Maybe the Last Time the Rolling Stones Play Vancouver? (July 5)

In his excellent memoir, “The Tastemaker: My Life with the Legends and Geniuses of Rock Music,” UK music promotion man/fixer Tony King (who worked with the Stones, Beatles, and Elton John, among others) remembers going to work one morning in 1964 and finding Keith Richards, who had just returned from an American tour, asleep on a bed that was set up in King’s office. King worked for Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, and their building was technically zoned as an apartment, so ALO kept a bed in the office ‘just in case anyone asked.’ Sixty years on, Keith Richards is still touring with the Stones, although with much better places to crash. Usually, a Vancouver stop is near the beginning or end of a Stones tour. Over the years, the band has played in almost every building on the PNE grounds as their fanbase has grown, graduating from the Agrodome to the Forum and eventually the Pacific Coliseum. The latter venue hosted the opening date of the Exile on Main St. tour on June 3, 1972, the first time they’d played in North America since the Altamont Speedway concert in December 1969. Stevie Wonder came on before them, and more than 2,000 fans stormed the grounds without tickets in the grand old days when the Clark Park Gang ruled East Vancouver. The last couple of times in Vancouver, they’ve played BC Place, including a two-night stand on the Voodoo Lounge Tour in 1994. This summer’s Hackney Diamonds Tour has mapped out one of their more circuitous North American itineraries, as the band has already been to Seattle in May and is now swinging back to the West Coast after a couple of nights in Chicago. Ghost Hounds play before the Stones at BC Place on July 5. Doors open at 6 p.m., the show starts at 8 p.m.