(Gibson) On this day in 2007, The Rolling Stones set a new record for the top grossing tour of all time with their A Bigger Bang tour. The tour which ran from late 2005 to August 2007, earned the band £247m, ($437m) with The Stones playing to over 3.5 million people at 113 shows. The previous high was set by U2's Vertigo tour, which took place in 2005 and 2006, earning £220m, ($389m). Gibson takes a look back: For the past couple of decades, The Rolling Stones have tried to out-do themselves on nearly every tour. From Steel Wheels to Voodoo Lounge to Bridges to Babylon, Mick, Keef and the boys have ratcheted up the extravagant stage designs, the amount of countries they travel to, the duration of the tours. So far, it has all culminated in the band's A Bigger Bang tour, which on this day in 2007, was named the highest-grossing concert tour in history.
The tour began more than two years earlier than that announcement. After a traditional warm-up show (at the 1,000 capacity Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto on August 10), the tour officially got rolling on August 21, 2005 with a two-night stand at Boston's legendary Fenway Park. The tour was launched with the riff of – what else? – "Start Me Up."
The Stones – at this point consisting of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Ron Wood and nine additional musicians – showed off their brand-new stage set-up, including a giant video screen, giant flames (for "Sympathy for the Devil") and fireworks that punctuated the beginning and end of each show. Typically, set lists featured a mixture of big hits and album tracks (fazed cookies?), in addition to songs from the band's new album, also titled A Bigger Bang. more on this story
