The Rolling Stones will turn 50 years old in 2012 — meaning they’ve been together more than seven times longer than The Beatles — and the world is expecting some form of anniversary party.
“They have to do something for the 50th anniversary tour, but what?” a source who has worked with the band for several decades told me.
The source said the band recently met in London but nothing has been resolved.
“Right now, it’s still up in the air,” the source said. “You’ll see the Stones live but whether or not it’s going to be a major tour or oddball shows here and there is still up in the air.”
The Stones are promoting the re-release of the 1978 “Some Girls” album, and both Keith Richards and Mick Jagger commented on the possibility of a tour.
Keith: “I don’t see why in the world the Stones can’t put together some kind of show next year. I’d almost count on it. It doesn’t have to be the whole spectacle bullshit again, but we’ve got to find our own way through this…. I’m hoping to do something about it. Right now, I don’t want to go too much into it. I’m pulling the boys together and (we’ll) see what happens. It’s a work in progress. I’m not Nostradamus on this, but we all want to do something for the big 5-0…. Nothing is supposed to be clear. It’s intended to be murky so you don’t know what the hell’s going on until we let you know.
Mick: “It is quite amazing when you think about it. Anything’s possible…. (W)e have a lot of things planned; who knows what will come to fruition…. It all sounds great, and I’m sure we’re going to do lots and lots of wonderful things. What the future may hold is known only to God and myself. I’ll talk after we’ve done it rather than before.”
Richards announced to Rolling Stone magazine in November he, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts would rehearse later that month at a London studio and that others, including Jagger, were invited.
“I was going to ask Bill Wyman to come by too,” Richard said. “And Mick Taylor. The whole lot. They’re all Stones, you know? Why not?
“Whether or not they even did it is another thing,” the source said.
One major hurdle to a tour is the issue of who will promote it.
Live Nation and its ex-chairman Michael Cohl have sued one another over the rights to the tour, leaving the situation in limbo.
“Until that’s resolved, The Stones can’t go on tour,” the source said.
According to the source, The Stones have been paid $300 million up front on previous tours, and would expect a similar deal this time around.
Whoever promotes the tour would have to have that kind of money up front.
“The Stones definitely do not want to do stadium shows that do not sell out,” the source said. “They want all this money up front so promoters are going to have to charge $200, $300, $00 for a ticket. If you charge $75 the Stones won’t get their money.”
One possibility — and something that would be great for those fans who actually got into the shows — would be for The Stones to do smaller venues instead of stadiums, which the source thinks will ultimately happen.
Think Madison Square Garden instead of MetLife Stadium.
“I think The Stones will do small arenas,” the source said.
The source also said that the alleged split between Richards and Mick Jagger over Richards’ comments about the size of Jagger’s penis in his tremendous book, “Life,” were overblown….so to speak.
“I think to be honest that’s an overblown story ,” the source said.
In the book, Keith mocked the size of Mick’s manliness.
“Marianne Faithfull had no fun with his tiny todger,” Richards wrote.
“I know he’s got an enormous pair of balls – but it doesn’t quite fill the gap.”
Richards mocked Jagger’s pretentiousness and dance moves as well in the book, referring to him as “Your Majesty” or “Brenda.” He also says he refers to him as “that bitch Brenda” in front of Mick.
Richards said Jagger “started to become unbearable” in the early 80s, adding: “I think Mick thinks I belong to him but I haven’t been to his dressing room in 20 years.
“Sometimes I think, ‘I miss my friend’. I wonder, ‘Where did he go’?” Keith also said Mick was jealous of him having other male friends.
Still, Richards recently said the two had mended fences.
“He’s a brother, a best friend, and probably the most contentious person I know,” he said according to The AP. “All collaborations are like that. Nothing goes totally smoothly, but we always patch it up. We patched it up now. The thing is we enjoy working with each other; it’s the idea of it that’s frightening.”
