Ronnie Wood says the Stones owe it to fans to do 50th anniversary show(s)

Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood has been open about telling the media that he wants the Rolling Stones to do another tour. And in an interview with the U.K. newspaper the Birmingham Mail, Wood makes it clear that he thinks the band should perform at least one show in 2012, the year that is the 50th anniversary of the Rolling Stones becoming a band.

Even more encouraging news: Wood says that all of the members of the Rolling Stones (Wood, lead singer Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards and drummer Charlie Watts) got on well with each other at a recent band meeting. (As previously reported, the band was seen meeting at a London office building on September 7, 2011.) There has been much speculation that lingering tension between Richards and Jagger was holding up any plans for the Rolling Stones to tour again.

Wood tells the Birmingham Mail how he feels about the Rolling Stones' 50th anniversary:

“It does make you feel like playing. I miss playing with the boys... Charlie is cracking away on the continent with his jazz band, Keith is making his record in New York, Mick is like, forever, getting into different musical... we are not getting any younger.”

"We’re all looking forward to that, whatever it is. We don’t know what we’re going to do. I said to them, ‘We owe it to ourselves and the people to do something’ … Whatever, we will find a way. We had a great meeting the other week and we all got on great. And [we’ll] see what happens.”

Wood was recently at the Washington Green Fine Art offices in Birmingham, England, to promote some of his latest painting reproductions of his Rolling Stones concert portraits. In his Birmingham Mail interview, Wood says:

“People do not know I paint. They think I just play guitar with the Stones, it is not just a gimmick. My brothers were commercial artists. I tried to get a job as a scenic printer in films. It was difficult to get a job in art — there was always a union or a closed shop. If you didn’t know somebody, you couldn’t get a foot in.

“I always did sketches and stuff, when I was broke in New York. The history of my life is bad management, a fortune lost, then you build your empire again. I do really enjoy playing live, you get the feedback from the audience, we have interaction with the band, give and take, it’s magic. I am always learning new ways with art all the time. Art is my selfish thing.”

In related news about Wood's art work, Castle Galleries in Cardiff, Wales, will exhibit five of his paintings, as of October 22, 2011.

Ronnie Wood at a private party in London to celebrate the Menswear Day of London Fashion Week, on September 21, 2011

Credits:

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