2002			MGM Grand Garden Arena	Lifehouse

List of 2003 concerts

Date	City	Country	Venue	Opening act(s)
8 January 2003	Montreal	Canada	Bell Centre	Les Respectables
10 January 2003	Pittsburgh	United States	Mellon Arena	Ryan Adams
12 January 2003	Boston		FleetCenter
16 January 2003	New York City		Madison Square Garden
18 January 2003				Ryan Adams (The Stones broadcast live on HBO Tonight)
21 January 2003	Chicago		United Center	Ryan Adams
22 January 2003
25 January 2003	Houston		Reliant Stadium
28 January 2003	Oklahoma City		Ford Center
30 January 2003	Phoenix		America West Arena	Jonny Lang
1 February 2003	Denver		Pepsi Center
4 February 2003	San Jose		HP Pavilion at San Jose	Susan Tedeschi
6 February 2003	Los Angeles		Staples Center
8 February 2003	Las Vegas		MGM Grand Garden Arena
18 February 2003	Sydney	Australia	Enmore Theatre	Jet
20 February 2003			Sydney Super Dome
22 February 2003
25 February 2003	Melbourne		Rod Laver Arena
27 February 2003
1 March 2003
4 March 2003	Brisbane		Brisbane Entertainment Centre	—
5 March 2003
10 March 2003	Tokyo	Japan	Nippon Budokan	—
12 March 2003	Yokohama		Yokohama Arena
15 March 2003	Tokyo		Tokyo Dome
16 March 2003
20 March 2003	Osaka		Osaka Dome
21 March 2003
24 March 2003	Singapore		Singapore Indoor Stadium
26 March 2003
4 April 2003	Bangalore	India	Palace Grounds
7 April 2003	Mumbai		Brabourne Stadium
4 June 2003	Munich	Germany	Olympiahalle	The Cranberries
6 June 2003			Olympiastadion
8 June 2003			Circus Krone Bau	—
10 June 2003	Milan	Italy	Stadio Giuseppe Meazza	The Cranberries
13 June 2003	Oberhausen	Germany	O-Vision Zukunftspark	AC/DC The Cranberries
15 June 2003	Berlin		Olympiastadion	The Cranberries
18 June 2003	Vienna	Austria	Ernst Happel Stadion	The Cranberries
20 June 2003	Leipzig	Germany	Festwiese	AC/DC
22 June 2003	Hockenheim		Hockenheimring	AC/DC The Pretenders
25 June 2003	Bilbao	Spain	Estadio San Mames	—
27 June 2003	Madrid		Estadio Vicente Calderón
29 June 2003	Barcelona		Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc
5 July 2003	Marseille	France	Stade Vélodrome
7 July 2003	Paris		Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy
9 July 2003	Saint-Denis		Stade de France
11 July 2003	Paris		L’Olympia
13 July 2003	Copenhagen	Denmark	Parken Stadium
16 July 2003	Helsinki	Finland	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
18 July 2003	Stockholm	Sweden	Stockholm Olympic Stadium	The Hives
20 July 2003			Stockholm Globe Arena	—
22 July 2003			Cirkus
24 July 2003	Hamburg	Germany	AOL-Arena
27 July 2003	Prague	Czech Republic	Letná	Brainstorm Olympic
30 July 2003	Toronto	Canada	SARSstock Concert Downsview Park	—
8 August 2003	Hanover	Germany	EXPO-Gelaende Messe Ost	—
11 August 2003	Rotterdam	Netherlands	Feijenoord Stadion
13 August 2003
15 August 2003			Rotterdam Ahoy
16 August 2003	Utrecht		Muziekcentrum Vredenburg
19 August 2003	Amsterdam		Amsterdam ArenA
24 August 2003	London	England	Twickenham Stadium
27 August 2003			Astoria
29 August 2003			Wembley Arena
1 September 2003	Glasgow	Scotland	Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre
3 September 2003
5 September 2003	Manchester	England	Manchester Evening News Arena
7 September 2003	Werchter	Belgium	Rock Werchter
9 September 2003	Dublin	Ireland	Point Theatre
11 September 2003
13 September 2003	London	England	Wembley Arena
15 September 2003
20 September 2003			Twickenham Stadium
22 September 2003	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Amsterdam ArenA
25 September 2003	Benidorm	Spain	Estadio Municipal Foietes
27 September 2003	Coimbra	Portugal	Estádio Cidade de Coimbra
29 September 2003	Zaragoza	Spain	Feria de Muestras
2 October 2003	Zürich	Switzerland	Letzigrund Stadion
7 November 2003	Hong Kong		Tamar Festival Site	—
9 November 2003

Personnel

The Rolling Stones

• Mick Jagger – lead vocals, guitars, harmonica, additional keyboards
• Keith Richards – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Ronnie Wood – lead guitar
• Charlie Watts – drums

Additional musicians

• Darryl Jones – bass
• Chuck Leavell – keyboards, backing vocals
• Bobby Keys – saxophone
• Tim Ries – saxophone
• Michael Davis– trombone
• Kent Smith – trumpet
• Lisa Fischer – backing vocals
• Bernard Fowler – backing vocals
• Blondie Chaplin – backing vocals, additional guitar

See also

• List of The Rolling Stones concert tours
• List of highest grossing concert tours
• List of most-attended concert tours

Notes

1. On 16 August 2002 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the Rolling Stones performed a surprise gig (in front of 1,000 lucky fans) with an unusual setlist: "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)", "Sad Sad Sad", "If You Can't Rock Me", "Stray Cat Blues", "Hot Stuff", "Don't Stop", "Honky Tonk Women", "Torn and Frayed", "Wild Horses", "Happy", "I Can't Turn You Loose", "Heart Of Stone", "Can't You Hear Me Knocking", "Jumpin' Jack Flash", encore: "Brown Sugar".^[13]