Ian
I KNOW the Stones 50th anniversary is 2012. Not that it matters.
Its the band who decided to 'move the goalposts' and apparently 'decide' that it beings in january 2013 - even though theyve spent most of 2012 cashing in on THIS year's anniversary with books, movies, art exhibitions, archive live downloads and now a greatest hits package with a few shows.
The reason for doing so was simply because it was a feeble way of acknowledging that they werent up to playing shows at the time. Which they now seem to have reneged on as, whilst Keith said in the same interview they wouldnt play shows in 2012, now it appears a certainty that they will.
You're getting unnecessary anal about this. My point was that its unusual for the Stones to begin some form of touring or performance related project and then finish it in the same calendar year. The Licks tour was to mark their 40th anniversary as a band. It ran from 2002-03. So, its no big deal that a 50th anniversary project would run from 2012-13.
The notion that this 'anniversary' is going to be done and dusted at the end of 2012 and the Stones are going to somehow re-launch themselves with a new record and new tour in 2013 is beyond absurd. The shows in Nov/dec are a way of getting them used to playing live again and will (ideally) be a springboard for a continuation into 2013 where ideally they'll tour to mark their 50th anniversary as a band. There's no way in the world theyre going to go and make a new record to tour behind in 2013. There isnt time to do it for a start. And It doesnt MATTER when a 'celebration' of an anniversary begins and ends.
Its over. The Stones as a creative force making or even caring about a new record are done. Their target audience doesnt care about new material either. After all this time and with the evidence staring you in the face, I honestly cant imagine how you still can't see it. This is a brand, not a band. A multi-national corporation with guitars and drums.
"Go to ALL the bother" of going to Paris and working on TWO songs for about four days? Are you serious?

Call it a guilty conscience or maybe a request from UMG that their contractual obligation compilation has SOME new material on it (which is the norm for Greatest Hits albums these days). It certainly doesnt smack me as an indication of a band who ' go into the studio because they feel compelled to and they still have interest'
>Sre their output in the past 20 years has been nill ...but every time these guys start something up.... guess where they head first.... The studio - Every time we go through this and I still don't see how your not agreeing with me to at least some degree based on The Stones actions and more recently once again their basically not necessary at all studio outing.
You dont see how your first sentence contradicts the rest? Seriously?
Theyve made FOUR albums of new material in the entire second half of a fifty year career.
FOUR FUCKING ALBUMS.They release new material to 'justify' a tour and to give the impression theyre a current act. Which they still were to a large degree up until the late 90s. The era of the Stones touring to promote a new album ended in the early 80s. Their tours now generate far more money than record sales, so the PRODUCT theyre promoting is the live show, NOT the recorded material. The MO of the band's reason for existence changed when they got back together in the late 80s - ie, generating millions of dollars in revenue as a touring act, with the occasional record thrown in as an excuse for promoting the tour. This will be the second time in the last three tours theyve gone on the road without a new studio album - and on the other occasion, they basically gave up playing songs from it after a few months. They dont even have a record contract which obligates them to make NEW music - thats how much of a compulsion and interest they have to be artistically creative.
The Grrr! tour or whatever the fuck it'll be called will be effectively Licks Part III.