Rolling Stones still astonish in their first gig since the death of Charlie Watts – iNews

It had to happen sometime. Thursday nights Rolling Stones show at Anfield was their first in the UK for four years, their first in Liverpool since 1971, but most importantly, their first since the death of Charlie Watts, who spent an uninterrupted 58 years as their drummer.

The quiet man of the group, he wouldnt have been the bookies favourite to be the first of the gang to die; not given the superhuman appetites for hedonism of bandmates Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, and not given that time appeared to briefly catch up with Mick Jagger in 2019, when a routine insurance physical flagged up the need for urgent heart surgery.

But still, Watts passing last August threatened to upend the Stones decades-long run together, and in particular, their Dylanesque commitment to annual touring since they returned to the road to mark their 50th anniversary in 2012.

His bandmates had often talked of him not just as a human metronome, but as the bedrock of the outfit, his unflappable demeanour helping to anchor things on and off the stage. And yet Watts, a life-long straight talker, knew the reality; I think they could get another drummer, he told NME in February of 2018.

And so its proved. Watts long-time understudy, Steve Jordan, was already confirmed to step in on last years run of US dates when he was first taken ill; now, hes ensconced as full-time replacement. His first UK gig in the role, last night, opened with a moving two-minute montage of Watts, and its a testament to how many years he served in the band that they were able to find so much footage of the normally stoic sticksman smiling and laughing.

And then, the opening strains of Street Fighting Man rang out, Jagger exploded down the runway in time-honoured fashion, and it was very much business as usual. The frontman took a few moments, three songs in, to pay a brief tribute to Watts, but afterwards, it was full Stones steam ahead, in a fashion that will be familiar to anybody who caught them on the UK leg of the No Filter tour in 2018; first half carefully curated odds and ends, second half sheer greatest hits.

Watts absence is conspicuous in subtler ways. Jordan is a terrific player, and one in keeping with the rest of the groups bombast; thunderous drum fills and an innate physicality define his style, which itself serves to remind us of how endearingly incongruous the un-showy Watts always was as a member of the Stones.

The left-field decision to add the 1966 deep cut Out of Time to the setlist last nights airing was its first-ever in the UK perhaps also hints at the group looking back wistfully to their formative years. Jagger, for his part, turned it into a surprisingly breezy singalong, before tipping his hat to one-time rivals The Beatles by covering I Wanna Be Your Man for the first time in 100 years. Wed been practicing Youll Never Walk Alone, he joked, but we thought wed do one by some local lads instead.

He remains the consummate showman. On last nights evidence, you begin to wonder quite what itll take to stop the Stones. Wood, the baby of the remaining three-piece core line-up at just 75, has bounced back from a battle with lung cancer, and looked as sprightly as ever as he engaged in his signature guitar-weaving with the evergreen Richards, about whom we should still worry, in terms of the kind of world were going to leave behind for him.

And then, theres Jagger, who continues to defy the understood laws of time and physiology. He was a symphony in perpetual motion last night, racing up and down a runway that reached to roughly where the centre circle would be on the Anfield pitch, his pelvis as elastic as ever, cajoling audience members half his age into matching his moves. His devout adherence to a gruelling fitness regime is well-documented, and it clearly continues to work its magic, but its worth noting that his voice, too, remains freakishly untouched by the ravages of 60 years on the road.

The second half of the set was blockbuster stuff, regardless of how many times youve heard these ones before. The highlight was Midnight Rambler, which perhaps would more accurately have been titled Bohemian Rhapsody in Blues; between Richards six-string mastery and Jaggers virtuoso harmonica playing, it encapsulates everything the pair love about the genre that first brought them together as teenagers on platform two at Dartford station in 1961.

Elsewhere, Paint It Black is still thunderous, a raw-nerve reflection of Vietnam-era tensions that, sadly, feels as relevant as ever today, as does Gimme Shelter, with its refrain of war, children, its just a shot away. They closed with (I Cant Get No) Satisfaction, which Jagger famously said he didnt still want to be singing when he was 40. Hes now 78, and looks like he could go on until hes 100.

Without Watts, they are not quite the same; not diminished, exactly, but different. Hes missed. Still, the Stones keep on rolling, into an astonishing seventh decade together as a band.

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Rolling Stones still astonish in their first gig since the death of Charlie Watts - iNews