For the past several decades, fans have been speculating on just how long the Rolling Stones will continue, well, being the Rolling Stones. More specifically: How long will they continue to tour?
“The band still sounds very good, and it doesn’t sound much different from before, and you all liked me before, so you’re going to like this, probably,” Mick Jagger told Rolling Stone in 1995, evidently unfazed by the idea that some people thought the band too old to keep playing live. That same year, the Stones wrapped up the Voodoo Lounge Tour, the third highest-grossing outing of their entire careers.
That was nearly three decades and 10 concert tours ago and the Rolling Stones are still selling out shows across the globe. On July 21, they’ll play the final show of their 2024 North American Hackney Diamonds Tour, which naturally has fans wondering: then what?
The only people who really know the answer to that question are Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, the three remaining Rolling Stones. The former two are both 80 years old, and Wood is 77, and while there is nothing to say age precludes the possibility of more touring, it’s worth noting.
Who Will Drum?
The first thing that must be considered as it pertains to the Stones’ touring future is the question of who will serve as drummer. In 2021, Steve Jordan, a longtime collaborator of Richards’, was tasked with the daunting responsibility of replacing Charlie Watts, who passed away in August 2021. Jordan was frank at the time about the weight of the task.
“There are people that don’t understand that I lost a friend,” he explained to Vanity Fair then. “So they’re happy for me, but they don’t understand that I’d rather not have this be the case. But the Rolling Stones have really, really done everything in their power to make the transition smooth and sympathetic and empathetic. They’ve been cognizant of everyone’s feelings. I personally appreciate that.”
Jordan appeared the best man for the job and has held down the beat for the entirety of the Hackney Diamonds Tour. But it’s entirely possible that someone other than the Stones may want to book him for gigs in the near future, which would necessitate finding another replacement.
Mick Jagger Isn’t Slowing Down
Jagger will turn 81 years old on July 26, but if you’ve seen him performing on this current tour, you know that he shows almost no signs of his age — or the fact that he had heart surgery in 2019 — dancing and skipping his way up and down the cat walk stage.
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When asked by writer David Fricke in 2021 about whether that year’s No Filter Tour would be the Stones’ last, Jagger made clear nothing at all was certain.
“I’ve been asked that question since I was 31,” he said (via Reuters). “And your answer is the same. I don’t know. I mean, anything could happen. You know, if things are good next year and everyone’s feeling good about touring, I’m sure we’ll do shows.” (They did indeed tour in 2022, though not in 2023.)
Keith Richards Appears Indestructible
There may not be a rock star who has cheated death more times than Richards, and his attitude toward future touring mirrors Jagger’s.
“My answer is I’m not Nostradamus,” he told The Guardian in 2023. “Of course it’s going to end some time, but everybody is in good fettle. There’s no particular rush. We’re having great fun doing this. And this is what we do.”
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He admitted in the same interview that his age and some arthritis in his hands has affected the way he plays the guitar, but if anything it’s helped him become even more resourceful with the instrument.
“[W]hen I’m like, ‘I can’t quite do that any more,’ the guitar will show me there’s another way of doing this,” he explained. “Some finger will go one space different and there’s a whole new door just opened here.”
Ronnie Wood Tours Differently Than Before
The Rolling Stones are many things but one thing they are not is 20-something years old anymore, and that means taking new approaches to touring, which can be extremely physically taxing.
“I like to have my green juices now and I do workouts with my trainer, just light workouts and stretches to keep my circulation going, which is what you need when you’re older,” Wood said to The Sun back in April. “It’s always a big party on the road, but I like to have my quiet time.”
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Wood also doesn’t appear to be taking anything off the table, including the possibility of headlining Glastonbury again.
“Me, I’d love it,” he told NME in 2023. “I think it’s a must. If not next year, then…If not the Stones then the Faces. It’ll be me, Rod [Stewart] and [drummer] Kenney [Jones]. That’s not out of the question, you know. I know they want to do it…”
More ‘Hackney Diamonds’ Dates
Two things are for certain. One is that none of the three core members of the Rollings Stones’ have declared anything about retiring from touring. The other is that the band is most definitely open to bringing the Hackney Diamonds Tour to more countries outside North America.
“We’ll consider those offers, where we’re going to go and where it will be fun, you know?” Jagger told Reuters last month. “It could be Europe, could be South America, could be anywhere.”
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Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci