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In the new issue of Rolling Stone, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and producer Don Was tell the story behind the Rolling Stones upcoming Exile on Main Street reissue, which is due May 18th in a variety of special editions — several of which feature 10 never-before-heard Stones tracks from the Exile era. At the end of our phoner with Richards, we asked about the possibility of a new Stones studio album in the near future. “There’s no definite plans, but I can’t see any of them stopping,” he says. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we did some recording later this year.” But the guitarist admits he’s uncertain whether any sort of tour would follow. “I don’t know how the rest of them feel about roadwork at the moment,” he tells RS. “Maybe we’ll search for a different way for the Stones to go back on the road. Maybe not the football stadiums anymore. Maybe something different. You can’t go around there in lemon-yellow tights forever.”

The intimate Rolling Stones: photos from the band’s 1969 tour.

Richards also addressed reports he had stopped drinking. “Listen, the rumors of my sobriety are greatly exaggerated,” he says. “And we’ll leave it at that.”

See the new issue of Rolling Stone for much more on the new Exile on Main Street reissue, Keith’s forthcoming memoir, the documentary that Johnny Depp is currently prepping about his life, and the next Stones album.

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“Carnegie Hall, I apologize for what I’m about to do,” said surprise guest Patti Smith last night at a Who tribute concert at the famed New York venue before launching into a snarling punk version of “My Generation,” during which she spit on the hallowed stage at least three separate times. (Iggy Pop did some damage to the very same stage at the Tibet House benefit last week.) Earlier in the night, Bobby McFerrin did the same song, though he used no instrument other than his mouth and the sound of his hand banging against his chest. Patti’s was stronger (mainly because it didn’t bear resemblance to the Cosby Show theme), but it proved that the Who’s vast catalog is strong enough to survive nearly any re-interpretation.

Check out our huge collection of Who photos.

The night — which was a benefit concert for numerous organizations including Music Unites — began with a children’s choir and the house band performing “Overture” and “Tommy Can You Hear Me.” They were followed by Living Colour, who did an absolutely killer funk-metal “Eminence Front.” It was a hard act to top, but Robyn Hitchcock’s acoustic “Substitute” and the Smithereens’ fierce one-two punch of “The Seeker” and “Sparks” came pretty close with an incredibly frantic energy. Bettye LaVette slowed things down with a beautiful torch ballad rendition of “Love Reign O’er Me” that was definitely the vocal highlight of the night.

Mose Allison, looking pretty spry for 82, was the only performer who did an original. He played “Young Man Blues” (which was a staple of the Who’s set list in the 1960s and ’70s) and its recent sequel “Old Man Blues.” Beatles cover band Fab Faux stepped one inch outside of their comfort zone by playing “Tommy’s Holiday Camp” and “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” Every note and harmony from the Tommy finale was hit with stunning precision. The Gaslight Anthem tore into “Baba O’Riley” Pearl Jam style, while Hüsker Dü’s Bob Mould dipped deep into the Who’s catalog for a frenzied cover of “Can’t Reach You” from The Who Sell Out. The night ended with all the performers jamming on a sloppy but fun “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” featuring an unprecedented two primal screams — one by Willie Nile and another by Nicole Atkins, who nailed it better than Daltrey has in quite some time.

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Slash didn’t have trouble finding a host of singers for his upcoming solo album, but the guitarist tells Rolling Stone the hunt for a new Velvet Revolver vocalist is still ongoing — and once he finishes touring behind his own record, tracking down a new frontperson is a priority. “I think Duff [McKagan] is doing something with Jane’s Addiction right now so we’re all sort of all over the place doing whatever until we can all regroup,” he says. “We did listen to a lot of singers, but there hasn’t been anybody that’s going to be the guy so far.”

Though a few big-name singers have offered themselves up for the job — including Slipknot’s Corey Taylor — Slash doesn’t think the new vocalist will be somebody as famous as original frontman Scott Weiland. “It’s really hard to do something with a voice that’s already really well known in an original band,” he says. “We want someone who is really good that hasn’t been recognized by the whole country as being amazing, but somebody who is just on the precipice of just being discovered.”

Slash also says the new singer will likely be easier to work with than Axl Rose and Weiland — two of the most famously volatile frontmen in rock history. “To give credit where credit is due, those are two of the most talented fucking rock & roll personalities and singers in the world,” he says. “It’s something about my personality that sees the good in everybody and fucking loves a challenge, likes the chaos and all that. I have no real regrets about working with either of them, but sometimes it was difficult to succeed.”

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Slash spent more time navigating red tape than laying down guitar lines for his self-titled solo disc, due in stores this April. “It took four months to make the record,” he says. “I had to write all the material then I had to make demos to send to all the singers. And then the thing that made it take the longest was getting releases from all the different artists’ record companies.” But the paperwork was well worth the effort since he got to settle into the studio with two of his heroes: Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy Kilmister.

“Sitting next to Ozzy while he’s writing lyrics and practicing the vocal is really fuckin’ a trip,” Slash says, explaining that Osbourne recorded his vocal parts at his own house. “I’ve been listening to Ozzy since I was like 13 years old.” Slash calls Lemmy “the embodiment of rock & roll” and adds, “Before we went into the studio I got a call from his guy saying, ‘OK, so we need potato chips and we need Jack Daniels, and it just reminded me of myself. And he came down with his bass and it was great.”

The disc also features Iggy Pop, Kid Rock, Adam Levine and the Black Eyed Peas’ Fergie, who Slash recently teamed with at Clive Davis’ Grammy party. “I think people are gonna trip when they hear do the stuff that Fergie is capable of doing,” he says. “I really wanted to do something with her so people could hear what her rock chops are like.”

Slash is currently assembling a rhythm section for his summer tour, but he’s hired Alter Bridge singer Myles Kennedy to handle the vocals. “He can sing anything,” says Slash. “It’s songs off this record and songs from Velvet Revolver and songs from Guns n’ Roses and Snakepit and his band. It’ll be a really cool show.” So will fans be permitted to don Axl Rose T-shirts at Slash’s solo gigs? (A rumor that Rose vehemently denies claimed Slash-wear was banned from Guns n’ Roses shows.) “Yes, go ahead!”

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As the final notes of “Cocaine” rang through Madison Square Garden last night, Jeff Beck quietly walked onto the stage next to Eric Clapton, sarcastically saluted his fellow guitar legend and launched into a jaw-dropping cover of Elmore James’ “Shake Your Money Maker.” For the next 40 minutes the former Yardbirds guitarists traded licks on songs by everyone from Willie Dixon to Sly Stone to Henry Mancini as the sold-out crowd reached a state of air guitar nirvana never before witnessed by man. At the end of the night they bowed to each other, as if they had just completed a karate match.

Forty years ago these two men — who are currently sharing the cover of Rolling Stone — were widely regarded as the two greatest guitarists of their time. After brief back-to-back stints in the Yardbirds (Beck replaced Clapton) they went on to the Jeff Beck Group and Cream, laying the groundwork for Led Zeppelin and all blues rock that followed. Since the early 1970s, however, the two men took radically different paths as Clapton made highly commercial rock and pop while Beck churned out highly un-commercial jazz-fusion and other instrumental projects. Beck went far off the pop grid, but his reputation survived fully intact and when he announced a co-headlining show with Clapton in Japan last year it created a frenzy that lead to a brief international tour.

Check out all of Rolling Stone’s guitar coverage and join the debate: who’s the best of all time?

Beck took the stage first, opening with “Eternity’s Breath” by the 1970s jazz-fusion group the Mahavishnu Orchestra. It’s hard to keep the attention of massive arena with a 40-minute instrumental set of largely unknown songs, but Beck pulled it off — aided by his killer band and a large string section. Some members of the crowd screamed for anything remotely familiar, like Beck’s famous cover of “People Get Ready,” but most sat quietly in awe as Beck’s guitar soared on songs like “Corpus Christy Carol” and the Puccini aria “Nessun Dorma.” The only song familiar to a classic rock audience was the Beatles “A Day In The Life,” which earned Beck a Grammy a few weeks ago.

After a brief break, Clapton opened with a brief acoustic set that mixed blues standards (”Driftin’ Blues,” “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out”) with Clapton originals like 1983’s “I’ve Got A Rock And Roll Heart.” He plugged in for a five-song set highlighted by the Derek and the Dominoes chestnut “Tell The Truth” and his famous cover of “I Shot The Sheriff.” The Bob Marley cover and J.J. Cale’s “Cocaine” were the only nod to his arsenal of radio hits, leaving tunes like “Wonderful Tonight,” “Tears In Heaven” and even “Layla” and “Sunshine Of Your Love” behind. Every basketball arena in this country has seen those songs about 87 times and he wisely realized enough’s enough.

The show reached a whole other level when Beck came out, as both guitarists were clearly playing at the absolute top of their game. An unexpected “Moon River” was particularly otherwordly, as Beck played the vocal melody on his guitar before Clapton stepped up to the mic and did his best Andy Williams. Cream’s “Outside Woman Blues” rocked significantly harder than when Cream themselves played it at MSG five yeas ago, and Sly Stone’s “I Want To Take You Higher” had the two guitarists trading solos back and forth so quickly it was often hard to tell who was playing what. It ended with Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads,” a song that hasn’t had much oomph for Clapton since his Cream days — but with Beck playing about three feet away from him it sounded fresh again.

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