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When the Rolling Stones kick off their "50 And Counting" tour this month, they'll be playing at the Staples Center, a venue with the capacity for 20,000 fans.
But to warm up for their big tour, the band ended up at the Echoplex, an intimate venue better known for hosting local acts and indie rockers on tour. Franki Chan, the owner of the event series Check Yo Ponytail at the Echoplex, writes about how the classic rock band ended up at the Echoplex:
Earlier that day AEG/Goldenvoice, who are organizing the Stones main tour, reached out looking for a space. For whatever reason their normal venues weren’t lining up and they really wanted to put them somewhere ‘cool’ rather than the typical West Hollywood venues that most of these type of shows happen in. Who cares if they thought of us or we were the victims of a happy accident, we were determined to do whatever we needed to to make this happen.
The venue had to undergo some serious vetting by the Rolling Stones' team:
A couple days later we met with The Rolling Stones main road crew to do a walk through of Echoplex. It was amazing to watch their team work. They exist as a mini army whose sole existence is to make sure The Stones are satisfied at every turn. Every aspect of the venue was explored up & down for hours. We did this twice. Eventually we got the call that it was on.
Of course, the hardest part of working behind the scenes on a secret Rolling Stones show is keeping your mouth shut: "Knowing that we were going to do or have involvement in a show with The Rolling Stones was the hardest secret I’ve ever kept. On one hand it’s SO COOL and you wanna tell everyone. On the other, if you do, it’s going to be a complete shit show."Related:
Watch The Rolling Stones Rock The Echoplex
The Rolling Stones Announce '50 And Counting' North American Tour Dates
