The Rolling Stones played their first concert last night since the death of historic drummer Charlie Watts on August 24.
More than two years after their last appearance on stage, this show was quite a warm-up, before a stadium tour across the United States in the fall.
In an intimate room at the New England Patriots stadium, near Boston, Mick Jagger took advantage of this return on stage to pay a touching tribute to the group's metronome since 1963: “
This is the first concert of our 2021 tour, so this There it is, it's the test. It's a bit poignant night for us because it's our first tour in 59 years that we've been doing without our beloved Charlie Watts.
"
A tribute to the musician and to the man: “
We miss him as a group, as a friend, on and off the stage.
We have so many memories of Charlie, and I'm sure some of you who have seen us before also have memories of Charlie.
And I hope you will remember him like us.
So we would like to dedicate this show to Charlie.
"
The Stones being the Stones, Mick Jagger ended his speech by inviting the audience to "
Have a drink for Charlie!"
".
Premiere evening
A few weeks before the death of Charlie Watts, the group already announced that this North American tour would be done without their drummer, already very ill, and that Steve Jordan would take his place behind the drums. The arrival of the latter sounded almost obvious. Member of the group X-Pensive Winos, formed by Keith Richards in the 1980s, he is known and recognized as a collaborator of choice in the music industry. Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, BB King, his CV speaks for itself and can go on for hours.
In addition to the arrival of this new member on the drums, the Stones played for the first time the title
Livin 'In A Ghost Town,
released in 2020
.
Before stringing together hits like
Jumpin 'Jack Flash, Miss You
or
Gimme Shelter
, they also opened the concert with
Let's Spend The Night Together,
a first in the group's history.
The US tour officially begins September 26 in St Louis, and lasts until the end of November.
So many opportunities to pay tribute to their legendary drummer.