Stones reach over Bridges of Babylon

It would seem that they just can't get no satisfaction from staying at home with their families, because once again the grand-daddies of rock, the Rolling Stones, are setting off on tour - to promote their new album Bridges of Babylon.

But the bridges of Babylon being few and far between, the band had to make do with the Brooklyn Bridge in New York for the announcement of the tour which begins next month in Chicago.

Riding to the carefully staged presentation in an open top Cadillac, the elderly rockers - Mick, Keith, Charlie and Ron - came to tell the world more or less what they have been saying for the last 20 years: No, this would not be their last tour and, yes, they were pleased with their new record they described as "fance" - a mixture of funk and dance music.

"We're up for it. We're really pumped up for it," Jagger said of the tour, which is expected to come to Britain in the spring. Asked how playing live was different now to when they began in 1963, Jagger shrugged: "We do a lot of the same songs. It's the same gig, we do the same thing."

If there is any difference from outings past, it is that the concerts will be held in a mixture of stadiums, arenas and small clubs. "It's hard out there, just playing the big concerts becomes a rote thing," said Richards.

Bridges to Babylon, which will be released on 30 September, has long been the subject of rumour within the record business. Reports have placed the relationship between Jagger and Richards at an all-time low. The two apparently refuse to work together in the same studio and record on alternate days. Invited to kiss and make up, neither jumped at the opportunity. "We always spar," Jagger said.