The Rolling Stones’ pirate ship runs aground: “We probably won’t see them live again” | Culture | EUROtoday

The tenacious longevity of The Rolling Stones appeared unbreakable. They have even banished that slogan that inspired individuals to spend cash on a ticket: “You have to go see them, because maybe they won’t do any more concerts.” There got here a time when it was identified that it was not the final live performance, that the equipment of one of the best rock and roll band in historical past would proceed in movement. But one thing modified final week: the group’s plans for a tour European in 2026 have been cancelled. Officially the rationale was not specified, though some media assume that it was Keith Richards who obtained off the Stones’ pirate ship. There is speak of arthritis, though the guitarist has suffered from it for a few years; He even factors out in interviews that this pathology has pressured him to play in a different way and he has even improved as an instrumentalist, in a sure sense. Maybe it is simply that the effort of dealing with 4 months away from residence, touring (in fact, with all of the comforts lined and with physios and docs out there 24 hours a day) and enjoying a guitar for 2 hours an evening is now not value it.

There is not any motive to be alarmed about Richards’ well being, as he has just lately been seen in golf equipment and enjoying guitar. Of course: temporary interpretations. The Rolling Stones carried out for the final time in Spain on June 1, 2022. All the chronicles spoke of present, with the band, now with out drummer Charlie Watts (who died in August 2021), in good condition, even if Jagger and Richards had already turned 78 and Ronnie Wood, 75. The opening group on the Atlético de Madrid stadium was Sidonie. Its singer, Marc Ros, remembers for this report that evening: “They prohibited us from seeing the sound check, but we overruled the veto. It was a unique opportunity to see our idols in privacy, so we were not going to waste it. Then a limousine arrives at the foot of the stage and Ronnie Wood gets out; then another one appears with Mick Jagger, and finally that of Keith Richards, who has to be helped up the ramp. There you see an old man. But then he gets to rehearse Tumbling Dice and his guitar sounds brutal. Already at the concert and in front of 45,000 people, that elderly person transforms and gives a sensational concert. I saw Keith as perfect. Of course, if that turns out to be the Stones’ last concert in Spain, it seems like a great farewell to me.”

From now on, a sequence of situations open up, not all of them desired by followers. The massive query is whether or not The Rolling Stones are completed as a reside band, a circumstance, alternatively, that’s completely logical after excursions that date again to the sixties of the final century. The group has greater than paid for itself, additionally in Spain: they’ve carried out 23 instances since they premiered in 1976 in Barcelona. That live performance within the Monumental Bullring was organized by Gay Mercader, essentially the most related promoter in Spain. Mercader has managed essentially the most Spanish excursions of the British group and has an in depth relationship with Richards. “I think that the Stones live is probably over. Keith has had joint problems for a long time. I remember that 20 years ago I saw his deformed knuckles and I asked him: ‘Doesn’t it hurt when you play?’. He answered no. But the latest information I have tells me that he is not in physical condition to go on tour,” explains Mercader for this report. The promoter provides conclusive data: “It also happens that when musicians are 75 years old or older, you cannot find an insurance company that will take care of these concerts that generate so many millions. So if a date is canceled due to illness…”.

Javier Cosmen Concejo, specialist within the group and creator of the books How Sticky Fingers was made y The Rolling Stones in Spainsees it as troublesome to expertise the British enjoying in a stadium once more: “I think it is quite unlikely. The information coming from those around him indicates that Richards’ decision is firm.” Nothing has stopped the guitarist till at present. He was hooked on heroin for a decade and the police have been scorching on his heels throughout that point to, as he reported, “set an example by putting a famous musician of the genre in jail.” degenerate rock and roll.” Then he had a famous accident in 2006 when he fell from a tree (and not from a coconut tree, as was said): he suffered a head injury that caused blood clots that could only be removed with a delicate surgery. Mick Jagger’s health mishaps also forced him to cancel several concerts in 2019, since he had to be treated for heart problems.

Some followers, with many concerts of the group behind them, even welcome the possibility that they will no longer perform with relief. They are the ones who have been thinking for a long time that perhaps there comes a time when you have to stop going to see your idols, since they are repetitive concerts and logically, as the years go by, the loss of faculties takes its toll. Cosmen is one of them: “When I noticed them in 2007 I mentioned: ‘No extra’. But on the following tour there it was once more. The choice to carry out with out Charlie Watts already appeared somewhat immoral to me. The Stones have been touring for a very long time and have modified their repertoire little or no. Their newest recitals should not very motivating, to be trustworthy. On the constructive facet, there may be an virtually social challenge, which is seeing somebody older exhibit super vitality. In that sense they’re an instance.” The Sidonie singer, who has played before the Stones’ audience, points out those sensations, which are surely what the group seeks, beyond money, with the tours: “The Stones’ viewers makes you’re feeling younger even if you’re 80 years outdated.”

There are alternatives to see the authors of (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction in large stadiums that fans don’t even want to hear: a Stones without Keith Richards. Let us remember that during the six decades of life the group has been losing members and nothing has stopped them. Already in the first years the pianist Ian Stewart fell, “because he didn’t give the right image”; In 1969, they fired Brian Jones, who was already intractable at that time, and he died a few months after the dismissal; In 1974 Mick Taylor resigned, to cure his addiction to hard drugs and hurt because his contributions to the songs were not credited; In 1993 Bill Wyman quit, tired of long tours; and in 2023 they decided to continue after the death of the great Charlie Watts. However, it doesn’t seem like a real possibility that Mick Jagger would hit the road without his eternal colleague. And even less so now that the two leaders have learned to tolerate each other even when they sibilently throw daggers at each other, and not like in the eighties, when their disagreements almost destroyed the gang. What Jagger could do is act alone, without The Rolling Stones brand. It already worked that way in the eighties, but at that time there was a war between him and Richards, and the vocalist also had solo albums to present in concert. This time it’s not like that.

In a recent report in the magazine Rolling Stonespecialist Andy Greene contemplates the possibility of seeing the group at a residency in Las Vegas, an option that has worked recently in the cases of U2, Adele or the Eagles. “It can be an important cultural occasion that might entice followers from all around the world, whatever the value of tickets. Many followers would take out a second mortgage on their properties to see the live performance, particularly if there have been no different live shows by the group,” says Greene.

Mercader believes that the group only goes on the road if they are at 100%: “They set the bar very excessive for themselves. They do not do live shows simply to do them. They do not carry out for cash, however as a result of they get pleasure from it. Their calls for are very excessive. I, who was their promoter in Spain, have seen them rehearse earlier than enjoying. But they rehearse virtually the whole live performance. With this stage of demand they can’t enable themselves to destroy their picture if they don’t seem to be able to play. Their private pleasure is so excessive that they might not tolerate providing common live shows.” Won’t Richards be seen extra on stage then? “Keith will continue to collaborate live with other musicians, because music is not over for him, but touring may be,” says Mercader.

The creator of How Sticky Fingers was made He bets on Stones who’re alive in one other sense: “I find it much more interesting that they publish albums with new material than to see them live playing old songs.” Indeed, this chance even appears shut. Andrew Watt, the producer of the band’s newest and most worthy album, Hackney Diamonds (2023), has indicated that they’ve already recorded 15 new songs. Ronnie Wood has confirmed it. Possibly, the tour they have been going to do in 2026 can be accompanied by the album already launched or at the least some music. One extra lesson from the group: regardless of age and well being setbacks, it appears sure that The Rolling Stones should not going to shut for now.