The Rolling Stones have canceled UK and European stadium tour plans in 2026 because guitarist Keith Richards has not been able to “commit” to the musical tour due to his physical condition, as reported by ‘Variety’ and ‘The Sun’.
Both media outlets point out that Richards, who turned 82 this Thursday, has told his bandmates that he cannot commit to the tour. “The Rolling Stones had all the big promoters pitching them a bunch of ideas and dates for next summer, But when they sat down to talk, Keith said he didn’t think he could commit and wasn’t excited about a big stadium tour for over four months.“, they say.
In recent years, Keith Richards has faced the arthritis he suffers from, a disease that he himself described as benign, but which has forced him to change his playing style. As ‘Variety’ notes, The Rolling Stones have toured almost every year since the early 2000s, with increasingly shorter itineraries as the three core members — Mick Jagger, 82, Ron Wood, 78, and Richards — aged.
The original drummer, Charlie Watts, He passed away in 2021 and was replaced by Richards’ long-time collaborator Steve Jordan.. The band’s most recent tour was ‘Hackney Diamonds’, named after their latest album, which included 20 dates in North America over three months.
The group’s last concert in Spain was on June 2, 2022, at the current Riyadh Air Metropolitano in Madrid, known at that time as Wanda Metropolitano.