Rolling Stones to tour North America this year, report says

By Mikael Wood

March 9, 2013 12 AM PT

The Rolling Stones may soon be rolling Stateside.

In the wake of last year’s well received 50th-anniversary shows in London, Brooklyn and New Jersey, the legendary English band is planning a North American tour, according to Rolling Stone magazine, which quoted a “concert business source.” The trek, reportedly set to launch May 2, is to include 18 shows in West Coast cities including L.A. and Seattle. “But I think they’re going to do some back East as well,” said another source.

PHOTOS: Rolling Stones through the years

Though the Stones haven’t released a new studio album since 2005’s “A Bigger Bang,” last year’s 50 & Counting mini-tour demonstrated that demand to see the band live still runs high: With over 73,000 tickets sold, according to Billboard, the five shows grossed nearly $39 million.

In November guitarist Ronnie Wood told The Times that a month-long stretch of five-hour rehearsals in Paris had gotten the Stones “up to a point we’ve never been before.” Frontman Mick Jagger added that the practice allowed the band to let go onstage. “You store up a lot of ammunition so you can do anything you want,” he said.

Rumors ran high earlier this year that the Stones were to play next month’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. That turned out not to be the case, but now the Coachella buzz has been replaced by speculation that the band will appear at England’s Glastonbury Festival in June.

Speaking this week to MTV, Sergio Pizzorno of the British band Kasabian said he doubts his group’s performance at June’s Hard Rock Calling will be the most memorable of that weekend “because the Rolling Stones are playing Glastonbury.” The official lineup for Glastonbury has yet to be announced.

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Follow Mikael Wood on Twitter: @mikaelwood