Of the thousands of stage entrances the Rolling Stones have made over their decades-long career, perhaps the most memorable was when the band was bailed out of jail by the mayor of Boston in what was supposed to be a sold-out Stones concert at Boston Garden on July 18, 1972.
The band arrived at the arena five and a half hours late and with a few new charges under their belt, including assault and obstruction of a police officer. Luckily, Mayor Kevin White was there to save the night.
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The Airport Incident That Led To The Stones’ Arrest
On the night of their capacity Boston Garden show, the Rolling Stones had to make an emergency landing at Theodore F. Green State Airport in nearby Warwick, Rhode Island, due to heavy fog. While the band waited for a bus to take them the rest of the way to Boston, Providence Journal-Bulletin photographer Andrew Dickerman began taking photos of the British rockers, much to their chagrin.
Apparently testing their already thin patience, Dickerman alleged that members of the Stones’ crew tried to assault him for taking photos. The airport called the police and former Warwick Police Sgt. Frank Ricci responded. Once Ricci arrived on the scene, the band’s security guard reluctantly permitted Dickerman to resume taking photos. Keith Richards, however, was not ready to acquiesce. “As soon as he [starts to take photos], some long-haired guy got up, whipped his belt off, and went after Dickerman,” Ricci recalled to South Coast Today.
“I said, ‘OK, that’s it. I don’t care who you say you are. You’re under arrest,’” Ricci continued. The officer said Mick Jagger jumped on his back, yelling, “If you take him, you’re taking me, too.” Ricci replied, “OK, we can take you, too.” The brouhaha ended with Ricci arresting Richards, Jagger, head of Rolling Stones Records Marshall Chess, security guard Stanley Moore, and filmmaker Robert Frank, who was making a documentary of the band at the time.
How The Boston Mayor Ended Up Bailing The Stones Out Of Jail
By the time the Warwick police took the Rolling Stones musicians and crew to jail, the concert at Boston Garden had already started. Opener Stevie Wonder had taken the stage while the musicians and their crew sat in a Rhode Island jail cell. As soon as news of the rockers’ incarceration got out, phone calls began flooding into the jail from concert organizers and Stones fans alike. (The latter included Ricci’s children, who unsuccessfully begged their dad for a chance to meet the imprisoned rockstars.)
The most pressing of these phone calls, however, was from then-Mayor Kevin White. White frantically called the jail to say that Wonder had finished his set, and the 15,000 fans waiting in the arena were growing restless. Fearing a riot, White insisted the court arraign the band and crew immediately. And because being an international rockstar affords certain civil liberties, the court obliged. All five men pleaded not guilty to their charges, and White sent a limousine with a state police escort to fetch them from Rhode Island. “I called, and I got them out,” White told the anxious crowd. “They’re on their way” (via Rolling Stones Data).
The Stones took the stage at 12:45 am, opening with “Brown Sugar,” a controversial track they’ve since removed from their live performances. Fans waited a whopping five and a half hours to see the freshly released jailbirds and the Stones delivered, performing until 2 am. “This place is better than Warwick,” frontman Jagger told the Boston Garden audience.
Photo by Graham Wiltshire/Shutterstock
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