Mick Jagger said during a recent appearance on the BBC Radio 2’s Tracks of My Years that he “can’t wait” to go back out on tour with The Rolling Stones again, but it seems Keith Richards isn’t so certain.
While doing initial press for the band’s upcoming album, Foreign Tongues, Richards shot down the idea of a tour in 2026, and now he seems to be reconsidering the possibility altogether.
“I don’t know if tours are possible,” the 82-year-old rocker tells Uncut magazine in a new interview. “It’s the traveling that takes it out of you.”
But that doesn’t mean the band won’t be playing live again.
“But I do see the possibility of us doing [a] residency somewhere,” he adds. “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.”
After more than 60 years in the music biz, Richards says he still finds it exciting to make music with the band.
“Yeah, it’ll be exciting until something inside me says, ‘That’s that,’” he says. “I love working with the guys. I mean, what am I gonna do?” He adds, “It’s necessary for me – at gunpoint, if needs be – to keep a band together. ‘You will play drums!’ I do my bit, but it’s an incredible gift from everybody else. I didn’t expect this in return.”
He notes, “It’s still a bit mind boggling, even at this age.”
The Rolling Stones’ Foreign Tongues will be released July 10.
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
