Gary Flockhart: Cos Stones are Stones and not fade away

ARE The Rolling Stones ready to gather moss? That was the word on the street after rumours began doing the rounds that Mick Jagger and co are to put the famous tongue and lips to rest, with plans to bow out during a last ever show at next year’s Glastonbury.

It was also said that all four members are in agreement that next year would be the right moment to call time on the band.

Nothing new there. Every other year we hear speculation that the Stones are going to headline Glasto, mainly because they are one of the few legends never to have done so. And every other year we hear that the wrinkly rockers are planning to retire, not disgracefully but gracefully. As if.

When contacted the band’s representatives insisted there is no truth in either rumour. No great surprise there.

What seems more likely is that the band will return to the road in 2013. Mick, Keef, Ronnie and Charlie had plans to mark their 50th anniversary with a series of UK gigs this year, but ill health put that on hold.

Nothing has been announced yet, but this could mean a rare visit to Edinburgh, with the city’s 60,000-capacity Murrayfield Stadium looking like the obvious venue.

Sticky fingers crossed for that. The Stones remain one of the few living legends I’ve never seen live that I would love to.

This stems from when I was a kid and my mum regaling me with tales of seeing them during their pomp in the Sixties.

She remembers these gigs as non-stop screamathons in which you could hardly hear the music over the thousands of girls yelling at the top of their lungs.

And yes, she admits she was making just as much noise as the next beehive-sporting, mini-skirt-wearing teenybopper.