Mick Jagger - My Job Isn't to 'Lecture' Audiences About Politics

In recent years, many artists – such as Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello – have doubled down on incorporating governmental views into their concerts. When asked about his thoughts on the practice – and his relationship with fans in general – Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger explained why his job isn’t to “lecture” audiences about politics.

Jagger’s Relationship With Audiences + Not Getting Political in Concert

Jagger was recently a guest on one of the New York Times’ podcasts, The Interview (uploaded to YouTube on July 11), to discuss the band’s latest studio album – Foreign Tongues – among many other topics.

About one-third of the way into their hour-long chat, host David Marchese prompted Jagger to discuss his “relationship with [his] audience.” Marchese also contextualized by mentioning how the crowd at a Bob Dylan show almost “feels . . . incidental” to him performing, whereas Springsteen “clearly sees his job as engaging in a meaningful back-and-forth with his audience.”

Finally, Marchese asked: “What does your relationship to the audience mean to you?”

“Well, first of all, it depends [on] where you are and what kind of event it is,” Jagger began, continuing:

Like, the New Orleans event [the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which the Rolling Stones played for the first time in 2024]. That’s a festival; they didn’t come to see you necessarily. They bought their tickets before they knew you were coming. Then, we do Summer in the Park [British Summer Time Hyde Park] in London, [and] you buy those tickets. Glastonbury – you buy those tickets because you like that festival. . . . So, they’re not necessarily coming to see – they’re not your biggest fans necessarily. I’m not saying they hate you; otherwise, they probably wouldn’t be there. There’s different levels of these kinds of people, and you have to treat them in a slightly different way.

Then, Jagger discussed how that consideration leads to him avoiding politics during shows:

The bottom line . . . is that my job in [the] live music world is to [make sure attendees] have the best time they possibly can. . . . [and] to forget all their problems and the problems of the world. Their mortgages and whatever. . . . Just [so they can have] the best time. It’s similar to going to a sports event, really. Everything else is shut out. You’re just watching [to see] who’s going to win. You’re not worried about everything else. You know? Those things are out of your mind. . . . . You don’t want to be trying to churn them up into [getting] frustrated that they’re not being demonstrative. Or, you don’t think they’re having a good time. . . . Your job is to make them go more apeshit [about the festival]. . . . You don’t want to lecture them.

That said, Jagger clarified that he’s not opposed to incorporating some politics into the Rolling Stones’ songwriting.

Specifically, he touched upon how he “wouldn’t have written any” of the songs on Foreign Tongues “when [he] was 30, adding:

I’ve also gotten into this habit of doing songs that are about personal relationships and then I throw a verse about politics in there. I think that’s a trick . . . that I’ve learned from other songwriters . . . because nobody wants to hear a whole song about politics . . . or social comment of any kind. Like . . . a blues song like “Rough and Twisted” is really just stream-of-consciousness, honestly. You talk about women and everything, and then you throw in stuff that’s obviously political. “The only club was called Conspiracy . . . / All they wanted was tyranny.” So, you find yourself using these tricks.

You can watch Mick Jagger’s entire interview with The Interview below:

Mick Jagger Discusses Foreign Tongues + More (July 11, 2026)

Other Mick Jagger + The Rolling Stones News

As mentioned above, Foreign Tongues is The Rolling Stones’ latest studio LP (and follow-up to 2023’s Hackney Diamonds). It released this past Friday on Polydor/Capitol and has thus far received positive reviews from publications such as Ultimate Classic Rock and Rolling Stone.

In the same chat with Marchese [transcribed by Ultimate Classic Rock], Jagger confirmed that it’s indeed a drag getting old: "There’s nothing good about it. . . . I forgot all my wisdom. I might have had a couple of pearls drop, but I’ve already forgotten what they are! So, no, it’s not particularly pleasant. You can’t do things as quickly as you want to. Physically you’ve got to be more careful.”

Last Wednesday (July 8), Jagger and Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood played a previously unreleased track called “Ringing Hollow” during the band’s Foreign Tongues listening party at the St. Clement Hotel in London. Speaking to MOJO magazine this month – and in expanding upon the topic of Jagger and politics – Jagger explained [via Louder]:

[“Ringing Hollow” is] about America as an idea. The American Dream is intact for some people, and I’m sure we can find some wonderful immigrant stories that happened in the last 12 months, but we read about the decline of the American Empire. Is the Iran war America’s Suez moment? Well, it’s not the same at all, but there are a lot of questions about imperial overreach and the lobbying system. The money spent on an election is absurd – it’s not corruption per se but unnecessary. Is it indicative of this administration, or is it something has been happening a long time? In any case, it’s not the same place as it was.

Plus, Jagger recently told NME that there “could be a trio [of records]” to follow Foreign Tongues. In fact, he’s “already started writing songs” (although they “could be for other people”).

So, do you agree with Jagger’s stance on keeping politics out of concerts? Let us know!