Mick Jagger: ‘I don’t think The Rolling Stones were ‘stage ready’ for The Olympics’

But he says the legendary band hope to play some gigs later this year

The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger has said that the band didn’t agree to play The Olympics opening ceremony because they weren’t ‘stage ready’.

Speaking to ITN – via Rolling Stone – in a video which you can see below, Jagger said: “I didn’t think, to be honest, we were quite stage ready. We haven’t played in a long time and we weren’t really stage-ready, and it’s a very big gig and it’s very risk-taking. I didn’t think the band themselves felt they were really ready to do it at this point.”

However, he added that the band do want to play some shows later this year. “We hope we’re going to do some gigs this year. We haven’t actually finalised them, but we hope we’re going to do some gigs. We’ve done rehearsing, hanging out together and all that discussing so you know, we’ve been seeing each other quite a lot.”

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Keith Richards has also confirmed that The Rolling Stones are rehearsing together once again. The band celebrate the 50th anniversary of their first ever gig today (July 12) and Richards has said that they are now back playing together again after a lengthy break.

Speaking to BBC News, Richards said of the band’s current status: “There’s things in the works – I think it’s definitely happening. But when? I can’t say yet. We’re playing around with the idea and had a couple of rehearsals – we’ve got together and it feels so good.”

Richards was speaking as a new photography exhibition called The Rolling Stones: 50 opens at London’s Somerset House. The free exhibition will be held from July 13-August 27 in the landmark venue’s East Wing Galleries and will coincide with the release of a book of the same time. The book will feature 700 shots and words from the band on their history, and will hit UK bookshops today.

To read more about The Rolling Stones‘ 50th anniversary, pick up the next issue of NME, which includes a celebration of the band’s amazing career. It is on newsstands next Wednesday (July 18) or available digitally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS3capSwpVM

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