During The Rolling Stones‘ first show back after the death of their long-time drummer, Charlie Watts, the band paused to pay tribute to their fallen bandmate.
The band – currently comprised of Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards – played the first gig of their No Filter tour on Monday (20th September). It was an unofficial stop on the tour, with the band playing at a private event organised by Robert Kraft, who owns the NFL team, New England Patriots.
It was a show of firsts for the band, with it being the first show they played without Watts, who had never missed a tour over his 59 years with the band. It was also the Stones’ first show with their new touring drummer, Steve Jordan.
The band undeniably, felt the weight of Watts’ absence, and in tribute to their fallen band member, they paused mid set to remember him, and to dedicate the show to him. The moment was posted to Jagger’s Twitter, where he can be heard saying:
“This is the first show of our 2021 tour, so this is it, this is the tryout. I must say though, at this point it’s a bit of a poignant night for us because it’s our first tour in 59 years that we’ve done without our lovely Charlie Watts.
“We all miss Charlie so much. We miss him as a band, we miss him as friends, on and off the stage.”
“We’ve got so many memories of Charlie, and I’m sure some of you that have seen us before have got memories of Charlie as well. And I hope you will remember him like we do. So we’d like to dedicate this show to Charlie. Let’s have a drink to Charlie!”
Watch the video below.
— Mick Jagger (@MickJagger) September 21, 2021
