"Start Me Up," "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Sympathy for the Devil" and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" are givens. "Honky Tonk Women," "Gimme Shelter," "It's Only Rock 'N Roll (But I Like It)," "Brown Sugar" and "Midnight Rambler" have also all been live staples for decades.
Beyond those predictable picks, though, the idea that Rolling Stones concerts are entirely by-the-numbers at this point is as untrue as the legend about Keith Richards getting blood transfusions to beat heroin.
Ol' Keef kicked his habit the hard way, just as the Stones don't appear to be taking the easy route in their 52nd year on the road.
The band started up the 15-city Zip Code Tour last weekend in San Diego, and from the looks of the set list, it's a fairly interesting tour. Several cuts off "Sticky Fingers," the group's third-best album, are in the mix timed to the record's expanded reissue last month — though not all 10 cuts, which the band played in a surprise Los Angeles warm-up gig.
In preparation for Wednesday's concert at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis — only the third stop on the outing — here's a rundown of the less obvious or more interesting songs the Stones played on opening night that are likely to be repeated here.
"You Can't Always Get What You Want" (1969): Not a set list surprise, of course, but this baby boomer anthem off "Let It Bleed" has a local legend attached to it. It was allegedly inspired by the Stones' 1964 gig at the Danceland Ballroom in Excelsior, where a fan named Jimmy ("Mister Jimmy?") Hutmaker said he complained to Mick Jagger that he didn't get the Cherry Coke he ordered at Bacon's Drugstore. One more local hook this time: Minneapolis-based choral group VocalEssence has been recruited to help sing it.
"Moonlight Mile" (1971): Not played live for decades, Jagger wrote the somber, crescendoing "Sticky Fingers" deep cut on tour in 1970. "The feeling I had at that moment was how difficult it was to be touring and how I wasn't looking forward to going out," he told the Wall Street Journal before this tour. The song turned out good enough not to be hated by every musician who tours without a Learjet.
"Can't You Hear Me Knocking" (1971): Another "Sticky Fingers" cut, this snaky original is one of the quintessential Richards/Mick Taylor guitar masterpieces. It's also a fitting tribute to recently deceased saxophonist Bobby Keys, whose landmark solo is being handled by jam-band hero Karl Denson on this tour.