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Stones Touring Party: A Journey Through America with the Rolling Stones
Thirty years ago, the Rolling Stones swept America, taking Exile on Main Street to Main Streets across the nation. Everyone held their breath to see what would happen; the Stones' previous U.S. tour had been a chaotic circus culminating in the infamous death of a fan at Altamont. And this tour (the "Stones Touring Party") was rumored to be wilder than ever: bigger shows in major arenas, with a far larger entourage and even more drugs. Robert Greenfield went along for the ride, and came away with a riveting insider's account, called by Ian Rankin "one of the greatest rock books ever written." The reality lived up to the rumor: take one part Lee Radziwill, a dash of Truman Capote, set the scene at Hef's Playboy mansion, and toss in the county jail for good measure. That was the Stones Touring Party, the ultimate rock 'n' roll band at the height of its spectacular depravity.
292 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 30, 1973
91 people are currently reading
483 people want to read
About the author
Robert Greenfield
29 books63 followersA former Associate Editor of the London bureau of Rolling Stone magazine, Robert Greenfield is the critically acclaimed author of several classic rock books, among them S.T.P.: A Journey Through America with the Rolling Stones, as well as the definitive biographies of Timothy Leary and Ahmet Ertegun. With Bill Graham, he is the co-author of Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock and Out, which won the ASCAP- Deems Taylor Award. An award winning novelist, playwright, and screenwriter, his short fiction has appeared in GQ, Esquire, and Playboy magazines. He lives in California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
June 30, 2009
There are a number of reasons why reading this book is like opening a time capsule to a whole other world:
1. There's the assertion in the prologue that combacks in rock are never successful, and the implication that the only bands that can make it in music are those that are young and "with it".
2. A big theme of the book is whether The Stones can still cut it on tour now that they're nearing the grand old age of thirty (the book ends with Mick's 29th birthday). After all they're now a lot older than the kids they're playing to - will they be able to cross the gender divide? It is a young man's game after all.
3. Although largely well written, it can't help sometimes dipping into the kind of hipster language which seems to have been popular in the early 70s. To wit: "Wheww Chris. All the flying she's done has got her a little jet-lagged and then this hand comes from nowhere and whoooooooo the Red Baron is like whooooooooo sliding off the machine wow whoooooooo."
4. The unremitting focus on Mick Jagger is odd given the way The Stones are written about these days. Now Mick tends to be seen as a vain poseur, while Keith is seen as a primal force who embodies rock'n'roll. In this book Mick is the star, with Keef an unruly figure in his shadow.
When the definitive biography of The Rolling Stones is written this will be an invaluable resource (despite some odd factual errors - how did the author hear 1965's Get Off My Cloud in 1963?) For the rest of us there are all the tales of groupies, drugs, madness and hedonism we'd want from a tour diary. And what's more it ends with a party whose guest list include The Stones, Bob Dylan, Woody Allen, Zsa-Zsa Gabor, Truman Capote, Candy Darling and Tennessee Williams. Far out man.
1. There's the assertion in the prologue that combacks in rock are never successful, and the implication that the only bands that can make it in music are those that are young and "with it".
2. A big theme of the book is whether The Stones can still cut it on tour now that they're nearing the grand old age of thirty (the book ends with Mick's 29th birthday). After all they're now a lot older than the kids they're playing to - will they be able to cross the gender divide? It is a young man's game after all.
3. Although largely well written, it can't help sometimes dipping into the kind of hipster language which seems to have been popular in the early 70s. To wit: "Wheww Chris. All the flying she's done has got her a little jet-lagged and then this hand comes from nowhere and whoooooooo the Red Baron is like whooooooooo sliding off the machine wow whoooooooo."
4. The unremitting focus on Mick Jagger is odd given the way The Stones are written about these days. Now Mick tends to be seen as a vain poseur, while Keith is seen as a primal force who embodies rock'n'roll. In this book Mick is the star, with Keef an unruly figure in his shadow.
When the definitive biography of The Rolling Stones is written this will be an invaluable resource (despite some odd factual errors - how did the author hear 1965's Get Off My Cloud in 1963?) For the rest of us there are all the tales of groupies, drugs, madness and hedonism we'd want from a tour diary. And what's more it ends with a party whose guest list include The Stones, Bob Dylan, Woody Allen, Zsa-Zsa Gabor, Truman Capote, Candy Darling and Tennessee Williams. Far out man.
July 20, 2019
Author Robert Greenfield takes you on a journey through America with The Rolling Stones just like the title of the book states. However this book isn't much about the Rolling Stones as it is the planning and the people involved in the tour more so. People like Woodstock promoter Chip Monck and Fillmore East/West owner Bill Graham play vital roles but the real magic is the way that the interactions between this enormous cast of characters never manages to overwhelm. The writing style is a bit dated and lack of Stones themselves is a bit disappointing and is the only thing that draws this book down.
July 18, 2009
I like Greenfield's other book on the Stones a tad better than this one, which "S.T.P." is considered to be the classic case of rock n' roll reporting. What is interesting is that the mechanics of rock n' roll is an act of boredom. Or boredom creeps in and therefore that is where the trouble starts. Mick, Keith, and the Stones don't come off either as great or poor individuals - just sort of neutral. What's interesting is how people and workers react to the Stones. The power issue is so strong, and it is like a magnet for those who work under its harsh lighting.
Greenfield is a superb chronicler of characters who entered into the Stones world and how they become affected by the intense relationships in that circle. In many ways it is sort of like reading about workers in an office and it's politics. So in a sense this book has nothing to do with the Stones, but everything that is outside their personal space.
Fascinating work, but still, Greenfield's reporting of the making of Exile On Main St. is really really good. But this is superb as well.
Greenfield is a superb chronicler of characters who entered into the Stones world and how they become affected by the intense relationships in that circle. In many ways it is sort of like reading about workers in an office and it's politics. So in a sense this book has nothing to do with the Stones, but everything that is outside their personal space.
Fascinating work, but still, Greenfield's reporting of the making of Exile On Main St. is really really good. But this is superb as well.
July 18, 2025
No satisfaction
Greenfield went on to chronicle the rock scene as an oral historian (The Dead, Jerry, Bear, Leary, Bill Graham...), but in this debut, he's in his twenties as a witness to the '72 Stones tour of America. He captures it vividly, blending the reporting style of his older counterparts such as Gay Talese or a more restrained (as in punctuation) Tom Wolfe. Given Greenfield's youth, he carries off this document admirably.
Like many on the road, you sense his weariness. Groupies, dealers, fans, promoters, journalists, Princess Radziwill, Truman Capote, Hugh Hefner, Dick Cavett, Wolfman Jack, and (fawning over "non-violent" Huey Newton photo shoot) Annie Leibowitz crowd the in-crowd as they shove aside the remnants of the suburban kids, hippie burnouts, speed freaks, and stoned runaways trying too get near Mick and Keef. Or Mr. Taylor in a pinch. Wyman and Watts hover less in the spotlight, and Jagger certainly perfected his masks to don or discard.
It makes for a sweaty, humid, airless, chemically mauled morality tale. Cops and roadies, security men and hotel dicks, disk jockeys and supporting musicians all thuggishly enact their roles. A telling vignette is Greenfield watching a weary waiter serve ravenous and drunk guests and then showing him carrying his simple lunch downstairs on his break, three hours left on his shift before he commutes home.
Greenfield went on to chronicle the rock scene as an oral historian (The Dead, Jerry, Bear, Leary, Bill Graham...), but in this debut, he's in his twenties as a witness to the '72 Stones tour of America. He captures it vividly, blending the reporting style of his older counterparts such as Gay Talese or a more restrained (as in punctuation) Tom Wolfe. Given Greenfield's youth, he carries off this document admirably.
Like many on the road, you sense his weariness. Groupies, dealers, fans, promoters, journalists, Princess Radziwill, Truman Capote, Hugh Hefner, Dick Cavett, Wolfman Jack, and (fawning over "non-violent" Huey Newton photo shoot) Annie Leibowitz crowd the in-crowd as they shove aside the remnants of the suburban kids, hippie burnouts, speed freaks, and stoned runaways trying too get near Mick and Keef. Or Mr. Taylor in a pinch. Wyman and Watts hover less in the spotlight, and Jagger certainly perfected his masks to don or discard.
It makes for a sweaty, humid, airless, chemically mauled morality tale. Cops and roadies, security men and hotel dicks, disk jockeys and supporting musicians all thuggishly enact their roles. A telling vignette is Greenfield watching a weary waiter serve ravenous and drunk guests and then showing him carrying his simple lunch downstairs on his break, three hours left on his shift before he commutes home.
December 3, 2018
Should be marketed as American history, not rock and roll. This is a portrait of the States as the Stones tour in support of Exile on Main Street, though there are brief jaunts into Canada. We see cops bashing hippies, Mick and Keith hanging with Hugh Hefner, a Stones rep dickering with Bill Graham, Truman Capote complaining, Terry Southern hanging with Bobby Keys, Rhode Island cops arresting the band, the mayor of Boston getting the band out of jail to play a concert before a riot breaks out, groupies aiming for Mick and Keith and ending up with roadies, kids burning down cities wherever the Stones are playing...Reminds me of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72. Paints a portrait of the nasty political landscape of America and the business of rock and roll. Music plays almost no role in the story, but it's still a great story.
April 7, 2020
Always fun to read another book on the Stones. This time the author was along for their ‘72 tour. Fast paced and written so well.
“But what the newspapers left out and what you could not tell anyone who asked and still have them believe you was the way it felt. Desperate and futile; with people going around in circles and getting nowhere except more confused; empty and directionless, like a circus with no center ring; and very, very sad, like a wake where the mask of false gaiety hides the real grief. It felt like something had died. All the remained was to find someone who could identify the corpse.” 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
“But what the newspapers left out and what you could not tell anyone who asked and still have them believe you was the way it felt. Desperate and futile; with people going around in circles and getting nowhere except more confused; empty and directionless, like a circus with no center ring; and very, very sad, like a wake where the mask of false gaiety hides the real grief. It felt like something had died. All the remained was to find someone who could identify the corpse.” 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
December 14, 2017
A great, but somewhat outsider account of the 1972 Rolling Stones US tour. My main qualm is that, like Chet Flippo's account of the 1975 US tour, Greenfield writes from a certain detachment; he is certainly not guaranteed full access. He may wander into Keef's hotel room here and there, but he is not involved enough for it to feel much more than a fairly straight journalistic account of the tour. He comes across as an outsider. Still, for accounts of the Stones tours I would recommend this over Chet Flippo's book...
September 24, 2024
A fly on the wall perspective of the Stones touring the USA in the early 70's
This book takes you right into the heart of darkness that was the Stones touring the US and Canada for a few months in 1972. All the grit and grime, boredom and lunacy, high times and all-time lows, parties and groupies, hangers-on and hands-on crisis management, stage spotlights and backstage shenanigans, it's all there in a hazy voyeuristic account that feels like you're on tour with them. A wild and fascinating read.
This book takes you right into the heart of darkness that was the Stones touring the US and Canada for a few months in 1972. All the grit and grime, boredom and lunacy, high times and all-time lows, parties and groupies, hangers-on and hands-on crisis management, stage spotlights and backstage shenanigans, it's all there in a hazy voyeuristic account that feels like you're on tour with them. A wild and fascinating read.
December 16, 2020
Good book, interesting background and some crazy tales from a vanished time in rock. Quick-paced and easy to read, Greenfield's prose is at home in the environment he reports on. The author's angle is also interesting--the task of boiling everything down to 350 pages must have been daunting. I would've preferred at little more about life on the road for the individual band members and the dynamic between them, but it's a minor beef. A captivating book that is a must for any Stones fan.
June 12, 2022
Wouldn’t say that the book is not enough interesting or dull. Contrary. But I waited a bit more about what the Stones did do during this STP . As à not native English reader sometimes it was not easy the follow the text. And apparently there’s a historical mistake in the text when the writer referring to Budapest 1957 summer…(page 322) there was nothing which is related to this context , maybe that is related to October 1956 when the revolution happened in Budapest agains the Soviet ruling….
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 3, 2018
the proverbial "rollicking good time." you don't necessarily need to be a stones fan to enjoy this book, although you should at least be interested in the 60s/70s, rock culture, and/or drug culture. probably the funniest part is all the musing on whether the stones will ever tour again -- in 1972! LOL.
June 7, 2023
This was out of print when I was a teen and crazy for anything I could get my hands on about the Golden Period Stones. When I finally got it as an adult, it turned out to be the worst sort of silly hipster drivel. Way too period to read well 30 yrs later (the Stones felt creepy going to Dallas nearly a decade after Kennedy was killed there -- by a communist -- please. Tremendous disappointment.
May 29, 2017
One of the best rock music books. It has a slightly fact/fiction almost comic-book style that some may feel jarring and is full of cliche. But stick with it because as an exposition and expression of the madness of early Seventies Rolling Stones tours it can't be bettered.
October 6, 2020
A must read for any stones fan
I read this when it first came out and loved it.Sex drugs rock n roll it was all very exciting to a teenager at that time, the book is nearly 50 years old now and seems a bit dated, but still enjoyed reading it . I'm still a massive Stones fan .
I read this when it first came out and loved it.Sex drugs rock n roll it was all very exciting to a teenager at that time, the book is nearly 50 years old now and seems a bit dated, but still enjoyed reading it . I'm still a massive Stones fan .
August 8, 2022
I decided to give this book a re-read, and I must say I would recommend it only to hardcore Stones fans. And it isn’t essential for them. Lots of back room detail, but all of the insider details feel less significant 50 years later.
February 13, 2025
Holy SHIT these guys were literally insane.
I consider myself so lucky to have not had to face fame as a young man; I think my behavior would have leaned as unhinged, unethical, and extreme as these cosmonauts.
I consider myself so lucky to have not had to face fame as a young man; I think my behavior would have leaned as unhinged, unethical, and extreme as these cosmonauts.
May 16, 2018
Sounds grueling, but i still wish i could have gone on the tour with Bill and Charlie....
September 28, 2019
One of the better touring stories, though once in a while one kind of hopes it finally ends. I guess that's what the people in the tour themselves hoped.
January 31, 2020
Can't stress enough how amazing this book is.
July 31, 2023
Seminal rock book
Very well written account of the Stones 1972 American tour.
The immediacy and the characters jump out at you.
In my humble opinion a never matched tour de force.
Very well written account of the Stones 1972 American tour.
The immediacy and the characters jump out at you.
In my humble opinion a never matched tour de force.
September 7, 2023
The '72 tour thru America ... fantastic. Superb insights about the greatest rock r roll band this planet has ever seen or will ever experience.
August 26, 2014
This is probably the most critically acclaimed book about a legendary US rock tour in the 1970s. Greenfield documents every aspect of the Stones' triumphant return to the US in 1972, after a 3 year absence, to tour their classic album "Exile on Main St". Each chapter moves across the American landscape from city to city, with tales of back stage logistics nightmares, legal and business disputes, long drug fuelled days on coaches and aeroplanes, even longer nights in sleazy hotels, brushes with US law enforcement and bizarre excesses with groupies. Greenfield was forensic in his detailed recollections about how the roadies, tour managers and other hangers on (known collectively as the Stones Touring Party or STP) behaved towards everyone with whom they came into contact (including physical intimidation and financial exploitation). And throughout all this he keenly observed Jagger and the band's behaviour, how they coped with the fan worship and just how far they were at the top of their game live on stage. He also captured the sheer monotony for the tour managers and road crew tasked with the rather unglamorous aspects of delivering a 2 hour rock show night after night. And how, after two months of drugs, booze and 24 hour hedonism both the STP and the band themselves were almost at their wits end by the time they played their final sell-out shows in Madison Sq Garden. This is a gripping read for fans of the golden era of rock'n'roll
August 29, 2014
This is probably the most critically acclaimed book about a legendary US rock tour in the 1970s. Greenfield documented every aspect of the Stones' triumphant return to the States in 1972 after a 3 year absence to tour their classic double album "Exile on Main St". Each chapter moves across the American landscape from city to city, with tales of logistics nightmares, business disputes, long drug fuelled days on coaches and aeroplanes, even longer nights in sleazy hotels, brushes with US law enforcement and bizarre excesses with groupies. Greenfield was forensic in his recollections about roadies, tour managers and other hangers on (aka Stones Touring Party/STP) intimidating and financially exploiting almost everyone in their path.
And throughout all this he got up close and personal with Jagger and the band, observing how they coped with the fan worship and other pressures yet always delivered the goods live on stage. He also captured the sheer monotony for tour managers and road crew tasked with the rather unglamorous aspects of delivering a 2 hour rock show night after night. And how, after two months of drugs, booze and 24/7 hour hedonism, the STP and the band themselves were almost at their wits end by the time they played their final sell-out shows in Madison Sq Garden. This is a gripping read for fans of the golden era of rock'n'roll.
And throughout all this he got up close and personal with Jagger and the band, observing how they coped with the fan worship and other pressures yet always delivered the goods live on stage. He also captured the sheer monotony for tour managers and road crew tasked with the rather unglamorous aspects of delivering a 2 hour rock show night after night. And how, after two months of drugs, booze and 24/7 hour hedonism, the STP and the band themselves were almost at their wits end by the time they played their final sell-out shows in Madison Sq Garden. This is a gripping read for fans of the golden era of rock'n'roll.
September 27, 2010
If you're a Stones fan or have any involvement in the music business, this book is the perfect window into an era that has slipped away. This lovely journal of the Rolling Stones Tour was sitting in the storage room of our library, quietly tucked away and hadn't been checked out in over a decade. This surprises me that with all of the revival of 60's and 70's era music, that nobody had checked this book out. Furthermore it couldn't be found at any local bookstores. After reading it, I would gather that one couldn't write a better book about the Rolling Stones at any other time in their history.
The book brings us through the entire Exile on Main American tour from the high-tension disputes with the Hell's Angels in the fallout of Altamont, through a burned-out landscape of adolescent fantasy at the Playboy Mansion in Chicago, to the culmination of the tour in New York City's bizarre celebrity freakshow for Jagger's 29th Birthday.
This is truly a great rock and roll story. Its greatest feat, is that it manages to get you high, but also shows you the morning after.
The book brings us through the entire Exile on Main American tour from the high-tension disputes with the Hell's Angels in the fallout of Altamont, through a burned-out landscape of adolescent fantasy at the Playboy Mansion in Chicago, to the culmination of the tour in New York City's bizarre celebrity freakshow for Jagger's 29th Birthday.
This is truly a great rock and roll story. Its greatest feat, is that it manages to get you high, but also shows you the morning after.
March 24, 2010
a wicked easy to read story of the Rolling Stone's 1972 tour of America. This was the first American tour after the fatal Altamont concert in 1969. The stones and their crew, "STP" the Stones Touring Party, were very weary at the start of this tour because of the history at Altamont. And they began to let loose and have a good time throughout the tour and then at the end they were all just exhausted and wiped... I guess that's the life of Rock and Roll... but it was a good read... Greenfield interspersed stories of fans throughout the story line and that really helped to make it relatable to fans and interesting to read... imagine tickets to these shows were $6!!! I just paid $103 for lady gaga tickets!! ridiculous!! anyways if you're a fan of rock and roll you should read this book
May 2, 2012
Firstly, I should mention that I am a massive Stones fan. Whilst I suppose this book could be read by someone who wasn't or possessed just a passing interest, I certainly think the experience is enhanced if you're a fan.
In 1972 the band was massive, on a scale that's almost unimaginable now & touring the States to promote their Exile On Main Street album. The author was granted intimate access & brings us the story of that tour in graphic detail. The book reads like a novel at times, told from various viewpoints & places you pretty much as close as you'd dare amongst the action; the boys taking over the Hefner mansion with their partying was a standout excerpt.
A must read for any fan & I'd recommend it to anyone who has an interest in seventies rock or the decadent side of the music business.
In 1972 the band was massive, on a scale that's almost unimaginable now & touring the States to promote their Exile On Main Street album. The author was granted intimate access & brings us the story of that tour in graphic detail. The book reads like a novel at times, told from various viewpoints & places you pretty much as close as you'd dare amongst the action; the boys taking over the Hefner mansion with their partying was a standout excerpt.
A must read for any fan & I'd recommend it to anyone who has an interest in seventies rock or the decadent side of the music business.
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November 12, 2015Robert Greenfield is very fluent at immersing you into the crazy rock and roll lifestyle that is the lifestyle of The Rolling Stones. He really makes you feel like you are right beside the Mick Jagger through those rockin hayday years. He was a reporter for rolling stones and was appointed to touring america with the Rolling Stones on their biggest tour to date. What came out of it was an amazing chronicle of the crazy misadventures of five british boys playing the greatest rock and roll music of all time.
December 15, 2015
An entertaining read encapsulating the Stones' 1971 tour behind Exile on Main Street. Not only is it a detailed account of the assorted debauchery, drug taking, and general imbibing that occured; it is also an account of the beginning of big business in the rock world. It also, sadly, recounts the beginning of the end of the "dangerous" rock n' roll we grew up with, and the start of the current ongoing co-opt of the music by corporate and high society hangers-on. The Stones have been on top of the mount for a very long time and are true survivors.
July 17, 2016
An account of the Rolling Stones' 1972 American tour, complete with hangers-on like Truman Capote, the writer Terry Southern and the people behind the scenes making things run. I read this 30 years ago maybe and it all seems tawdry in retrospect. Regardless I was a hard core fan at the time and raced through this book.
December 2, 2014
Not normally a fan of tour books but this is more of an insight into a country going through its own identity crisis, whilst showing touring for what it probably is,,,99% boredom and 1% utter madness!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews