In November 1969 the Rolling Stones toured the United States for the first time in three years. Gone from the band was founder member Brian Jones, replaced by Mick Taylor from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Gone too were the Top Ten-laden 30-minute sets played over inadequate PA systems to crowds of screaming, gawping teenagers. In their place was a fully-fledged 75-minute rock show drawing heavily on the new Stones albums Beggar's Banquet and Let It Bleed, utilising innovative lighting and staging. Led by the Glimmer Twins ? Mick Jagger and Keith Richards ? the Rolling Stones rocked across America on a 24-date tour whose essence is captured in the live album Get Yet Ya-Ya's Out, heralded by many as the finest live rock album of all time. From an unpublicised opening night in Fort Collins, Colorado through to the tragic events at Altamont, California a month later, Everybody Seems To Be Ready (taking its title from Chip Monck's nightly stage introduction for the band) mixes contemporaneous press reports with previously unpublished first-hand accounts to present the story of a tour that has gone down in history as the first rock tour of the modern era in the words of the people who were there. AUTHOR: Richard Houghton lives in Manchester. The author of more than 20 books on music, including authorised fan histories of Jethro Tull, Simple Minds, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, The Stranglers, Shaun Ryder, Fairport Convention and The Wedding Present, Richard created the People's History series. He is the Managing Director of Spenwood Books.
