The Rolling Stones (Steel Wheels Tour), Guns & Roses, Living Colour  10/19/1989
Los Angeles Coliseum, Section T-13, Seat 108, 109

After an eight-year sabbatical, the Stones take to the road on their historic 1989 Steel Wheels tour. On a hot September night in Toronto, the tour rolls into the CNE Stadium where over 60,000 fans dance and sing along to such Stones classics as Start Me Up, Satisfaction and Brown Sugar. "I hope to be able to tell my children and my grandchildren that I saw the Rolling Stones," says one excited teenaged fan in this CBC Television clip.

The word is out! The Rolling Stones, who are in Toronto rehearsing for their Voodoo Lounge tour, will play a secret gig tonight at a 1,000-seat venue. For Mick and the boys, it's an opportunity to work out the kinks in their live show. For fans, it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the legendary band in a small club for just $5. CBC reporter Ron Izawa talks to fans willing to line up and sweat it out in the blazing sun.

This wasn't the first or the last time the Rolling Stones would play a surprise club show in Toronto. In 1977, they played to 600 at the El Mocambo; in 1997, before the Bridges to Babylon tour, they performed at the Horseshoe Tavern; and in 2002, after rehearsing for the Forty Licks tour, they played at the Palais Royale.  At the 1994 RPM show, the Stones played 16 songs in about an hour and a half. 

The Rolling Stones have gone to Toronto to rehearse for their last three world tours, in 1994, 1997 and 2002. A local school and a former Masonic temple have hosted the rehearsals, which lasted from four to six weeks.  In 2002 guitarist Ron Wood explained why the Stones chose Toronto to rehearse: "The people are always nice and the atmosphere's great."  

A July 2003 article by the Canadian Press, however, suggests the city's appeal is that it's the home of the Stones' longtime tour manager and that Canada is a "traditional tax dodge" whose low dollar adds value for money.  Proceeds from the RPM gig went to the Toronto chapter of Covenant House, a charity that offers shelter and support to homeless youth and runaways.

The first time the band warmed up for a world tour by playing a small club was for the Tattoo You tour in 1981. The club was in Worcester, Mass.  In 2002 Mick Jagger explained to reporters why the band chooses small venues to practice their set: "At a club like this, or in a theatre you can do that, you can take risks and do things but you know it is more difficult to do that the bigger place you get."