Mick Jagger strutted on to the stage in Houston, belting out Start Me Up to kick off The Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds tour, an impressive 60 years after the band first went on the road in America. Mick is 81 in July, but has the vigour and energy and voice to put a teenager to shame.
For Mick and his bandmates Keith Richards, 80, and Ronnie Wood, 76, the start of the tour was a bittersweet moment as they are missing Charlie Watts, the Stones drummer who died, aged 80, from cancer in 2021. Before Sunday’s concert, guitarist Keith said giving up on their music after Charlie’s death was never an option. He said: “Basically, we love each other and we love our music and when you’re doing it, you don’t really think about it.”
“But I think with Charlie going, I have realised more and more how special that is. I mean, there is something about the Stones and there is something about us all that sort of says, ‘No, we stick together’. And then you can’t just drop it. You’ve, you got to follow it right down to the end, down the tunnel.”
Charlie Watts joined the Stones in 1963 and passed away in 2021Steve Jordan has taken Charlie’s place on the drums. Keith said: “It was because of Charlie’s demise that we felt that if the Stones were going to continue, then we better make a mark of what the Stones are now.” Keith has previously said that Charlie chose Jordan to replace him.
Mick said Charlie was adamant that the group should continue performing live. But he admitted it felt unusual not having his friend behind him on stage. He said: “Of course, it’s hard. I mean, it’s all my life ever since I was 19 or whatever, it’s always been Charlie. Of course, it’s emotional, but you have to get past that in life. I love Charlie and all the things, but I still want to carry on making music.”
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Charlie had been a member of the Stones since January 1963, when he joined Mick, Keith and Brian Jones in their fledgling group. Keith admitted they never expected to become one of the highest grossing live bands of all time.
Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards (Getty Images for RS)He said: “I remember when we had the first hit record, we kind of looked at each other with dismay. (I said) ’Well, we’ve only got about two years, boys, and then you’ve got to find a job.”
Before Sunday’s concert, Mick spent time touring NASA’s Johnson Space Center in suburban Houston, posting photos with astronauts inside Mission Control. He said: “Hello Houston, it’s good to be back in the lone star state.”
He later told the audience in the NRG Stadium, which included his seven-year-old son Deveraux, that the Stones first visited Texas 60 years ago. “Our first rodeo,” he said.
The band will play in 16 cities across the US and Canada in the tour, which supports their album Hackney Diamonds, the band’s first record of original music since 2005.
Savannah Welch, who was in the audience at Houston with her son Charlie, voiced the concern of many Stones fans when she said: “Every time we see them, we wonder if it’s going to be the last. That’s our fear.”
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