A wild New York City performance from The Rolling Stones had the band performing on the back of a truck.
The unannounced show has left some fans of the Mick Jagger-fronted group reminiscing about the event, which was done as a way to announce their Tour of the Americas. A planned tour of America, Canada, and South America would not make it to South America, but did see the band announce their show by ripping into Brown Sugar while on the back of a flatbed truck. Their performance was given just as reporters were headed inside the 5th Avenue Hotel in New York, where they expected to hear from The Rolling Stones. But the band were down the street performing to the public and issuing flyers for their upcoming show.
Longtime fans of The Rolling Stones shared that this event was their first taste of the legendary band. One fan, in a comment left on a YouTube video upload of the band’s Brown Sugar performance, wrote: “This event led to my first Stones concert. My sister was walking down Fifth Avenue when the Stones rolled by.
“She grabbed one of the flyers Mick tossed, booked over to MSG, and bought us tix for the finale of their 6-show residency at MSG on June 27th.” Another fan added: “Arguably the greatest one and a half minute footage in rock’n’roll history.”
A third shared: “I was there! They went down Fifth Ave and circled Washington SQ. Park. I was in the middle of a course at NYU (Which surrounds the park) and we heard a noise coming from outside.
“Somebody got up to look and said, ‘Holy Sh*t!’ and we all ran to the window. Luckily, we were on the second floor of the Waverly building, so I had a perfect view of them doing Brown Sugar right in front of me. I’ll never forget it. Glad I found the clip!”
The Rolling Stones inspired not just fans to take action and buy tickets, but other bands to pull similar stunts. One fan of AC/DC remembered: “A few months later, in February 1976, AC/DC performed their promo video for It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll) rolling down the streets of downtown Melbourne, Australia on the back of a flatbed truck. Great bands think alike.”
Another added: “I remember the Flatbed on 5th Ave stunt and all the news channels on every TV & radio station went nuts with the boys playing Brown Sugar on the street in the rain. This crazy publicity stunt added so much hype and anticipation for their shows in NYC and believe me The Rolling Stones measured up and lived up to one of the Greatest Rock ‘n Roll shows of all time at The Garden.”
