obviously i've used this thread to hype the dream
of steve and darryl becoming official members of
The Rolling Stones, getting us back to FIVE of them
and signaling strong intent about the future

on the other hand i understand that such a move
could be seen as simply too soon, as very or
at least somewhat disrespectful to charlie's memory

i don't think we'll know anything for sure until
the group issues their next official photo. Will
it show just 3 guys, or 4 with steve, or 5 with darryl,
or even 6 with chuck ? Or will there be no next
official photo, but only the name and the tongue
and the music ? 

I've put in my vote for FIVE, but my vote of course
counts for nothing. Anything they decide will be fine
by me. I'm extraordinarily happy with Stones2021, with
both the live performances and the fully finished outtakes.
Whatever else they've put out this year that i maybe
haven't completely buzzed off yet, so fucking what

one of my favorite albums ever is "blue and lonesome".
as i understand it, it was created live by the core
group of mick, keith, ronnie, charlie and darryl,
with keyboards and such added later. Just substitute
steve and get back in the studio and make some more
recordings and call yourselves The Rolling Stones,
and then let chuck and matt and the remainder
of The Rolling Stones Orchestra come in later and
tart up the recordings as necessary.

Please.

(and yeah i'm kidding about the "rolling stones
orchestra" as ever being an actual name. but it
is a FACT, and a finely tuned machine, and everybody
is doing a great job. i mean, just listen to the end
of "monkey man" where sasha's background vocals kick
the song up to the next level, or how perfectly
chuck does nicky's tricky piano part at the end
of "street fighting", or the sax duel on "miss you"
or every little thing bernard and matt are contributing to
complete the semi-original sound of each song...)

if you didnt live through it, you may not know this timeline:

Dec 12 1974 announcement mick taylor leaving the band

Apr 14 1975 announcement ronnie wood will "accompany" the stones on tour

Dec 19 1975 no announcement, but reportedly the date ronnie contractually became a stone

Apr 15 1976 "black and blue" released with ron wood on cover.
                    when mick is asked about it, he replies,
                    "Yeah, he's got his badge, and his membership card..."
                    A year and a half after mick taylor departed

i think its very significant that theres been no official photo of just mick, keith, and ronnie
used in connection with any of the marketing for this tour.  (also significant: they no longer
put up charlie's photo at the end of the show. just the tongue and "see you soon")

so FWIW i can't imagine any future official photo of the Stones (post this tour) that does
not include Steve. You're not the Stones without a kick-ass drummer, just a remnant like
the Who.

But Keith and Ron both play bass, and Don Was is in the studio with them, so Darryl
(like Bill) is not as essential to their identity as Steve. but Darryl is playing a lot more
stonesy on this tour. and i do like the 5-man look much better than 4.

well, its not "post this tour" yet, but the content of the semi-official band photos have
definitely shifted in the direction Gazza indicated.  To be specific, Steve has mostly
disappeared from them

glaringly so in the media releases for Allegiant Stadium, whose people were working
closely with stones dot biz

(photos Allegiant Stadium twitter)

driving home the point, Mick has just tweeted this one...

(now steve's the ghost)

1) mick said "miami", good enough for me

2) let's hope, before too long, we have legit reasons to re-boot this thread

any rumors yet for 2022 ?

i think the only one so far that seemed to make a bit of sense was
Royal Albert Hall, but that seems to have faded. I checked their
website and July is still open from the 10th onward