Ain't It Time We Said Goodbye (16 page)

Backstage, a freak show of major proportions is under way. Packed in so tightly that they might as well be standing on the Tube during rush hour, forty-two people jam the Stones’ dressing room. As Mick eyes a lady with henna hair who looks pretty much naked down the front, one very formidable-looking black man with a huge Afro passes a joint to another and says, “Are you black, man?”

Because someone has come up with the bright idea of keeping the cold water in the showers running full blast so all the cans of beer and soda will not get warm, the roaring sound makes it just that much harder to hear what anyone is saying. Bottles of tequila and bowls of sliced lemons, bananas, nuts, and raisins line a table against the wall but the scene is such a groupie’s who’s who of rock in London circa 1971 that no one can be bothered to eat or drink a thing.

Mick and Bianca arriving in Newcastle for the first show of the tour.
CREDIT:
Mirrorpix Archive.

Bill Wyman and Astrid Lundstrom leaving the train in Newcastle with Charlie Watts directly behind them.
CREDIT:
Mirrorpix Archive.

Chip Monck and Charlie Watts.
CREDIT:
Nevis Cameron, Chipmonck Archive.

Chip Monck and his crew erecting the light truss in Newcastle City Hall.
CREDIT:
Nevis Cameron, Chipmonck Archive.

Keith, Marlon, and Anita leaving the hotel in Newcastle.
CREDIT:
Mirrorpix Archive.

As your correspondent looks on from the left, Nicky Hopkins, Jim Price, Mick Taylor, and Rose Millar leave the hotel in Newcastle.
CREDIT:
Mirrorpix Archive.

Mick on stage in Manchester.
CREDIT:
Mirrorpix Archive.

Rose Millar, baby Chloe, and Mick Taylor.
CREDIT:
Mirrorpix Archive.

Gram Parsons, mistakenly identified as Donovan for lo these many years in the
Daily Mirror
archive.
CREDIT:
Mirrorpix Archive.

Keith in Coventry with Boogie in hand.
CREDIT:
Mirrorpix Archive.

Keith on stage in Liverpool.
CREDIT:
Mirrorpix Archive.