The Rolling Stones launched their new album ‘Foreign Tongues‘ with a spectacular drone show and star studded party in London last night (July 8).
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Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood hosted friends, guests and the likes of Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Sam Fender, Sacha Baron Cohen, John McEnroe, Glen Matlock, and Vernon Kay at the St. Clement hotel.
Wood, Jagger and pianist Matt Clifford, a longtime collaborator to the frontman who also plays keyboard in The Rolling Stones’ touring band, also treated the crowd to an intimate live performance of album track ‘Ringing Hollow’, which you can view below.
“So this just happened in London…,” reads the caption to the clip on Instagram. “Mick and Ronnie have surprised guests at a special event, with a performance of ‘Ringing Hollow’, from the new album ‘Foreign Tongues’ – out this Friday!”
Following their performance, a spectacular, light show was staged over the River Thames, illuminating the London skyline with the band’s classic tongue and album artwork, above the London Eye and Big Ben.
The light show was linked to their recent release ‘In The Stars’. You can view footage below.
The display was created by internationally acclaimed designer Patrick Woodroffe, who said: “The music for the 500 drone light show was set to the new Stones song ‘In The Stars” and is a fitting metaphor to see the iconic and much loved Stones’ tongue hanging over the River Thames to celebrate a record made here in the city of London.”
Of the new album, The Rolling Stones said: “We put this album together in under a month at Metropolis Studios in our hometown of London – it was a lot of fun. The critics seem to like it, we hope everyone loves it!”
Their 25th studio album, is released tomorrow (July 10) via Polydor/Universal Music. The 14-track record has been produced by Andrew Watt, who also worked on ‘Hackney Diamonds’. Pre-order it here.
It features contributions from Paul McCartney, The Cure’s Robert Smith, Steve Winwood and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, as well as further posthumous appearances from Watts.
The first preview of the album arrived in April when the band shared a bluesy teaser under their old pseudonym The Cockroaches. They later released the singles ‘Rough And Twisted’ and ‘In The Stars’.
More recently, they shared two further singles from the record: the soulful ‘Jealous Lover’ and the rollicking ‘Divine Intervention’, which features Robert Smith on guitar.
The band have also launched an official podcast series, Speaking In Tongues, to accompany the album. The six-part series is narrated by Norah Jones and features new interviews with Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts.
Meanwhile, Jagger recently told NME that he is a fan of Sam Fender, hailing his album ‘People Watching’ as “excellent”.
He added: “I’ve had my Sam Fender moments lately, because I like a lot of his stuff. That ‘People Watching’ album was stunning. Yeah, I thought that album was excellent, earlier stuff I liked, you know, ‘Seventeen Going Under’, there’s some good stuff on that album.”
He also told us about the “very easy” experience of working with Paul McCartney on The Stones‘ new album.
