The tour was not associated with any album's release, but effectively was an extension of the Stones' infamous
1972 American S.T.P. Tour. The original intent was to play
Australia and
New Zealand, which had not seen the Stones since February and March 1966, as well as
Japan, which had never seen the Stones at all. However, the Stones'
1972 American Tour had drawn worldwide press for its combustive mixture of group decadence and fan riots set amidst
jet set hangers-on. This caused the Stones some serious drama for their Pacific visits in that
visas and
work permits might be hard to get. Accordingly, the Stones scheduled some shows in
Hawaii first, as a fallback in case they could not get into certain countries. Hawaiian fans camped out on
Christmas night 1972 in order to buy tickets. Stones fears were confirmed when on 4 January 1973
Australia's Immigration Ministry let it be known that one of the Stones, unnamed, was banned from entering the country. On 8 January the
Japanese Foreign Ministry said
Mick Jagger would not be allowed into their country due to his prior drugs convictions. On 9 January the Australians relented and said the Stones could enter. But first, the Stones announced an 18 January
benefit concert at the
Los Angeles Forum for victims of the recent
23 December 1972 earthquake in
Nicaragua (
Bianca Jagger's home country). This event was opened by
Santana and
Cheech & Chong, and served as the warm-up concert for the Pacific Tour. It raised more than £200,000 in relief funds. Next the Stones started the tour proper with the three shows over 21 January and 22 January in Hawaii, at the
Honolulu International Center with
ZZ Top as the opening act. These were
Mick Taylor's last shows as a Rolling Stone in the
United States until a guest appearance at Kansas City in 1981. Next up on the schedule were a number of shows at the
Budokan in
Tokyo, running from 28 January to 1 February, for which 55,000 tickets had already been sold. But on 27 January, Japanese officials made a final confirmation of their decision to not let the Stones land; the shows were scrapped and the concert promoter had to refund all the tickets. Thus the first leg of the tour came to a close. Some sources state that a 5 February show in
Hong Kong's
Football Club Stadium was played, but this never took place. In any event the tour started up again for its second leg on 11 February with a single show in New Zealand, at
Auckland's
Western Springs Stadium. 14 February saw the first show in Australia, with
Brisbane,
Melbourne,
Adelaide,
Perth and
Sydney being visited in turn, the last show being 27 February at Sydney's
Royal Randwick Racecourse. The Brisbane show, which was held at the
Milton Park Tennis Courts, was postponed twice due to poor weather. The Perth show held on 24 February coincided with pianist
Nicky Hopkins 29th birthday, with the band singing an impromptu "Happy Birthday Nicky" on stage during the band introductions which was captured on audio recordings. Australian fears may have been a little validated when the 21 February show at Adelaide's
Memorial Drive Park found 5,000 Stones fans clashing with the local police, and 21 arrests were made. However, three days later high-profile
Labor Party Immigration Minister
Al Grassby said: "The Stones are an excellent example to Australian youth. I told them I was putting my faith in them and hoped they would do the right thing. I have no regrets that I let them in – yes, I went out on a limb to give them visas – to give a man a bad name and hang him is immoral and un-Australian." ==The shows==