“Hopefully it’s going to be as soon as possible”

Mick Jagger has said he “can’t wait” to get back out on the road with The Rolling Stones.

• Read More: The Rolling Stones – ‘Hackney Diamonds’ review: they’ve still got it

The rock legends are preparing to release their 25th studio album ‘Foreign Tongues’ on July 10 via Polydor/Universal Music. It’s set to feature guest appearances from Paul McCartney, Robert Smith, Steve Winwood, and the band’s late drummer Charlie Watts – you can pre-order your copy here.

Although the new album is on the horizon, The Stones don’t have any tour dates lined up to promote it. In late 2025, they confirmed that they’d scrapped plans for a UK and European stadium tour in 2026 because Keith Richards was unable to “commit” to it, but he recently hinted that they might hit the road in 2027.

Jagger’s latest comments on BBC Radio 2’s Tracks of My Years have added fuel to those rumours, and while he and Ronnie Wood looked back at the songs that shaped them, the frontman was asked if The Stones would ever tour again.

“I’d love to go on tour, I can’t wait,” Jagger said, before quickly clarifying that fans shouldn’t expect a shock announcement any time soon. “I don’t think it’s going to be this year,” he added. “But hopefully it’s going to be as soon as possible.”

Their upcoming album will include the previously released, raw and bluesy ‘Rough And Twisted’, ‘‘In The Stars’, and will see the band take on the Amy Winehouse classic ‘You Know I’m No Good’.

The full tracklist was revealed earlier this month, with the song titles appearing on streaming devices, but in actual foreign tongues.

At a media event in New York last week, the band also revealed how they ended up working with The Cure’s Robert Smith. “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 smiled.

The whole record was brought to life in less than one month at Metropolis Studios in West London, with production from Andrew Watt – who also worked with them on 2024’s ‘Hackney Diamonds’.

“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.”

Earlier this week, Paul McCartney has looked back on the “excitement” he felt while working with the band in NME’s latest In Conversation video series, saying he was glad he “wasn’t blasé about it”.

Marking his second appearance on a Stones record in the last few years after featuring on ‘Hackney Diamonds‘, McCartney told us it was “really exciting”, because he didn’t normally play “as a session guy”.

“It was really nice to just show up at a studio with your bass and just say, ‘Right, where do you want me?” he said. “You start playing, and they show you the song, and I start thinking, ‘I’m playing with the Stones!’