London, July 26: Mick Jagger turns 60 this weekend and plans to celebrate with 60,000 admirers. The Rolling Stones singer, who once sang "What a drag it is getting old," is in no rush to reach for his pipe and slippers.
On his birthday Saturday, Jagger will be flying from Hamburg to Prague, the latest stop on the band's European tour.
"He is having a private party with the band and friends in Prague," said a spokesman for the wrinkly rocker with the pouting lips and swiveling hips.
Then Sunday, he will be springing up on stage to entertain 60,000 people at Prague National Stadium on their "40 Licks" tour that wraps up in mid-September in London.
Like former Beatle Paul McCartney, now 61, Jagger revels in touring the world's rock stadiums. Performing live is still the ultimate buzz for the two Swinging Sixties icons.
Two years ago, when Jagger became the front page spread in Saga, a magazine for the over-50s, British tabloids had a field day mocking the personification of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.
"Sittin' Jack Flash, the pipe 'n' slippers pin-up," said a mocking Daily Mail.
But the evergreen rocker, one of Britain's richest entertainers with a personal wealth estimated by newspapers at $300 million, has had the last laugh.
Devoted Sixties fans have stayed loyal. Jagger's swagger and unique voice still fill stadiums with middle-aged devotees high on nostalgia.
Tabloids revel in tales of Jagger's philandering and his apparent determination to grow old disgracefully.
"They want you to be like you were in 1969," Jagger once said. "They want you to because otherwise their youth goes with you. It's very selfish but it is understandable."
Indeed several British rockers are busy proving that age is no barrier to celebrity.
Ozzy Osbourne, 54, is arguably better known now thanks to his MTV reality show than he ever was as Black Sabbath's lead singer and Tom Jones, 63, still has adoring female fans throwing their knickers on the stage.
Jagger, however, has found on this tour that underwear adulation cuts both ways.
When the Rolling Stones appeared in Munich, men's underpants were hurled from the crowd. "I don't know what that says," a clearly amused Jagger said. "They left all the girls at home or whatever, I don't know."
Bureau Report