Rolling Stones Expected To Fill TCF Bank Stadium
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- For the first time in a decade, one of the most iconic rock-and-roll bands is coming back to the Twin Cities.
The Rolling Stones announced on Tuesday they'll play TCF Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota on June 3.
Minneapolis will be the third stop on the band's 15-city "Zip Code" tour.
Fans like Perry Rawlings are already planning their summer around their favorite group. Rawlings, who owns a hardwood flooring company, says that when there's hard work to be done, he buckles down and puts on some Stones music.
He has followed them everywhere, cheering them at 17 different tour stops, including several in the Twin Cities.
"I've seen them in San Francisco, Hawaii, Miami, Chicago, Las Vegas, everywhere," Rawlings said. "When you go see their shows, they don't play the new stuff, they know that you're there to hear the old stuff. And that's exactly what they do, they play all their old stuff for you."
Rawlings has been as close to Mick and Keith as the third row. But Nate Westgor has been on their stage.
"For the first four or five of their records, they insisted on being called a blues band," Westgor said. "And they really did kind of bring it all in to a more exciting level."
Westgor, who owns Willie's American Guitars in St. Paul, calls Mick, Keith, Ronnie and Charlie both clients and friends.
When they performed at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center in 2005, he sold them guitars and amps. He even had to repair Ronnie Wood's guitar when it was backed over by a truck.
That's when he brought along a 1961 Gibson Hummingbird acoustic guitar that stole Keith Richard's heart.
"I remember being like far across the other side of the stage and him holding it up and going, 'How much?'" Westgor said.
The June 3 concert at TCF Bank Stadium comes 53 years after the Rolling Stones formed in Great Britain.
"It's only rock and roll but I like it!" Rawlings said.
But for any Stones fan, the excitement over another Minnesota tour stop must be balanced by a more somber reality.
"This might be your last chance to see the world's greatest rock and roll band," Westgor said.
Tickets don't go on sale until Monday, April 13. However, American Express cardholders will get first shot at tickets five days earlier.
Prepare To Pay Big For Stones Tickets
The tour will kick off in San Diego and wrap up in Quebec. According to the band, the tour coincides with a rerelease of their iconic album Sticky Fingers, which included hits like "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses."
The British band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, alongside Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, Dion and The Temptations.
Our sister station 104.1 JACK-FM has more ticket information here.
