FWIW, B Vik reiterates today: "the Stones will tour behind a new album"

although his projected dates for such a tour seem to be slipping
from early summer to late summer, and now with some arena
shows mixed in with the usual stadiums. So yeah, we're onto plan B

1) Tay and Bey are sucking up all the oxygen, doing an amazing
amount of stadium dates, with more likely to be announced,
right up to the start of the NFL season. Bey's tour seems to have
been a last-minute decision and so may have altered the
Stones plans 2) the Stones made worldwide news for joining
TikTok, which is vital for any level (beyond one week) of
streaming/chart success, but their TikTok initiative remains
completely kaput as of now.

...and, for what little its worth, here's my current guess:

the album right after Labor Day, with the various bonus versions
of the album being released right up to Christmas, with there being
some USA hot-ticket arena-or-smaller gigs during this period,
likely including SNL. No big shows til early 2024 (way down south).

(from the Tour thread, but mostly about the new album)

Why do people believe nonsense?

Think for one minute please. There were never any signed
contracts. Venue sources cited options at only four
locations, all of them ridiculous in terms of marketing an album
under current 2023 market conditions. Unless you only care
about reaching your base.

If the Stones only cared about reaching their base, they could
have released at least 4 new albums over the last 17 years,
they have that much strong material. What they havent had
is any path to reach a broader public, who doesnt give a shit
about the Stones.

A gimmick, if you will. For example, the best gimmick of the
last 10 years: that silly fictional Bohemian Rhapsody movie.
Suddenly there were 1000s of TikToks with youngsters miming
and dancing to Queen. That band's American-Idol sound and
catalog went viral and hasnt stopped since.

The Stones would love to have that. But frankly there's not
enough kids with ears these days. There's enough to make
a decent-sized ripple with the youngsters, but not a big splash.
And without the kids, you can sell an album for one week
to your base, and thats it. No matter how great it is.

So the Stones simply said "fuck it, we're not gonna release
our best shit and have it ignored. All that would do is hurt
our reputation and ticket sales. So if that means nothing
gets released til after there is no more Stones, so be it"

But now theyve got a plan for this Christmas time. A massive
release of strong new material with a sharply focused marketing
campaign. 2023 is only about this big big album that shows
off every facet of the Stones and every genre that theyve
mastered. Its not about Edmonton Canada. This album will
greatly enhance their legacy, whether it goes viral or not. Because
of its sheer size and audacity. A rock'n'roll Burj Khalifa.

Back to BV's fictional Tour: According to BV, literally two days
ago 14 contracts had been signed and the announcement was
scheduled for Friday, but now suddenly for no "critical" reason
theyve decided to pay all those big cancellation penalties
and just walk away.

What a silly premise. Some of you people will believe anything.

As planned, no tour this year. Probably next year, the southern
hemisphere early, the USA late summer, Europe 2025.

This year its just the ALBUM and the smaller venue gigs
promoting it. Focus your ticket efforts there. Start with
the SNL season 49 opener (date TBD)