Rolling Stones Together For First Time In Years

The Rolling Stones are getting back to work. Keith Richards has confirmed plans for the band to meet in London later this month, rehearsing for the first time in "three or four years". While three of the four members are planning to attend, Richards said, Mick Jagger has still not given his RSVP.

"We're just going to play a little together," Richards told Rolling Stone magazine. "You don't necessarily want to rehearse or write anything – you just want to touch bases. That's a good start: me, Charlie and Ronnie. Mick's welcome, and I'm sure he'll turn up, but right now we just want to get our chops down."

Although the Rolling Stones will celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2012, a feud has grown between Richards and Jagger since the publication of the guitarist's memoir, Life. In his book, Richards calls Jagger "unbearable" and makes fun of his "tiny todger". "I used to love Mick, but I haven't been to his dressing room in 20 years," Richards writes. Sometimes I think, 'I miss my friend'. I wonder, 'Where did he go?'" Jagger later called the book "tedious" and "a bit bitchy".

Worse, Jagger was rumoured to have put the brakes on a 2011 tour. "Everybody's ready to go out there again," Richards said last November. A band spokesman later denied plans for a tour. Jagger meanwhile recorded album with SuperHeavy, a supergroup featuring Dave Stewart, Joss Stone, Damian Marley and AR Rahman.

In an interview with the Observer this Sunday, the Stones talked to Elizabeth Day about the possibility of a 50th-anniversary tour. Opinion differered between band members. Ronnie Wood spoke of having a foot operation next month in case a tour transpired: "50 years! It's got to be done." Richards was also enthusiastic, saying he dreamed of it, but Charlie Watts said he wasn't bothered either way. As for Jagger, he was keeping his cards close to his chest: "I have no idea. We don't really get together that much as a group."by sean michaels

In addition to the expanded Exile on Main Street, released last year, a deluxe edition of Some Girls is due on 21 November. The Rolling Stones' last album was 2005's A Bigger Bang.