The Rolling Stones wrapped their 2012-2013 50 & Counting Tour on July 13th, at London's Hyde Park. Highlights on the tour included the two trek closing spots at Hyde Park -- marking the band's first appearance there since 1969, the Stones' first time as headliners at England's Glastonbury Festival, and their brief set at Madison Square Garden for the 12-12-12 benefit for Hurricane Sandy relief.

Apart from a trio of "impromptu" club dates -- two in Paris, one in L.A., the tour garnered far more press about the exorbitant ticket prices than the setlist. Although original bassist Bill Wyman appeared for a couple of numbers at the band's 2012 UK shows, he declined to travel to North America for such a limited amount of stage time. Former guitarist Mick Taylor frequently breathed new life into the Stones' live act by reprising some of his signature licks on such classics as "Midnight Rambler," "Can't You Hear Me Knocking," "Sway," and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," -- but by tour's end was usually allotted only two songs to play on each night -- three if there was no special guest.

The tour was most notable for the amount of indoor venues, which except for the three open air British shows played to arenas seating around 15-to-20,000. For the first time in their career -- perhaps in response to the negative press regarding the ticket prices -- nearly every show featured a special guest. Although many of the cameos were newsworthy, die-hard fans complained that the guest stars were mainly a distraction from the main event -- even from the handful of guests who also came from the rock world.

Over the course of the band's 2012-2013 50 & Counting dates, the Rolling Stones welcomed the following special guests: Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Florence Welch, Keith Urban, Gwen Stefani, Tom Waits, John Fogerty, Bonnie Raitt, Katy Perry, John Mayer, Dave Grohl, the Black Keys, Carrie Underwood, Taj Mahal, Sheryl Crow, Taylor Swift, Win Butler of Arcade Fire, Gary Clark Jr., Brad Paisley, and Aaron Neville.

Mick Jagger admits that although the Stones played up their bad boy tendencies in the mid-'60s, he's still amazed at how quickly the establishment chose to embrace the band: "But, y'know, in a funny way, we didn't really have a (laughs) choice, y'know? 'Okay, I'm gonna be an anti-hero now -- now I'm not going to be!' I had no real idea that our kinda slight scruffiness was going to turn into this anti-heroic act. In some ways, we were swept along with the tide, but we helped ourselves propel ourselves along with it."

Keith Richards revealed to us his standard for guitars these days -- for both his classic "Open G" as well as the normal, standard tuning: "For the five-string stuff, I use Fender Telecasters. But for the six-string, I've always been interested in trying different guitars that turn up to me. Some are given and some are found for me by Pierre (de Beauport), my guitar man. Pierre knows what interests me. So the Gibson (335), hell, the black Gibson I've been using a lot -- it's a lovely guitar. But I really like. . . y'know, sometimes you get a Gretsch, sometimes I get something that somebody's handmade themselves. I just love to experiment, really.”

Ron Wood told us that at this point, the Stones are sailing in uncharted waters: "We notice that we're cutting new ground, y'know, in that no bunch of guys have ever stuck together this long in the rock n' roll field."

Mick Taylor shed some light on "Midnight Rambler," which proved to be his star moment of the 50 & Counting shows: "It's very different from the recorded version for Let It Bleed, and it was always a highlight of the show -- one of the highlights -- in the show in the '70s, during my tenure with the Stones. Because it's a very bluesy, sort of swampy, kind of blues jam between me and -- well now, between me and Ronnie and Keith. The song was written by Mick and Keith. And it give Mick the opportunity to play some blues harmonica, as well, which he's very good at."

Charlie Watts admits that he's never even considered the Rolling Stones to be an institution: "I don't look at the Rolling Stones like that. Y'know, it just. . . they're a group of people that I know that become the Rolling Stones when they get together. Something happens around us when we play that is either magic, or (a) catastrophe -- whichever way you look at it. It always has done and I assume it always will."

Mick Jagger told us that whether they're playing a sweaty, smoky club or a 60,000 seat stadium -- about a third of the Stones' setlist has to be devoted to their legendary hits: "I figure there's about 10 songs that if you don't play them, people are gonna say, 'I wish they'd a played. . .' So, y'know, they're paying, y'know, good money to come and see you, and I don't see why you should disappoint them, just being difficult, 'I don't wanna play "Brown Sugar."' I mean, because they probably wanna hear it. I quite enjoy playing 'Brown Sugar,' but sometimes you don't want to. But anyway, there's about 10 of those."

When we caught up with Mick Taylor during his run with the band in December, he could sense that the band was starting to get limbered up for the road: "I think, uh, the Stones have always done things their own way and they will always continue to do things their own way. It's more than just nostalgia, it's, I think they just feel re-energized, possibly very enthusiastic about doing things in the future."

It seems as though the Rolling Stones' bad boy ways aren't quite a thing of the past. Guitarist Mick Taylor, who was a nightly special guest on the band's recently wrapped 50 & Counting Tour, revealed that he was actually in the process of cleaning up when "The Greatest Rock N' Roll Band In The Word" came calling again. Taylor admitted to Classic Rock magazine, "I was actually in rehab for 35 days, and I kind of got shanghai'd out of there on to the stage. I would've done it anyway. I can only say that playing with them for 11 minutes each night re-energized me as a human being and as a performer."

The Rolling Stones released their career-spanning documentary Crossfire Hurricane on DVD and Blu-ray on May 21st. The film, which was directed and compiled by Brett Morgen, premiered last year on HBO and features never before seen footage of the band spanning their 50 year career. Crossfire Hurricane features newly conducted interviews with past and present band members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Ron Wood, Bill Wyman, and Mick Taylor. Late co-founder Brian Jones is featured through archival interviews.

Bonus features on the disc include previously unreleased concert footage -- Live In Germany '65, the Stones' performances from the 1964 and 1965 NME Poll Winners concert in London, a new interview with director Brett Morgen, a featurette called "The Sound And Music Of Crossfire Hurricane," footage from the Stones' early-1964 appearance on British program The Arthur Haynes Show, along with the Crossfire Hurricane theatrical trailer.

After 50 years in the spotlight, Mick Jagger, feels that people still don't comprehend that despite having a family and other interests, fronting the Stones isn't the only thing going on in his life: "Sometimes people find it hard to understand that you could be all of these things at once (laughs). And y'know, people put their own image on you, y'know, like they do on an actor or actress, or any other popular figure. They put their own idea on you. And that's what you're for, just a personal interpretation."

Former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman says that he passed on playing the band's three U.S. shows last December. Wyman, who quit the band following the 1990 Urban Jungle leg of their Steel Wheel tour, rejoined the band for their 2012 London dates, playing only two songs during the show -- "Honky Tonk Women" and "It's Only Rock N' Roll." Wyman told Britain's Express, "Keith (Richards) in particular made me think that I would be a large part of it but when it came to it they told me they only wanted me to do two songs. It was fun but I regretted not playing more. I was a bass guitarist, a rhythm guitarist, I have to be on the button from the moment Charlie (Watts) does that first drum roll. I came off just as I was warming up and getting into it. When they asked me to go to America for two weeks to do three shows there, I said for two songs? No thank you."

Wyman, who has just released his latest retrospective on his life and career, called, Bill Wyman's Scrapbook, explained that his ties with the Stones still run deep: "We still have a relationship. We send Christmas and birthday presents. They are like family. Jerry (Hall) is a great friend of my wife's and all the kids knew each other growing up. Our lives are still intertwined but it's social -- it's not business any more. Although I am involved in business with them because all the projects they do usually involve me so I'm always asked for historical information.”

When asked if he would rejoin the band if Mick Jagger asked him to come back permanently, Wyman said: "No. 30 years was great but I've got better things to be doing now. That time has gone.”

In November, the Rolling Stones' released their latest double CD and DVD package, Sweet Summer Sun: Hyde Park Live. The tracks on the set were culled from the Stones' two open-air London shows on July 6th and 13th, 2013. The set has been released in several formats, including DVD, Blu-Ray, two-CD/DVD, three-LP's/DVD, and a deluxe two-CDs/DVD/Blu-Ray/60-page book. Back in August, a limited edition digital version of the concert, called Hyde Park Live, debuted at Number 19 on the Billboard 200 album charts, and in the UK, placed two spaces higher, hitting the charts at Number 17.

The DVD & Blu-ray tracklisting for Sweet Summer Sun: Hyde Park Live is: "Start Me Up," "It's Only Rock N' Roll," "Street Fighting Man," Ruby Tuesday," "Doom And Gloom," "Honky Tonk Women," "You Got The Silver," "Happy," "Miss You," "Midnight Rambler," "Gimme Shelter," "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Sympathy For The Devil," "Brown Sugar," "You Can't Always Get What You Want," "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.”

The CD and Vinyl formats include three extra tracks: "Tumbling Dice," "Emotional Rescue" and "Paint It, Black.”

2013 saw the Rolling Stones remaster their catalogue for iTunes. The new remasters include the band's entire output, from classic albums such as Beggars Banquet, Sticky Fingers, Exile On Main Street, Some Girls, and Tattoo You, to their earlier Decca Records era -- including both the U.S. and British versions of such albums as Out Of Our Heads, Aftermath, and Between The Buttons, among others.

Also available for download are such Stones films as Ladies And Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones, Rock And Roll Circus, Charlie Is My Darling -- Ireland 1965, and the career-spanning Crossfire Hurricane, as well as the new Rolling Stones 50 eBook.