This year marks the Rolling Stones’ golden jubilee and will be celebrated with a group-authored 352-page book and Brett Morgen–directed documentary, but not, it seems, a worldwide tour. In separate interviews with Rolling Stone magazine, both Keith Richards and Mick Jagger confirmed as much: “Basically, we’re just not ready,†Richards said, adding that 2013 feels “more realistic.†According to a top concert exec who spoke to the magazine, the grizzled guitarist’s health is one of the primary obstacles. As Richards told Jimmy Fallon in 2010, four years after suffering a head injury: “You are looking at a very rusty Keith Richards right now. If you’ve been on the road for two years and suddenly you stop, you put it down for a little bit. And then a little bit longer and you say, ‘I really got to catch up, man.’â€
But Richards is finally catching up, booking several recent performances and getting to work on his own solo LP. As for when the group’s anniversary sound-off will start in earnest, it may be as soon as next month, when they all meet in New York for a studio session. “We’ll just get the boys back together again then and maybe cut a side,†Richards told the magazine. “I’ve got plenty in the locker here, but it’s not on tape.â€