Stones set to roll, one more time

“I have to figure out when it’s a good time to go out … and if it’s the right thing to do at that moment,” Rolling Stones superstar and frontman Mick Jagger says on the evergreen matter of getting the band back together.

“It’s all about the right moment … both artistic and commercial. Sometimes, the moment’s not good because there’s like a hundred other bands out there. It’s like the movie business,” Jagger adds.

“When you can’t release a movie at certain times, you have to pick a moment.”

Earlier this week, that moment arrived in Australia, as Jagger, 71, and guitarist Ronnie Wood, 67, jetted into Adelaide ahead of guitarist Keith Richards, 70, and drummer Charlie Watts, 73.

Jagger apparently called that tune, too, summoning the Stones for a full week of rehearsals in South Australia before they relight their 14 On Fire tour on October 25. They follow the Adelaide show with concerts in Perth ((October 29, November 1), Melbourne (November 5), Hanging Rock (November 8), Sydney (November 12), the Hunter Valley (November 15) and Brisbane (November 18).

Sir Mick has already delighted locals, strolling around the city, and dining at restaurants with no fuss … and a little less tomato in the sauce he politely orders with his pasta.

Camillo Crugnale, of Assagio Ristorante, said: “We’ve had astronauts, basketball stars and other identities, and I have never seen the whole room in silence.”

Richards had a stopover in Fiji en route to Adelaide to fight jet lag. “The jet lag is the hardest thing,” he told the Press Association. “Everybody’s waking up and tripping over each other and falling asleep in rehearsals.”

But with $ 120 million in box office receipts for 14 On Fire already, and record-smashing outings of the past, including $ 150 million for 40 Licks and $ 205 million made on Voodoo Lounge, there is plenty to keep this multi-billion dollar music empire wide awake.

Indeed, Jagger says success keeps the Stones rolling, even after 50 years of making music.

“I don’t think we stayed together only for the success,” he explains, “but I think if we hadn’t had the success, I don’t think we would have stayed together.

“Why would you stay together if you weren’t successful? You need the love of other people wanting you to do it. It’s a two-way street.”

Jagger is still fit and wiry — in life, and for the shows.

“There’s no secret, really,” he says, casually. “I was born like that. You have to do a bit of work when you get over 30. When you get over 30, then you have to go to the gym. Before 30, you don’t have to worry.”

He doesn’t worry yet about the prospect of being unable to move like Jagger. He grins: “I’m sure it will happen, but it hasn’t happened for the moment, so we don’t look at the clouds of tomorrow through the sunshine of today.”

Tragically, Jagger faced a very dark chapter this year when his long-time girlfriend, fashion designer L’Wren Scott, took her own life.

Jagger and the Stones were in Perth, preparing to play shows, when he got the devastating news. A national run from March to April was cancelled.

“I am still struggling to understand how my lover and best friend could end her life in this tragic way,” Jagger said in a statement released after Scott’s passing.

“We spent many wonderful years together and had made a great life for ourselves. She had great presence and her talent was much admired, not least by me.”

He added: “I will never forget her.”

Jagger attended a memorial service for Scott in early May and, weeks later, rejoined the Stones in Europe.

“I’m doing OK,” Jagger told US news show, Today, in July. “It’s difficult. Very hard year. But I got back into it with touring with the Stones … doing other things. [I’ve gotten] a lot of support and I really appreciate that.”

Obviously, for Jagger, the Stones is family, too.

A very slick and profitable juggernaut, the Rolling Stones tour machine was one studied by the US Army for clues on how to make their operations more efficient.

“We’ve got 300 people on this thing with us, in some shape or form. And this organisation, really, is a microcosm,” Richards told me backstage on the 40 Licks tour.

“Let me put it this way: we’ve had the army and navy come in mufti to see how our guys put the stage up without an order being given.

“I suppose it would be very handy in an army if they didn’t have to yell, ‘Right, Squadron 3, do this now!”

“They’re amazed at how we run this. And to be honest, I can’t tell them how it got this way.

“I am attracted to that feeling. It’s a big organisation, but everybody works at it.

“We improvise, adapt and overcome. There is something to be said for that.’’

He added: “We are not doing this … for money. You couldn’t buy Charlie Watts if he didn’t want to do it.

“There is passion, but nobody in the band talks about it in terms of passion or a quest. We don’t need to. It’s either there or it isn’t,” Richards said.

“This is not a matter of regurgitating or nostalgia. Somewhere inside us all there is a feeling that, yeah, there is a lot more to be found out yet.’’

Richards has famously described the Rolling Stones Inc as a “mom-and-pop business”.

“There is Mick and me — that’s Mom and Pop,” he once told me.

“As far as running this thing, if Mom agrees with Pop, we’ve got a deal. If Mom doesn’t agree with Pop, china is flying all over the place and nothing gets done.

“Of course, Mick and I fight all the time about who’s Mom and who’s Pop,’’ Richards chuckled, cigarette in one hand, vodka and orange in the other. “Nobody wants to wear the frock.”

On tour, the Stones run the show.

Jagger insists on an hour of total privacy on show days. “It’s not like he shuts himself away and says, ‘Don’t f—ing come near me!’ It is his time to retreat,” Jake Berry, their longtime production manager, told me once.

“I mean, imagine being Mick Jagger for a day. You can’t take your kids to the cinema because you get mobbed, you can’t have a quiet evening because you’re accused of dating somebody.

“Therefore, we — meaning this close circle we travel with — respect his private time for an hour or two each day.”

Richards and Wood like to play snooker pre-show.

“My requirements are simple,’’ Richards said. “What needs to be right, every time, is the show.

“Then, the temperament and ambience among the people in the band has to be right.”

Watts spends show days with his family.

Jagger says he likes to write songs in his downtime, too.

“I find you have to do other kind of work as well. You get pretty lost really if you don’t,” he says. “Ronnie does a lot of painting and I do a lot of song writing — that’s my thing.”

Jagger reveals he doesn’t romanticise about songs after they’re done, either. When you consider the Stones iconic back catalogue, that’s a big call.

“I don’t really have favourites. I don’t listen to Rolling Stones albums,” Jagger says. “I listen to the songs when we go on tour to decide which work where, but we’ve never done a whole album on stage,” he says.

He doesn’t have a preferred Stones period, either. “I think there are distinct sounds and they belong to certain times,” Jagger says. “It’s all interesting.”

Family, Jagger says, kept him stable through every era of Stones superstardom. “I had a lot of unstable moments,” he laughs. “But I had a very centred upbringing. That helped.

“When you’re young and you have a close family life, it helps you to be centred for later.”

Asked what advice he gives to his seven children, Jagger laughs: “Don’t take life too seriously and always remember, it’s just a passing fad.”

Sir Mick calls the tune. Yet again.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

A typical day on the Rolling Stones tour

8am-4pm: Production crew loads staging and equipment in at venue.

4pm: Rolling Stones arrive at venue.

4.30pm-5.30pm: Soundcheck.

6pm-9pm: Retreat to backstage area and dressing rooms.

9.15pm: On stage.

11.30pm: Rolling Stones leave the venue.

What the Rolling Stones need

Five star accommodation.

Private jet for travel interstate.

BMW or Mercedes limousines.

Vehicles must be black with tinted windows.

Mick Jagger

“I really require lots of rehearsal … lots of sleep … and lots of privacy.”

Charlie Watts

“I don’t have a rider. I think they’re silly. I hate having people around me, except my wife and daughter.”

Ronnie Wood

“Having your life mapped out for you for the next few years is great.”

Keith Richards

“What needs to be right, every time, is the show. Then, the temperament and ambience among the people in the band has to be right.”

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