Keith Richards says The Rolling Stones won’t tour in 2026, but keeps 2027 on the table

Keith Richards has shut down the idea of a Rolling Stones tour in 2026, though he’s left the door open just enough to keep fans guessing about what comes next.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Richards was blunt: “We can talk next year. At the moment, we’re just sort of saying, we’ve finished the record… [and we’re] considering what to do after. Pretty soon, but not this year.” The comment follows an earlier decision, made in late 2025, to scrap plans for a UK and European stadium run in 2026 after Richards was unable to “commit” to it.

That will sting for anyone still hoping to see the Stones back in stadiums soon, especially after the band’s North American Hackney Diamonds tour in 2024 landed at Number Six on the year’s list of the highest-grossing music world tours. Their last UK shows came in 2022, when two huge BST Hyde Park dates were paired with a stadium concert in Liverpool.

The timing also lands with the band deep into a new album cycle. Earlier this month, the Stones officially announced Foreign Tongues, a 14-track record due July 10 via Polydor/Universal Music. The album features guest appearances from Paul McCartney, Robert Smith, Steve Winwood and the band’s late drummer Charlie Watts. The lead single is ‘In The Stars’, while ‘Rough And Twisted’ is being framed as one of the rawer, bluesier cuts. Fans can also pre-order it here: you can pre-order it here.

There’s another curveball tucked into the tracklist. On The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Ronnie Wood revealed that the record includes a version of Winehouse’s ‘You Know I’m No Good’, originally heard on Amy Winehouse’s landmark 2006 album Back To Black.

The Roberts Smith collaboration, meanwhile, has already been turned into a Stones story in its own right. At a recent media event in New York, Mick Jagger explained how it came together: “He was standing there with his back to me and this long gown on and when he turned around, he was covered in lipstick,” Jagger said. “And I said, I never met him before, ‘You’re Robert Smith of The Cure’. And he said, ‘Yeah, we’ve never met’. And I said, ‘While you’re here, you better go and do something’. That’s how collaborations work sometimes,” he added.

The recording itself moved fast. The whole album was put together in less than a month at Metropolis Studios in West London, with Andrew Watt back in production after working with the band on 2024’s Hackney Diamonds. Jagger called the sessions “very intense,” and said the band cut the 14 tracks as quickly as possible.

“I love doing these recording sessions in London at Metropolis,” said Jagger. “It was a very intense few weeks recording ‘Foreign Tongues’. We had 14 great tracks and we went as fast as we could. I like the room there as it’s not too big so you can feel the passion in the room from everyone.”

What does all this mean for live dates? For now, not 2026. But if Richards is already talking about next year, the Stones clearly aren’t done making fans wait, or wonder.

If the band do tour in 2027, that would also keep the conversation going around Glastonbury, where they last headlined in 2013, their first-ever appearance at Worthy Farm. Organisers have already confirmed the next Glastonbury will take place between Wednesday June 23 and Sunday June 27 in 2027, and the rumour mill is already circling names like Sam Fender, Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Eminem, Chappell Roan, Little Simz and Fred Again. Oasis have been floated too, though Liam Gallagher has said he “hates” the Pyramid Stage because “it’s like playing to a load of jamboree teachers.”