Rolling Stones Calling It Quits
On this episode of Rock’n'Roll TV News, Share Ross reports that The Rolling Stones are ready to call it quits after five decades together, with a handful of shows in the United States and Great Britain during 2013, culminating in a final farewell performance on a Sunday Night at the Glastonbury Festival.
Or are they?
In a story last week, The Mirror quoted a “source close to the band” as saying “All four members have agreed that next year is the right time to have one final hurrah and put on the gig of their lives. It’s a case of now or never, and obviously Glastonbury is the most important festival on the circuit. Everybody’s incredibly excited. It’s a final bow.”
But official representatives of the band swiftly denied the story, and Keith Richards told Rolling Stone Magazine that he and the band members will be getting together next month to discuss plans for their 50th anniversary, including some possible dates yet this year, and perhaps even a new studio album, which would be their first since A Bigger Bang was released seven years ago.
The Stones got together in April for some rehearsals, and invited a film crew to shoot some footage for an anniversary documentary. Richards says “I thought I’d be quite rusty, after all we hadn’t done it for a while, five years or something. But it sounded as fresh as you could hope for. It was a great week.”
In addition to the film, a photo album to mark their 50th is in the works and scheduled for release July 12th.
Richards has also hinted that bassist Bill Wyman, who left the Rolling Stones twenty years ago, might join them once again for recording or live dates as part of the anniversary celebration. Wyman, at 75, is the oldest living member of the group. Drummer Charlie Watts is also a septuagenarian (71 years old). Richards and Mick Jagger are both 68 and Ronnie Wood is the youngest (at 65). Their combined ages would be over 350 years if they do appear on stage together in 2013.
