Keith Richards will celebrate his 79th birthday on Dec. 18, and the Rolling Stones are still announcing new shows.

The Rolling Stones have achieved the impossible. The band formed in 1962 and began their first tour in 1964. They’ve played over 2000 live shows, an unthinkable number for anyone who lives by the standards of a normal aging curve. They celebrated during the summer of 2022 with the Sixty tour in Europe.

The timeless career of the Rolling Stones could never be put into perspective better than it was by a memorable line in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous.

The Irony of the Rolling Stones in Almost Famous

The 2000 film focuses on the fictional rock band Stillwater and a young journalist who follows them on their 1973 tour. It celebrates the beauty of music in the context of Rock & Roll during the 1970s.

Of all the thought-provoking and ironic lines of the movie, a comment about the Rolling Stones stands out above the rest.

When Stillwater brings on a new manager sent by their fancy record company, they’re skeptical about the major change. However, the concert venue expert (played by a young Jimmy Fallon) makes a convincing speech about seizing the day at the height of Rock & Roll.

“As much as you may believe this is going to last forever, it does not. You’ve got to take what you can, when you can, while you can, and you’ve got to do it now. That’s what the big boys do. If you think Mick Jagger will still be out there trying to be a rock star at age 50, you’re sadly, sadly mistaken.”

Sure, the line landed smoothly in 2000 when Jagger was 57 and Richards was 56. Somehow, the irony of the line developed an entirely new level as it aged over two decades.

The world of Rock & Roll has talked for years about how the Rolling Stones have accomplished the unthinkable, yet they just keep accomplishing it again and again.

 

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