By ARI HIRAYAMA/ Staff Writer
June 20, 2023 at 19:02 JST
Fireworks launched to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Rolling Stones at the Tokyo Racecourse in Tokyo’s Fuchu city in July (Provided by the Fuchu city government)
Mick, Keith and Ronnie showed their appreciation for a special fireworks display in western Tokyo that was synchronized to the Rolling Stones’ greatest hits last summer by presenting the Fuchu city government June 19 with a donation of 1 million yen ($7,039) to help with worthy projects.
The band was celebrating its 60th anniversary at the time and its key surviving members--Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood--were clearly gobsmacked by the city’s gesture.
The city government hired the Tokyo Racecourse for the event held last July that featured around 14,000 fireworks.
The band’s members had said they wanted to do something to show appreciation, a record company official said.
Keio Corp., which operates a train line nearby, ran a special train featuring the Rolling Stone’s famous tongue and lips logo to celebrate the anniversary.
City streets were also decked out with the logo.
“Wow, Japanese are amazing,” said band co-founder and guitarist Richards prior to the event. “I would never have thought someone would celebrate our anniversary with fireworks.”
On Jan. 1, the band’s official Twitter account posted a video of the fireworks with a New Year message and comment, “See you in 2023!!”
Kenichi Arai, an official at Universal Music LLC, the band’s record company in Japan, said: “The band’s members are happy that the whole city showed support for them. They said that it was a great event and that they wanted to do something to contribute to the city.”
Norio Takano, Fuchu city’s mayor, expressed his gratitude by saying it feels like the city received “a valuable treasure.”
He said the city would use the money for initiatives in which the city government and residents cooperate to revitalize areas.
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