The Stones At 50

Next year The Rolling Stones will have their 50th anniversary as a band, but insurance underwriters can relax as the veteran rock ’n’ rollers don’t appear to be planning a celebratory tour.

Many of the shows on the 2006 tour had to be rescheduled after guitarist Keith Richards, who was 63 at the time, fell out a tree while collecting coconuts during a holiday in Fiji.

The Stones’ first gig was at London’s Marquee Club in 1962.

“Maybe we could go back to the Marquee to accept a plaque for 50 years of service instead of a tour,” singer Mick Jagger told NME. “That could work – except Keith obviously can’t come. Charlie Watts [who wasn’t in the band in 1962] can come but he wouldn’t get the plaque obviously.”

The UK’s tabloid papers have carried reports saying Jagger and Richards have been at odds over comments the guitarist made in “Life,” his million-selling autobiography.

“Don’t hold your breath,” Richards told The Sun when asked if the band would be hitting the road to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

“I have been told quite categorically that there are no tour plans,” said John Giddings of Solo agency, which has promoted the band’s European dates for the last four tours. “They’ve given a lot of pleasure to a lot of people for several generations and I say good on them for doing that.”

Giddings told Pollstar he regards the band’s 2007 appearance at his Isle Of Wight Festival as one of the high spots of his career.