Stones are set to roll again

The Rolling Stones are to go on tour 43 years after their first gig - and with a combined age of 242.

Sources close to the band say it could be the last time Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, both 61, Charlie Watts, 63, and Ronnie Wood, 57, go on the road. The tour, which coincides with a new album, will start in Boston, Massachusetts, on 21 August. It will keep them travelling for at least a year.

"It's their biggest and best tour," a source said. It is reported today that the band will become the first to play the new Wembley stadium in June next year.

Many fans had feared their Forty Licks 2002 tour would be the band's last as Watts has been diagnosed with throat cancer.

The source said: "People joke about them being wrinkly old blokes, but they are still one of the best groups live."

The band can call on a peerless back catalogue that includes Wild Horses, Gimme Shelter and Jumpin' Jack Flash, which featured in a recent Q magazine list of "must-have" tracks.