Rolling Stones 'in discussions' on 2002 tour

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Rolling Stones are in early talks to launch a tour next year, a trek that would coincide with their 40th anniversary, officials with the British rock band said Thursday.

If the tour is tied to the anniversary, it would run counter to singer Mick Jagger's aversion to nostalgia: he never listens to his old albums and considers the band a relevant act in the contemporary music landscape.

Initially known as the Rollin' Stones, a combo of fresh-faced jazz and blues purists from the London suburbs, the band played its first gig on July 12, 1962, at the Marquee club in London. Relatively unscathed by the intervening decades of death, drugs and divorce, the Stones have been off the road since wrapping a brief European tour in Germany in June 1999.
Jagger took time from promoting his new solo album to meet with guitarist Keith Richards last week to talk tour plans, said Richards' manager, Jane Rose.
"They're in discussions, which is step one. Nothing is confirmed," Rose told Reuters. "Even in the planning it's not confirmed. They're just talking about it. Things look good."

Some reports have speculated the Rolling Stones would tour North America without a brand new studio album to promote. The last time they did that was in 1975, seven months after the release of "It's Only Rock 'n Roll" the previous year.
Rose said the Stones have "a bunch of ideas" and she would have a "hundred percent better idea of what's definitely in the cards" by the beginning of the year.

In the meantime, Richards is writing and recording songs in the basement of his Connecticut home. "His first priority is the next thing with the Rolling Stones," Rose said.

Jagger is preparing to release his fourth solo album, "Goddess in the Doorway" in the United States Nov. 20. Stones guitarist Ron Wood will also release another solo album next month, while drummer Charlie Watts is currently playing in Tokyo with his jazz band.