Stones Touring Party

The Stones enjoy a night on the town to distract themselves from fears that the Hell's Angels are plotting to assassinate Mick Jagger as revenge for the disaster at Altamont. While the band blows off steam and revels in the royal treatment, the STP support squad struggle to navigate the peculiar politics of being perpetually fame-adjacent. As they scramble to maintain their place in the tour pecking order, they simultaneously strive to take every precaution against nefarious plots. The Stones survive, but they receive a scary reminder that they can't escape the past quite so easily.

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The Rolling Stones touch down in San Francisco to play their first gig in the Bay Area since their disastrous concert at the Altamont Speedway three years earlier — when they'd inadvertently provided the soundtrack to a murder. Their arrival forces them to revisit that awful day when members of the Hells Angels, supposedly acting as security, stab 18-year-old Meredith Hunter to death in the middle of the band's set. The Stones hope these new gigs will serve as an apology to the hippest music city in America, but fear that the motorcycle gang will make good on their threats to assassinate Mick Jagger as revenge for Altamont's legal fallout.

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After millions of dollars and months of preparation, the biggest production in rock is now off and running — sort of. In truth, they’ve already hit some snags. A logistical snafu means they have no way to fly to their first tour stop in Canada, where they’re expected to perform in a matter of hours. Keith Richards has relapsed following his recent detox, and his personal pharmacy makes traveling through border control a stressful nightmare. An international incident of one kind of another appears immanent. Against all odds, they arrive at the arena on time, only to find it swarmed by thousands of ticketless rioters hell-bent on taking the venue by force. The Rolling Stones’ tour kickoff was bound to make news, but these explosive headlines were more than the STP crew bargained for. 

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After fleeing France to avoid jail time resulting from Keith Richards' gargantuan drug purchases, the Rolling Stones settle in Los Angeles in the fall of 1971. There they race the clock to finish their new album before their summer tour is due to kick off. The progress is delayed by their perfectionist streak, a blizzard of cocaine, and Keith's ever-worsening heroin addiction. As the band struggles, preparations are made for the biggest rock 'n' roll roadshow the world has ever seen — and both journalist Robert Greenfield and PR exec Gary Stromberg endure the hazing required to hang with the Stones. But before Keith can hit the road, he's sent to Switzerland to get clean. The harrowing experience is excruciating but successful — for now. 

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At the dawn of the ‘70s, The Rolling Stones discover they’re broke. After resettling in Southern France as a tax dodge, the band begin sessions for what would become their gritty masterpiece, Exile on Main Street, in the sweltering basement of Keith Richards’ seaside mansion, Villa Nellcote. The notorious (possibly) Nazi-haunted home played host to the most debauched parties of all time, multi-day binges that drew a who’s-who of rock royalty. But Keith’s heroin relapse derails the sessions and threatens his relationship with bandmate Mick Jagger, which is further strained by the frontman’s ongoing affair with Keith’s partner, Anita Pallenberg. The mood turns dark when Keith runs afoul of both Corsican drug heavies and French authorities. Caught between bought sides of the law, the Stones make a run for it — with their cache of new songs. 

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The Rolling Stones’ 1972 US tour wasn’t merely the biggest musical event of the year; it redefined the modern rock tour as we know it, both in spectacle and debauchery… and risk. This was the band’s first trip to the States since the deadly disaster at Altamont in ’69. The bruise left by that show put a target on the bands’ back—particularly Mick Jagger—who became the pariah not only for conservative America, but the Hell’s Angels as well. As the World’s Greatest Rock ’n’ Roll Band swept across the country in limos and private jets, the question loomed large on everyone’s mind: Would someone try to assassinate Mick Jagger?

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Featuring unheard Rolling Stones interviews from 1972, Stones Touring Party is an all-access pass to the wildest tour in rock history — fraught with drug busts, bombs, death threats and debauchery.

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