Keith Richards unsure if the Rolling Stones will tour again
The guitarist called out incessant travel as a complicating factor for the aging band, whose 25th album will be released next month.
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In a recent Uncut interview, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards revealed that his band’s touring days may well be behind them. Richards himself was to blame for the Stones’ canceling their 2026 European tour after he found himself unable to commit to the dates. “I don’t know if tours are possible,” he said, flanked by his bandmates Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood. “It’s the traveling that takes it out of you. But I do see the possibility of us doing residency somewhere. Wherever it is, London, New York, Paris, anywhere. I’ll play Rome! But I don’t see why they shouldn’t be able to throw some shows together in a new format.”
Richards attributed his inability to travel to the “wear and tear” of old age. Woods added that no one in the band was “getting any younger,” adding drily, “none of us are getting out of here alive.” Jagger, the force of nature that he is, previously told BBC Radio 2 that he “can’t wait” to tour with the band “as soon as possible.” A few octogenarians still tour, among them Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, and Neil Young. The Stones assured fans, though, that their desire to create had not diminished alongside their stamina. “Is it still exciting?” Richards pondered being in the group. “Yeah, it’ll be exciting until something inside me says, ‘That’s that.’ I love working with the guys. I mean, what am I gonna do? Jesus Christ.” Wood concurred, saying that “the spirit of the band has remained exactly the same.”
The Rolling Stones’ 25th studio album, Foreign Tongues, is set to be released on July 10. See where their song “She’s a Rainbow” landed in our recent list of the greatest songs of the 1960s.
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