Keith Richards has cast doubt on whether the Rolling Stones can tour again, saying he does not know if tours are possible and pointing to a residency instead. The guitarist’s comments land against Mick Jagger’s recent Radio 2 appearance, where he said he “can’t wait” to go back out on tour with the band again.
Richards on travel and format
At 82, Richards said, “It’s the traveling that takes it out of you.” That is the practical barrier behind his caution: not a refusal to play, but a concern about the grind of moving a band on the road. He also said there is a possibility of the Rolling Stones doing “a residency somewhere,” which would shift the live model from a touring circuit to a fixed run of shows in one place.
Richards named London, New York, Paris and Rome as possible residency locations, then spelled out the logic in plain terms: “I don’t see why they shouldn’t be able to throw some shows together in a new format.” For readers, that means the band is not talking about stopping live work so much as changing how it happens.
Jagger’s Radio 2 view
Jagger’s “can’t wait” remark on Tracks of My Years gives the story its friction. One band leader is open to the road again; the other is warning that the road may no longer be realistic. For an act with more than 60 years in the music business, that split matters because it suggests any future live plans may depend less on desire than on what Richards says his body will tolerate.
Richards did leave room for more music. He said he still finds it exciting to make music with the band, and added, “Yeah, it’ll be exciting until something inside me says, ‘That’s that,’” followed by, “I love working with the guys. I mean, what am I gonna do?” That makes the issue less about a farewell and more about scale: fewer moving parts, fewer cities, and a setup that might fit the way he wants to keep playing.
Foreign Tongues on July 10
The next fixed date in this story is July 10, when Foreign Tongues will be released. Richards was doing initial press for the release when he shot down the idea of a 2026 tour, so the album rollout is now the clearest marker for how the Rolling Stones are presenting themselves while their live future stays unresolved. If a residency replaces a full tour, the business case changes with it: one city, one venue pattern, and a smaller travel burden.
