The Rolling Stones: Back On The Road

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The Rolling Stones are finally back on the road!!! The band officially kicks off the 13-date tour on Sunday night (September 26th) in St. Louis, Missouri at St. Louis' Dome at America’s Center, and wraps things up on November 20th at Austin's Circuit of the Americas.

The Stones are touring for the first time without their late-drummer Charlie Watts, who died on August 24th at the age of 80. Behind the kit is longtime Stones associate and Keith Richards solo collaborator Steve Jordan, who'll be sitting in for Watts during the upcoming dates.

Mick Jagger spoke to Rolling Stone about the loss of Charlie Watts and carrying on without him, saying, "The thing about Charlie was that he was always there, always played beautifully and was always willing to discuss what to do about it — how he could make it better. He held the band together for so long, musically, because he was the rock the rest of it was built around. . . The thing he brought was this beautiful sense of swing and swerve that most bands wish they could have. We had some really nice conversations in the last couple of years about how all this happened with the band. It’s a huge loss to us all. It’s very, very hard."

Keith Richards added, "Charlie had an incredible sense of humor and my joy was I loved to crack him up. If you could hit that spot, he wouldn’t stop, and it was the funniest thing in the world. He had an incredible sense of humor that he kept to himself unless you sparked it. And then it could be painful to laugh."

Richards went on to say, "A most vital part of being in this band was that Charlie Watts was my bed. I could lay on there, and I know that not only would I have a good sleep, but I’d wake up and it’d still be rocking. It was something I’ve had since I was 19. I never doubted it. I never even thought about it."

Mick Jagger revealed that along with Steve Jordan behind the drums, they've rehearsed around 80 or 90 tunes for the latest leg of their "No Filter" tour: "I’m not saying we just touched on them, jammed on them. We can actually play them. That’s a huge amount. Keith and I were saying, the reality is that we have to do at least twelve, 13 numbers that most everyone knows. . . We have a couple of numbers from the extras in the Tattoo You reissue. . . We’ve got tons of numbers from most eras. So we have a big set list. We can certainly change up the set list. But we still have to do 'Paint It, Black.'"

Mick Jagger touched upon his old quote that one needs to hit the stage every night as though it's opening night, and talked about his pre-concert preparations: ["You have to work very hard to make any kind of concert. And when I said that quote, it's quite true. The first one of the tour, or even if it's the 35th there's no resting on your laurels, y'know? You just go out there and you do your best and you prepare as well as you can. A lot of it's to do with the prep. You go prepared and you play to your strengths and you try to ignore your weaknesses (laughs)."] SOUNDCUE (:19 OC: . . . ignore your weaknesses (laughs))

Keith Richards explained what it actually feels like hitting the stage and cranking up the Rolling Stones machine: ["It's this kaleidoscopic, sort of, mayhem. You only have — it's no two takes in that game, y'know? You're on stage, you're on, you can't stop. I think what you put it down to the incredible energy of the audience. Y'know, they overwhelmingly outnumber us, but we're the focal point."] SOUNDCUE (:19 OC: . . . the focal point)

Keith Richards On The Buzz From Onstage :

Mick Jagger On Prepping For Each Show :