The year 2012 is the 50th anniversary of the Rolling Stones, and there has been much speculation that the band is planning a tour to celebrate this milestone. Those rumors have heated up again now that the band members — lead singer Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, drummer Charlie Watts and guitarist Ronnie Wood — were seen having a band meeting in London on September 7, 2011.
The Daily Mail published paparazzi photos of the band members coming out of an office. The Rolling Stones apparently had no comment to the photographers and other people waiting outside.
It takes about one year for the Rolling Stones to plan a tour, and most of their tours for the past 20 years have launched in late summer/early autumn.
As previously reported, Wood told the London Evening Standard in a July 2011 interview that the Rolling Stones would be meeting to talk about doing concerts in 2012. When I contacted the Rolling Stones' publicist to see if this story was true, there was no comment. Usually when there is a false rumor about the Rolling Stones, their publicist has been quick to set the record straight or deny the rumor.
The Rolling Stones typically tour when they have new music to promote, even if the new songs are on a greatest-hits package such as 2002's "Forty Licks." So the band meeting could mean that the Rolling Stones might be planning to release new music in addition to launching a tour in 2012.
The only "new" recording released from the Rolling Stones in 2011 was the band (reunited with former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman) doing a cover version of Bob Dylan's "Watching the River Flow." The track is on Ben Waters' "Boogie 4 Stu" album, a tribute to the late Ian Stewart, who was an original member of Rolling Stones.
But when it comes to new, original songs written and recorded by the Rolling Stones, the most recent release is 2005's "A Bigger Bang" album.
As previously reported, Eagle Vision will release the Rolling Stones concert flm "Some Girls Live in Texas 1978" on DVD, Blu-ray and CD on November 21, 2011. The film will get a one-night-only theatrical release worldwide in October 2011, with the cities, dates and locations to be announced.
In 2011, members of the Rolling Stones have been involved in various projects outside of the band:
- Jagger recorded an eponymous debut album with the band SuperHeavy, whose other members are Joss Stone, Dave Stewart, Damian Marley and A.R. Rahman. The "SuperHeavy" album is set for release in the United States and Canada on September 20, 2011, and in other countries on September 19, 2011. Universal Music, which is releasing the album, says there are no plans for a SuperHeavy tour. And as of this writing, SuperHeavy has not announced any public appearances.
- Watts did a European tour with his boogie woogie jazz band the A, B, C & D of Boogie Woogie.
- Richards recorded new solo music, which he said would probably be on the next album that he releases with his band the X-Pensive Winos.
- Wood did a month-long concert tour (visiting Europe and Japan) with a revamped lineup of the Faces. He has also been a guest performer at concerts by other artists, including Rod Stewart and Brad Paisley.
None of these outside projects would prevent the Rolling Stones from touring in 2012.
If the Rolling Stones do a new tour in 2012, it will be their first tour in 23 years without concert promoter Michael Cohl, who was the Rolling Stones' concert promoter since 1989. In February 2011, the Rolling Stones announced that they have ended their business relationship with Cohl, whose last concert tour with the Stones was the 2005-2007 tour for "A Bigger Bang."
As previously reported, Cohl and his former employer Live Nation are suing each other over his severance package and the rights to represent certain acts. Live Nation is claiming that Cohl owes the company money. Cohl is claiming that his severance package gave Cohl exclusive rights to represent acts such as the Rolling Stones, Barbra Streisand and Pink Floyd for concert promotion, but that Live Nation violated the non-compete clause in the severance package by soliciting the Rolling Stones for a proposed 2011 tour.
If there were discussions for the Stones to tour in 2011, those plans obviously fell apart. The lawsuits between Cohl and Live Nation are pending, but they will most likely be settled out of court.
In the meantime, the Rolling Stones are not waiting around for the outcome of the legal dispute, and they have made it clear that they do not plan to work with Cohl if there is another Rolling Stones tour. A day after the Stones announced it had parted ways with Cohl, the band stated on its official Facebook page that it has not yet signed a deal with another concert promoter.
September 12, 2011 update: In a September 2011 interview with Spinner, Jagger confirmed that the Rolling Stones have discussed events that might happen to commemorate the band's 50th anniversary, but nothing has been decided yet. Jagger tells Spinner: "We talked about maybe what events are going to be going around for the 50th anniversary of the Rolling Stones. We don't really know the answer to that, but we talked about it a bit."
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