It often seems as if The Rolling Stones are going to be around and touring forever. They were already fixtures of rock and roll when I was a kid in the '70s. Lo, these many decades later, the band is still together. Drummer Charlie Watts died in the summer of 2021, but the surviving members are in the mood to hit the road again (something Watts loathed doing).
Ever the savvy businessmen, Mick, Keith, and Ron have found the most age-appropriate tour sponsor ever.
The Rolling Stones will be hitting the road in the U.S. and Canada this spring in a 16-stop tour with an ironically fitting sponsor: AARP.
The geriatric road warriors — lead singer Mick Jagger hit 80 years old in July and Keith Richards will reach that milestone on Dec. 18 — will perform coast to coast, but at a more leisurely pace than most major concert tours. Most of the dates have four or five days separating them, and they are, at least for now, scheduled for only one show in each city.
The “Hackney Diamonds” tour will support the band’s first album in 18 years, which was released to positive reviews last month and nabbed a Grammy Nomination for Best Rock Song.
AARP stopped referring to itself as the "American Association of Retired Persons" a while ago when it became apparent that Americans weren't retiring very early anymore (that's a story for another column). Now the organization is giving active seasoned Americans a chance to be first in line online to buy tickets for the Stones tour. Its website promises early access for ticket purchases for AARP members, with an eight-ticket limit.
Hey, if you're an AARP member and you still have seven friends who want to see the Stones, you're doing something right.
Even though the tour is padded with rest days, the remaining members of the Stones strike me as guys who are energized by being on the road, however modified the schedule. The fact that they managed to keep dragging Charlie Watts back out with them despite his legendary aversion to touring would seem to indicate that, along with the fact that they're still together more than half a century after most bands end up hating each other. This recent post from the band's Twitter/X account shows that these dudes really still like hanging out with each other:
📸: Mark Seliger - NYC, 2023 pic.twitter.com/HJ8ait5o75
— The Rolling Stones (@RollingStones) November 15, 2023
One can't even describe them as "worse for the wear." Given their reputations for partying — especially Keith's — the fact that they're still breathing is nothing short of a miracle.
People don't really go to a Rolling Stones concert because of the band's reputation for its live performances. They mostly go so that they can one day say they saw the Stones live. I've had a lot of people tell me that over the years. Fortunately for the fans, the Stones keep making that possible.
I have never seen the Stones live, but I've always been a huge fan. Even when I was young, and it was practically the law that one expressed a preference for The Beatles, I was an avowed Stones fan. It might finally be time to hit a concert, if only for the thrill of being one of the younger guys there.
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