Foreign Tongues by the Rolling Stones and Mexico, one of the most loyal markets. Hope they tour here.
Foreign Tongues in Mexico?
Photo Cover of the Foreign Tounges Album.
Mexico is one of the Rolling Stones’ most loyal Latin American territories, hosting repeated stadium shows and sustaining a strong rock audience. Their new album,Foreign Tongues, is being pushed through Universal’s local channels in a targeted campaign to this dedicated fan base, so I am hearing it on the radio and seeing it covered at local concerts. It’s too soon to know what sales will be like in Mexico, but the Stones’ performance here suggests it will break records.
So,I am optimistic. At 80‑plus, the Rolling Stones produced an album that is being widely hailed as a late‑career triumph: four‑star reviews from The Guardian, The Independent and The Irish Times, marveling at the band’s energy and contemporary focus. I agree.
For me, here at Music Sin Fronteras, my take is they have pulled it off again. Here is my critique:
I think the opening song, “Rough and Twisted” will become a classic, “In the Starts” is gripping, “You Know I’m No good” is strong, but not a breakout; “Mr. Charm” ties to capture the mystique of “Sympathy for the Devil” but misses, “Jealous Lover” sounds odd because of Mick’s high register on the song. “Divine Intervention” is musically more complex than many Stones blues rock tunes and requires a second listening, as does “Never Want to Lose You.”
“Ringing Hollow” is Stones country, and it works, although it is not as powerful as their driving blues rock. “Hit Me in the Head” is a pull-out-all-the-stops, full-on Sones hard rock and may eventually be one of the album’s top singles. “Some of Us” feels like filler and could have been left off the album. Finally, the wrap-up song, “Covered in You,” sounds like Mick is trying too hard.
Back to Mexico. The Stones have played Mexico City multiple times, drawing massive crowds at Foro Sol and earlier at the Autódromo, including tours in 1998, 2006, and 2016 as part of their Latin America Olé run. Those shows drew tens of thousands and were treated as major cultural events. The 2016 “Olé Olé Olé!” Latin American tour and its documentary drew huge, multigenerational crowds across the region, culminating in the historic free show for an estimated 1 million people in Havana, Cuba.
I want them to tour the album. Mick Jagger told the media that the Stones “hope to tour” the new album and “see everyone on the road,” and Keith Richards has teased that any tour would be “next year.” So, who knows, maybe Mexico City in 2027. A guy can hope.
Patrick O’Heffernan