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The Rolling Stones at London’s O2 Arena last month. Photo: Ian Gavan, Getty Images
As a friend who never misses Coachella (even in years when he loathes much of the lineup) posted on Facebook this afternoon, here’s a bit of levity on an otherwise dark day: It appears that the Rolling Stones are Indio-bound for their first proper U.S. festival appearance since the dreaded Altamont disaster of December ’69.
For months I’ve been insisting to any colleague who would listen that there’s a high probability of Mick & Keith & Co. appearing at the next pair of back-to-back bashes, slated for April 12-14 and 19-21.
It simply makes sense. Obviously they’ve been gearing up for a full-blown 50th anniversary tour next year: “We ain’t doing all this for four gigs!” Keith Richards told Rolling Stone just before Halloween.
That was in advance of their shows in London, NYC and New Jersey, a brief and star-studded run that concludes with a pay-per-view event Saturday night (dubbed One More Shot) featuring guest turns from Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga and the Black Keys.
What better time and place to launch a global trek than a hot spring in the desert?
Well, early Friday morning, as RollingStone.com reported, the cat momentarily got out of the bag. For an hour or so, the Stones’ mobile app listed “Coachella 2013, 12-April-2013″ among two new dates, the other being a Dec. 27 screening of the new documentary The Rolling Stones: The Ron Wood Years.
Naturally, almost as soon as it appeared, the date was taken down, though plenty of quick-thinking fans nabbed widely circulated screen grabs of the announcement.
The question is: Will the Stones really open the next Coachella? Seems to me they’d be a better Sunday closer, and they’re definitely the sort of band that would demand such a slot. The fact that the app listing has them playing April 12 at “12:15 p.m.,” the very start of the weekend, says to me only that they’re playing the festival, not when they will perform during it (and presumably again the following weekend).
Would they play anywhere else in Southern California, at any other time, thus enabling older fans to see them without suffering heatstroke? Maybe. But seeing as they would have just played to nearly 200,000 people across two weekends, I suspect a return trip wouldn’t be until much later in 2013, say fall, if at all.
My guesses as to who else might headline, based entirely on hunches and speculation? Mumford & Sons and Green Day top my picks, assuming Billie Joe Armstrong has his act together by then. Muse is a possibility, though the Englishmen will have just played three shows at Staples Center next month. Pearl Jam is always an option, and it should be about time for another album and outing by then.
Many of my peers insist one of the three top-line names will be Blur, but though I think they will be in the mix, along with the Stone Roses, I contend both U.K. bands are second-tier “reunitements,” as Paul Tollett likes to call them. I could maybe see Blur as a Friday headliner. But the reality that California Anglophiles tend to forget is that Damon Albarn and those lads were never half as popular here as they were at home.
If Pixies, Portishead and the Verve couldn’t headline, why would Blur?
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Coachella 2013: Rolling Stones to headline? is a post from: Soundcheck
