The Rolling Stones are reportedly working on a new album and planning on hitting the road again.
- READ MORE: Ronnie Wood talks Rolling Stones’ ‘Hackney Diamonds’: “These songs are explosive”
The news of a potential new record comes as the rock veterans shared ‘Hackney Diamonds’ in 2023 – their 24th studio album and first since 2005’s ‘A Bigger Bang’. It featured the last recordings of the band’s late drummer Charlie Watts, and included guest appearances from Lady Gaga, Elton John, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder.
Following the release, Mick Jagger and co. played 20 huge shows in North America last year and generated an estimated $235million (£185.1million) – making it to Number Six on the highest-grossing music world tours of 2024.
Earlier this year, rumours arose that the band had scrapped plans to bring the tour to the UK and Europe due to scheduling issues. Now, it appears that the members may be using that time to get back into the studio.
As per a report from The Sun, Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Steve Jordan have been together working on a follow-up to ‘Hackney Diamonds’ since April, and now have 13 songs that they completed at Metropolis Studios in West London. It also claims that the band are in talks with the label over a release date for the record.
“Originally, the plan was for them to bring their huge US tour to the UK and Europe this summer but promoters couldn’t get the dates to work,” a source told the outlet. “Instead the Stones decided to get back into the studio and put down their next album. It’s massive for their fans who didn’t get a chance to see them live this year.”
The Sun report also claims that renowned producer Andrew Watt – who produced and co-wrote three songs on ‘Hackney Diamonds’ – is working with the band again for the upcoming album.
At time of writing, nothing has been officially confirmed by The Rolling Stones regarding a new album, nor have they shared any plans for upcoming live shows. The members have, however, expressed interest in sharing more music.
Ahead of ‘Hackney Diamonds’ being released, Jagger told The New York Times that he wouldn’t consider it to be the “last Rolling Stones album” as the members were already around “three-quarters through the next one”.
In November 2023, Keith Richards shared a similar sentiment with SirusXM, saying: “There’s plenty more stuff left over. There’ll always be another [album] until we drop… This is what we do. We’ve gotta see this Rolling Stones through.”
Around that time, Ronnie Wood also spoke to NME about the number of new songs the ‘Hackney Diamonds’ writing sessions produced, and said that fans won’t have to wait long to see more new material.
“[Paul McCartney] actually played on two tracks, one which we’ve got up our sleeve for, you know, more music to come,” he said. “We cut about 23 songs and we only picked the first 12.” He also added that he doesn’t think fans will have to wait another 18 years for a new album to be finished.
In a four-star review of ‘Hackney Diamonds’, NME described it as an “absolute barnstormer”, and added: “But if ‘Hackney Diamonds’ does round off the most successful career in rock music ever, it wouldn’t be a bad place to leave it. A natural end, but definitely not a normal one.”
While news about a new Rolling Stones album and tour has not yet been confirmed, Ronnie Wood is set to reunite with his Faces bandmate Rod Stewart later this month, as the latter plays the coveted Legends Slot at Glastonbury 2025. The reunion will come as the group have been hinting at a comeback in recent years, and revealed recently that they had recorded “about 11 tracks” for what will be their first new album in over 50 years.
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