The Rolling Stones followed up the announcement of their new album, Foreign Tongues — on Tuesday at noon ET — with a launch party later that afternoon at The Weylin, an opulent event space housed in the former Williamsburgh Savings Bank in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York.
Like the launch party in London for their previous album, 2023’s Hackney Diamonds, which was hosted by Jimmy Fallon, they turned to another late night host, albeit a retired one, Conan O’Brien, to lead them in a Q&A session.
Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood entered through an old vault door and took the stage while O’Brien gushed about it being the “gig of a lifetime,” and how much he loved the album.
In between jokes, they managed to give a little insight into the album.
Mick Jagger explained how Robert Smith of The Cure came to sing on the album, saying, “I turned up one day to do my vocals in London and there’s this bloke standing there with his back to me with a long gown on. When he turned round he was covered in lipstick. We’d never met before and I said, ‘You are Robert Smith of The Cure!’ And he said, ‘Yeah!’ That’s how collaborations work sometimes.”
Like Hackney Diamonds, Paul McCartney plays bass on one song on Foreign Tongues. Ronnie Wood joked, saying McCartney decided it was time to check an item off his bucket list so he can say, “I’ve played with the Rolling Stones. Wow!”
The song that their late drummer Charlie Watts plays on is titled “Hit Me in the Head.” Jagger says they recorded it in Los Angeles, calling it a “real fast punk rocker. It’s a super fast song.”
The event also included the playback of three songs — the new single, “In the Stars,” along with “Jealous Lover” and “Mr. Charm” — and the premiere of the video for “In the Stars,” which stars actress Odessa A’zion, who was in attendance, and a very young looking Jagger singing the song in a club with several other musicians.
Among those in attendance were the album’s producer Andrew Watt, actor Leonardo DiCaprio, skier Lindsay Vonn, Christie Brinkley, director Baz Luhrmann, and Jason Isbell.
This was the second time the Stones have announced an album in Brooklyn under a bridge, as The Weylin sits next to the Williamsburg Bridge. The first time was in 1997 for Bridges to Babylon, which was held alongside the Brooklyn Bridge.
Foreign Tongues will be released on July 10th.
