Rolling in money

IT COMES as a surprise that it comes as a surprise to some people that the Rolling Stones can still cut it as a live act. The reviews of the first date of their new world tour were more fixated on their combined ages than the quality of their performance.

It seems the Stones were guilty of taking to the road one more time. How dare they turn in such a good show last week in Boston? All that was missing from the reports were admonitory exclamations of "and at their age . . . "

On a Stones tour a few years back, I found myself sitting beside one of their publicists. She had just finished similar duties with a well-known girl band. As we watched Mick 'n' Keef put on a very athletic two-and-a-quarter- hour performance, the publicist remarked how her previous charges would complain of "nervous exhaustion" after doing a 20-minute lip-synch PA in a regional record shop.

Of course the Stones are a great live band. It's not just the fact they've been doing it for more than 43 years, it's also that they have an almost unrivalled back catalogue to play from. The Boston show marks the fact that the band now have the longest uninterrupted live run of anyone in rock history.

The Stones have irrevocably changed the way a rock tour is conducted. You will find that when any rock band reaches a certain level, they will go running to the Rolling Stones Book of How to Tour and pore over it for the words of wisdom contained therein.

Even when the band called a press conference to announce this tour, they pre-empted any "what, another one?" talk by playing three songs, very loudly and very brilliantly, during the gathering.

Their last tour, three years ago, took in more than €244 million, despite the fact that they weren't going out on the back of a new release. This tour does have an album to plug, the soon-to-be- released A Bigger Bang, which contains the "controversial" single Sweet Neo Con. Controversial, that is, because Mick Jagger takes a few swipes at George W Bush. Nine Inch Nails can rest easy.

Regardless of the quality of the new album (how many people go to see the Rolling Stones to hear new material?), the tour will out- perform the last one. Rolling Stones Inc knows just how much sponsorship and endorsement deals add to its kitty.

Most people think the band's longtime financial advisor, Prince Rupert Zu Lowenstein, is the man responsible for their massive profits. He's not. There's someone called Michael Cohl, an ex-rock promoter from Canada who helped transform not just the band but the entire touring industry. When the Stones were about to embark on their landmark 1989 Steel Wheels tour, Cohl approached them with a startling proposition. He would guarantee the band €32.5 million if they handed over the whole tour to him. Previous to this, all tours were done in conjunction with local promoters, on a country-by- country basis.

Cohl also brought in serious sponsorship deals: Tommy Hilfiger, Volkswagen and Anheuser-Busch (the Budweiser people) all coughed up huge amounts to be associated with the Steel Wheels tour.

Steel Wheels brought in more than €203 million from tickets, merchandise and sponsorship, the most successful rock tour ever staged. It remains the model for every gold-to-platinum-selling act out there. Which is why the anonymous Michael Cohl is more important to the Rolling Stones than the opening few chords of I Can't Get No Satisfaction.