[vienna]

A bit of sad news for Stones fans; drummer Charlie Watts is going to have to sit out the US leg of the Stones' "No Filter" tour this fall due to recovery from an unspecified medical procedure he underwent recently; his doctors had advised him to forgo the tour leg out of an abundance of caution given Charlie turned 80 years old this past June; the Stones had already postponed the tour last year due to Covid and Charlie didn't want the band to postpone again on his account, particularly since the fans had been in long anticipation of the shows, so he bowed out and recommended Steve Jordan, a good friend of his, and a member of Keith's X-Pensive Winos band, to sit in his place; Jordan is a highly respected drummer and multi-instrumentalist who, besides the Winos, has worked with many, many great artists and musicians over the decades...

This will be the very first time Charlie has ever missed a gig since joining the Stones at their very beginning nearly 60 years ago; Brian Jones was notorious for missing gigs, or being barely even able to perform due to substance abuse (it was a main reason the Stones stopped touring in 1966) and Mick has been the cause of cancelled gigs due to health reasons (mainly voice related, although he was briefly sidelined due to heart surgery), and Keith, oddly enough, is second only to Charlie in in consistency of gig appearances, having been the cause of cancellation on only a couple of occasions and those due to injury and not substances; Charlie did have a bout with heroin addiction back in the 80s, but he kicked it with the aid of Keith, who felt responsible for having got his good friend exposed to the drug; and, Charlie also battled a case of throat cancer but has been in remission for quite some time...

Charlie is a remarkably stable person when you consider the career and and world in which he has lived; in couple of months he and his wife, Shirley, will celebrate 57 years of marriage; Keith has said, and been seconded by Mick, that Charlie is the heart and soul of the Stones and, if Charlie ever quit, the Stones would very likely cease to exist; Keith, when once asked about Charlie's place in the band, related how, in the 70s, the Stones had been off the road and out of the studio for a long, long time and they decided to get together to do a new album; Keith said he and Mick were concerned that perhaps the band would not be able to work as they had after the long hiatus, but he he got to the studio and, as he walked down the hallway, he heard Charlie warming up on his sparse drum kit and he thought "Charlie's here and he's ready. All is right with the world"...

I've seen the Stones several times over the decades and every time there is a point in the set where they introduce the band members and the other musicians/singers, and, every time, the loudest cheers go up when Charlie is introduced...


Best wishes to Charlie for a speedy and successful recuperation and hope he is able to soon again take his place, silent, bemused, detached, as the heartbeat of the Stones...







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