THE ROLLING STONES AT DANCELAND

 

June 12, 1964: The Rolling Stones played to 283 unimpressed Minnesotans at Danceland, capacity 2,000. Although they made radio appearances earlier in the day, Danceland owner Ray Colihan deliberately didn’t advertise the concert for fear that too many kids would show up and he’d lose his license. But word of mouth failed to bring in the fans, and he lost money on the $2,000 he paid the Stones. A $6.00 admission fee also kept the kids away in an era where tickets were generally $1.50.  (After 10pm tickets went to half price and more people showed up.)  In an interview Colihan says that he booked the Stones about a month too early, before they were popular in the Cities. The Stones had a few mild hits in the spring and summer of 1964, but their first top ten, "Time is on my Side," wouldn't come until October.

Who else was there and what really happened?  Memories of the night vary.  The legendary account is that things were so bad that they were pelted with eggs and tomatoes, booed off the stage, and Keith Richards mixed it up with some local tough guys. Was it really that bad?

In his 2010 autobiography, Life, Keith Richards did not specifically mention the Danceland concert.  He did observe that there was a big difference between the atmosphere in the big cities and in the hinterland.  People would heckle them because of their long hair and they'd have to make quick getaways as they motored across America. 

In his autobiography, Stone Alone, Bill Wyman remembers the audience reacted with “curiosity and disbelief” but that they warmed up to them toward the end.
 

Dan Holm of the Chancellors noted that it was graduation day for a lot of local high schools, which may have also contributed to the small crowd. He says that the Chancellors were not the warmup band for the Stones but an attraction in their own right.  After meeting the Stones backstage, he observed that, not only did they not play very well, their "personal (can we say hygiene) appearance was wanting.  The Rolling Stones were on a promotional tour being billed as 'The Rolling Stones from England.'  People were curious about an English band, but they were not the draw that the local bands were. I remember Mike Waggoner & The Bops and a third band. Mostly I remember how skinny and scruffy The Rolling Stones appeared."

Danny Stevens says that Danny's Reasons performed with the Stones that night, not the Chancellors.
 

Larry LaPole, songwriter for the Trashmen, thinks the poor reception was because the band came on wearing makeup in the English theatrical tradition, and this didn’t sit well with 1960s Minnesotans.

Timothy D. Kehr says that the Stones left the concert in his car. He took the un-fab five to Friar Tuck's in St. Paul, a drive-in restaurant. They had never seen a drive-in before, and ended up staying for 2 hours.

They stayed at the Thunderbird Motel, according to the manager's son, Rod Wallace. Rod reports that his dad remembered seeing them by the pool and they were very pale (not much sun worshipping in England) and they also got busted for drugs when they were there.
 

It is well established that Mike Waggoner and the Bops also performed that night.  Here's the scoop straight from Mike: 

I think it was an off night .. maybe a Thursday. Ray "Big Reggie" Colihan called me the prior week or ten days earlier and we chatted about the show. The Stones were very, very green .. no real hits; a lot of blues covers. Anyway, Ray asked if we could come out as he wasn't sure what to expect, and needed a solid band just in case. We did a couple of hours, then they did their stuff. Don't remember many other details simply because it was no big deal like it was with other groups we worked with there and elsewhere. I worked a couple of shows there with Jerry Lee, one with Brian Hyland, (Ittsy Bikini song), Roscoe and the Green Men (big draw), and I think The Everlys.  Not sure on that one as we worked a number of shows with them elsewhere including the Prom, Kato, Turf and Surf Ballrooms as part of a Dick Clark Caravan deal, etc. I know The Champs used to summer in Excelsior and did appear on stage in the park but not sure about the ballroom as it was not used for many years for skating or dancing, and was used for boat storage.

 

I don't recall any concerns about too many people showing up but who knows. There was very little advertising except for a few mentions by my dear friend Bill Diehl on WDGY .. where I later was a jock from '69 - '75. (Bill was my radio mentor, always dear friend, and very influential in getting me into the biz). I love him dearly.  [Mike was on the air as King Michael.]

 

The Stones, I don't believe all had amps or equipment except for their guitars. They used some of our backline gear and sound system. They borrowed a drum set (via Ray) from B Sharp. And that was that part of the deal. I have a picture someplace of Bill Wyman which also shows our PA speakers. Kinda' cool. The fact of the matter is that no one really knew about them and they didn't seem to be a big deal. That is why there are very few pictures or specifics to rely on for history. I do remember one of the guys had on a big belt buckle and jeans. Not sure who .. but the buckle stands out! They did arrive in a limo type car, and the vehicle got backed up on the rear ramp that was used to get bands, pop, beer, etc into the dancehall. We met them initially out there as we were unloading our trailer and gear. As I recall they were very modest and quiet. Polite greetings were exchanged, and that was that. There was a dressing room behind the stage with a curtain separating that area from the stage. I would assume that they hung out in there with their handler.

 

Finally, the albums that Bill gave away on London label didn't have Stones vinyl inside. The covers were Stones but the discs were not. The promo copies had not yet arrived.

 

It was quite a ho hum night, and a small crowd. Maybe 300 at most. The stories and the "retells" are very entertaining, and as said in a Kris Kristopherson song, "Partly truth and partly fiction."  But all is well that ends well and they certainly ended up selling more records than we did!

 

No other bands, no eggs, no tomatoes (people don't usually go to a teen dance armed with eggs and tomatoes .. that should dispel that suspicion.)

Whatever happened, it was a disaster and the Stones vowed never to come back.  Indeed, they stayed away from the Cities until the 1970s.

This from minniepaulmusic.com:  "In 2011 Larry Wiegand reported that the Rave-Ons were playing at Marion Hall in Bloomington on the night The Rolling Stones played at Danceland in Excelsior. Larry said The Rave-Ons drew a crowd of roughly 500, at least double the crowd size for The Stones (estimates vary from 150 to 250). Some of the people at The Stones concert went to see The Rave-Ons after the concert in Excelsior."
 
Coda:  It is well known that an incident that happened during this trip inspired Jagger to write one of the Stones' biggest hits.  It involves a local Excelsior character named Jimmy Hutmaker.  Jon Rukavina tells us:  "I actually knew Jimmy Hutmaker because when I lived in Excelsior in 1974 I rented a room at his parents' house. Jimmy was what we call these days special needs and quite so. He would walk the streets day and night talking to himself but if he saw someone he knew he's snap out of wherever he was in his mind and have a conversation then right back into his world. Jimmy's dad Dick owned the barber shop on main street.  According to Wikipedia, the story of him meeting Jagger at Bacon Drug has Jimmy ordering a Cherry Coke but got a regular Coke instead. He complained about it to Jagger who happened to be standing next to him, then said to Jagger "You can't always get what you want."  Hutmaker was referred to as "Mister Jimmy" in the song, as well as in real life.  The song appeared in 1969.  Hutmaker died in 2007. 


Read an extended description of the event on the Lake Minnetonka web site.