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STONES SWAP BAD BOY WAYS FOR LILIES AND CRICKET

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20 JANUARY 2006

The granddaddies of rock 'n' roll seem to have put their hellraising days well and truly behind them by making shockingly mild-mannered backstage demands on their US tour. Flowers and satellite TV top the band's wishlist for their current A Bigger Bang tour.

Promoters at New York's Madison Square Garden, where the legendary outfit are playing two concerts, were asked to provide bowls of white Casablanca lilies for Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts.

Meanwhile the only thing that will give Mick Jagger satisfaction is to be able to keep up with the cricket. And to make sure the visuals are up to scratch the plush-lipped rocker has taken his own TV and VCR. "Cricket is the channel we need most of all," stresses an eight-page list of requests. The 62-year-old also needs a 25ft-long running room where he can warm up before gigs.

Showing a thoughtfulness that is surely the product of age, the group went on to ask for long-stemmed white roses, dethorned and wrapped, for backup performers and crew.

And the wild after-show parties of the Sixties have now been replaced by tamer pastimes. In their downtime rock's elder statesmen will be relaxing with a spot of snooker, having asked for enough space to set up a table that travels with them.