Keith Richards on celebrating The Rolling Stones’ 60th anniversary: “The plans are to still actually all be alive”
“I’ll croak when I croak and everybody will know.”
Photo: Dave J Hogan / Getty Images
Keith Richards has revealed that the Rolling Stones’ plans for their upcoming 60th anniversary are more prosaic than you might imagine: “Well, the plans are to still actually all be alive.”
“At our age, I don’t know,” he told GQ. “I haven’t heard of any plans, but I’m sure there are things being made. First off, I’m going to get through this year and see how we handle next year. Because I think at the moment, there are more problems than a Rolling Stones celebration. Although I’m very glad that we’re all here, but I’ll leave it at that if I can.”
The English rock legends, who formed back in 1962, are due to celebrate 60 years as a band in 2022.
The 76-year-old guitarist also spoke about the Stones’ new album, which he said was “halfway in the works before shit hit the fan”.
“I was trying to progress a few things along,” Keef said. “But there’s not a lot one can really do except wait for the vaccine.”
He continued: “Living In A Ghost Town [the band’s latest single] which sort of epitomised the first wave of the virus, that was actually a part of what we were cutting. But it just was so glaringly obvious that it needed to come out when it did, we rush-released it. But otherwise, yeah, we’re halfway through, but sort of at the moment like everybody else, we’re stuck.”
Richards, infamous for his rock ’n’ roll lifestyle, also discussed the joys of still being alive and kicking in 2020 – a thing he doesn’t take for granted.
“Every day is a pleasure,” he said. “I mean, I don’t wish to defy anybody’s predictions and I’m really not interested in them. But I’ll croak when I croak and everybody will know.”
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