Rolling Stones not likely to tour in 2012
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Despite earlier speculation that the Rolling Stones would launch a major tour in 2012, Keith Richards says it won’t happen, because “basically, we’re just not ready,” according to Rolling Stone.com.
That will mean the group won’t be on the road for the 50th anniversary of their formation in 1962, but more likely will hit the concert trail in 2013, the report says.
Although a 2012 tour had been widely rumored, concert industry veterans have been guarded about confirming the talk, and the Rolling Stone reports from Richards and, separately, Mick Jagger would seem to close the door on that prospect.
At last month’s blues concert at the White House, Jagger said it was no easy task to pull a Stones tour together. “You can’t just walk up there and do it,” he told Rolling Stone. ‘If you’re playing a football tournament, you’ve got to practice. I feel very confident. I don’t want to sound cocky, but it’s just part of what you do. If you prepare, then you can be cocky.”
The story also says that band members have reconnected recently with bassist Bill Wyman, who left the Stones almost two decades ago, and was replaced by Darryl Jones. Richards said it’s possible that Wyman would be part of a 2013 tour. “I think he’s up for it,” Richards said. “We talked about it.”
Meanwhile, Stones fans can look forward to a career-spanning documentary about the band due in the fall, and the group is planning to enter the studio for what could turn into a new album in time for a tour.
Richards came up with a justification for pushing back the 50th anniversary activities, telling Rolling Stone: “The Stones always considered ’63 to be 50 years, because Charlie [Watts] didn’t actually join until January. We look upon 2012 as sort of the [anniversary] year of conception, but the birth is next year.”
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--Randy Lewis
