The Stones Will Roll On

By Jane Cohen and Bob Grossweiner

In a recent interview with the BBC, rock icon Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones quashed any rumors that the group will retire. Rather, the original bad boy of rock said he plans to continue recording and touring with the band and would use his own judgment when the time to stop had come. The Stones frontman was peppered with nearly 1,800 questions emailed in by fans for the interview.

And that’s good news, particularly for them since their Bigger Bang tour grossed an astounding half-billion dollars — $558,255,524 — between fall 2005 and Aug. 26, 2007, according to tour figures reported by Billboard.

The Stones’ Bigger Bang tour surpasses some pretty big grosses in the rock tour annals, topping U2’s 2005-06 Vertigo tour at $389 million and their own 1994-95 Voodoo Lounge tour that grossed $320 million.

However, concertgoers should not expect a Stones tour anytime soon or a solo outing by Jagger. The Stones usually only tour after recording an album so they can showcase it on stage; there are no current recording plans, so it is unlikely they will hit the road before 2009 or 2010. And even though Jagger has just released his first solo compilation, “The Very Best of Mick Jagger,” the occasion for his BBC interview, when asked if he would ever tour solo without the other Stones, Jagger replied: “I’ve just finished two years on the road and I’m having a bit of a rest, so this time it’s a bit doubtful.”

“The Very Best of Mick Jagger” features key tracks from his four solo albums — “She’s the Boss” (1985); Primitive Cool (1987); Wandering Spirit (1993); Goddess In the Doorway (2003); soundtrack songs and three previously unreleased tracks.