Mick Jagger recalls why The Rolling Stones cancelled ‘nightmare’ tour in support of an album dubbed ‘not special’

A tour from legendary rock band The Rolling Stones was cancelled as, according to Mick Jagger, it was a “nightmare”.

With the tour looking too daunting, the decision to cancel their series of concert dates was made as the album was “not special”. In an interview given to Rolling Stone Magazine founder Jann Wenner, Jagger explained the reasons for dropping the Dirty Work tour, and that the band were relieved to have gotten out of the tour. Asking about “the last album The Rolling Stones made” before Jagger and Keith Richards’ fallout, the frontman said it was “not special” as a record. Jagger has since reflected on the “terrible period” for the band, and if they had toured it would have been “the end of the band”.

Jagger said: “Touring Dirty Work would have been a nightmare. It was a terrible period. Everyone was hating each other so much; there were so many disagreements. It was very petty; everyone was so out of their brains, and Charlie was in seriously bad shape.

“When the idea of touring came up, I said, ‘I don’t think it’s gonna work.’ In retrospect I was a hundred percent right. It would have been the worst Rolling Stones tour. Probably would have been the end of the band.”

Despite the group coming to the conclusion that a tour would be impossible, Richards was reportedly very upset with Jagger. The frontman confirmed by saying simply “oh, yeah,” when asked if Richards was upset.

Richards would later reflect on the Dirty Work period for the band and came around to agreeing it was a “necessary hiatus” for the group. His experience as a frontman of X-Pensive Winos had him appreciating Jagger’s role in the group far more than he had around the time of Dirty Work. He told Apple Music: “It was a weird period.

“Looking back on it now, it was a necessary hiatus. Once we started back again, I felt stronger than I had for a long time. I had learned a lot more about being the frontman. In other words, I came back to the Stones with a lot more knowledge of what Mick’s job entails.

“And it’s quite surprisingly different, you’re out there all the time. I mean, you are nonstop. With the Stones, I can slide my time. But doing the Winos, while I was working the Winos, singing and playing guitar too, that tightened me up a lot.”

The Rolling Stones would get back together and continue to tour, with their most recent shows taking place in 2024. The band are reportedly working on a new album to follow up their 2023 album, Hackney Diamonds. Their 2023 release was their first without long-time drummer Charlie Watts, who died in 2021.