"Forty Licks" marks the first time the Rolling Stones' ABKCO-owned masters (which encompass the band's 1963-1970 London/Decca recordings) and post-ABKCO recordings have co-existed on the same project. ABKCO head Allen Klein previously rejected any offers to blend the two.

"I thought it was a good time to get all these different business groups and bang their heads together and see if they could click this thing out," Jagger says, jokingly adding that he got the parties to agree to the project "by playing on their mutual sense of greed."

Klein says money was not his only impetus for doing the deal. Rather, it was Jagger's appeal and Klein's own sentimentality. "I mean, if this was going to possibly be their last tour and given the amount of time that had gone by ... I would do it for them and not for anyone else." He adds that ABKCO and the Stones actually hammered out a deal in 1989 that allowed for the eventual joint release of an album.

Simply because all parties have finally worked together, Jagger says it does not mean that fans should expect a more comprehensive Stones boxed set: "It sounds like too much hard work. Besides, there's a reason why some of this stuff doesn't come out. Don't hold your breath on that one."

The Stones prefaced the year-long Licks tour by rehearsing for six weeks in Toronto prior to opening Sept. 3 at Boston's FleetCenter. It's not that the band needed to practice "Brown Sugar" or "Jumpin' Jack Flash." "We don't rehearse those," Richards says. "But what we do is rehearse a hundred old songs. Since we're playing [different-size venues], we decided we really needed a lot more ammunition in the locker, so to speak, in order to be able to make the shows appreciably different." He adds that he was especially happy with the way some oldies, like "Heart of Stone," were resurrecting themselves. "I don't think we've played that song in I can't remember when ... slightly before B.C."

To keep things lively, the band will play a theater, arena, and stadium in its biggest markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston. The bulk of the rest of the first leg's 40 dates are arena shows. Openers include No Doubt, the Pretenders, Sheryl Crow, Buddy Guy, and Jonny Lang.

The band has been considering all manner of surprises for the concerts. "With the smaller shows, we've been thinking that we need some kind of theme — you know, like this is 'Exile on Main St.' night and sort of lean heavily into that album," Richards explains. "Another idea is, 'Let's have a soul night or a blues night.'"

Jagger says, "The whole idea is that you enjoy them all so that you don't get bored doing one thing. I mean, it's a show for the audience, but you've also got to enjoy yourself." Richards chimes in: "Football stadiums — as big and beautiful and spectacular and wonderful as they are — I tell you, after about a hundred of 'em, you get bored."