The Rolling Stones, Charlie Watts (L), Mick Jagger (C) and Keith Richards (R) . AFP Photo
NEW YORK—The Rolling Stones are staying put this year, Rolling Stone reported Wednesday, leaving fans to look forward instead to a major documentary marking the rock band’s 50th anniversary.
“Basically, we’re just not ready” for a fresh concert tour, guitarist Keith Richards told the pop culture magazine, adding that 2013 was the group’s “more realistic” target for hitting the road.
Quoting other, unidentified sources, Rolling Stone cited worries about Richards’ health in the wake of a head injury he sustained in Fiji in 2006 as one reason for the band to stay close to home.
“They don’t want to do a full tour,” a concert industry source told the biweekly magazine. “They don’t want to travel, and there are concerns about Keith’s health.”
On their website, the Stones announced Wednesday the upcoming release of “a groundbreaking and eye-opening documentary,” directed by Brett Morgen, covering the history of the band from its founding in London in 1962 to today.
“The film will be showcased in September as part of the Rolling Stones 50th anniversary celebrations,” said the website, without elaboration.
Rolling Stone said the Stones reassembled in a London studio in December to play together for the first time since their Bigger Bang tour ended in 2007 — with bassist Bill Wyman sitting in for the first time since he quit in 1992.
“We played a lot of blues and outtakes of ‘Some Girls’ and things like that,” it quoted lead singer Mick Jagger as saying. “It went very well.”
Whether Wyman would join them on the road in 2013 was still not resolved.
“I think he’s up for it,” Richards said. “We talked about it.”