The Rolling Stones impressive career includes a long string of wildly successful tours, but the stage has been silent since 2024. Now Ronnie Wood has said plainly what fans suspected: the band is divided on going back out, and Keith Richards is the one holding back.
In an interview with NME published Oct. 1, the 79-year-old guitarist was asked whether he had heard any murmurs about the Stones returning to the stage. He had not. “I know Mick is busting to go, and Keith is not busting to go,” Wood said, adding that a tour only works when everyone in the band is enthusiastic about it.
Wood left no doubt about his own position. Asked about a possible slot at Glastonbury in 2027, he said he would take it immediately, while acknowledging that his bandmates do not all feel the same way. He believes the Stones should play a show and should tour, and he conceded that making either happen is harder than it sounds. As American Songwriter reported, he put his readiness in simple terms: “When the Stones give me the call-up papers, I’ll be back.”
We’ve seen this situation before. In December 2025, Variety confirmed that the band had called off a planned 2026 stadium tour of the U.K. and Europe. A source quoted by The Sun said Richards “didn’t think he could commit” to a stadium run lasting more than four months. Richards, now 82, has dealt with arthritis, which coverage at the time cited as a factor. The band’s last tour, the 20-date Hackney Diamonds run through North America, ended July 21, 2024, in Ridgedale, Missouri.
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That leaves “Foreign Tongues,” the Stones’ 25th studio album, released July 10, without a tour behind it. Wood told NME that listeners have responded warmly but that the record needs to be heard live. He and Jagger performed at the album’s London launch, and he said the experience made him want the full band together again.
His frustration has been building for months. “Me and Mick, we never stop wanting to play,” he told Classic Rock in July, when he was still hoping for 2027 dates. Jagger, 83, said in May that he would love to tour the album.
Until that call comes, Wood is staying busy. He recently finished a European run with his solo group, the Ammo band, and is preparing to take it to South America. His exhibition, “Ronnie Wood: The Jimi Hendrix Portraits,” is open at the Handel Hendrix House museum in London through April 11, 2027, and a larger show of his artwork opens in Tübingen, Germany, in November.
The Stones have toured frequently since the early 2000s, which is why the gap stands out. Wood told NME he has no Stones dates on his calendar. Whether that changes depends on Jagger, Richards and Wood all wanting the same thing at the same time.
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