The British band The Rolling Stones started another tour this Sunday evening at a packed stadium in Houston, USA. Some flew in from other cities for the concert, fearing that they would hear the group founded in 1962 for the last time. Original drummer Charlie Watts died three years ago, singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards both turned eighty last year.
Tens of thousands of people watched the performance at the stadium in the most populous city of the state of Texas. Many of them were wearing t-shirts or caps with the band’s logo, the familiar tongue out. The musicians started a summer tour of the USA and Canada here, during which they will play 19 concerts, the last one in mid-July near San Francisco.
The band, which has existed for over 60 years, traditionally started the concert with the song Start Me Up. To the sound of her riff, Mick Jagger ran on stage in black trousers, a gray shirt and a glittering silver jacket. The song from 1981 immediately moved even the first rows of standing spectators.
Jagger, who will celebrate his 81st birthday this summer, danced, jumped and gesticulated wildly as he sang throughout the evening as he repeatedly walked up the catwalk to the front rows from the band centered around drummer Steve Jordan. According to the AP agency, he made the audience sing several times.
“Hey Houston. It’s great to be back in the One Star State,” Jagger said, referring to Texas’ nickname related to the former 19th-century Republic of Texas. He also announced to the audience that when the Rolling Stones visited Houston years later, they visited the local Johnson Space Center managed by NASA. He later joked about Buc-ee’s, a Texas chain of gas stations that includes the world’s largest gas station.
Jagger was accompanied throughout the evening by 80-year-old guitarist Keith Richards, who founded the band with him in 1962, and 76-year-old second guitarist Ronnie Wood. He has been a member of the lineup since 1975.
Together they form the core of the formation, the sixty-seven-year-old drummer Jordan did not join until 2021. They were supplemented by two keyboardists, a bassist, a brass section and vocalists.
The concert broadcast on the big screens lasted over two hours and included 18 songs including the hits Sympathy for the Devil, Gimme Shelter, Paint it Black, Jumping Jack Flash or (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. They are all from the 1960s.
Less first-rate, according to the AP agency, was when the group performed the song Rocks Off from the double album Exile on Main St. live. released in 1972 or Out of Time, which sounded in 2019 in the film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood directed by Quentin Tarantino.
For the first time live, the band complemented them with Angry, Sweet Sounds Of Heaven or Mess It Up from last year’s Hackney Diamonds album, their first with original material since 2005. As usual, guitarist Richards also got a chance to sing the song Little T & A from 1981 .
The organizers do not provide official attendance figures, the stadium can accommodate over 70,000 people. According to ticketing website StubHub, less than 2 percent of total tickets remained two hours before the concert. In the crowd it was possible to see listeners of all generations, although the majority were people over 60 years old.
“It’s always such a joy to see them. They’re amazing. They have so much fun playing,” says 56-year-old listener Greta Brasgalla, who traveled to the concert from El Paso, Texas. It was the seventh time she heard the Rolling Stones live, and not the last. He already has a ticket for the June concert in Atlanta.
More listeners have confided in the fear that this tour could be their last. “Every time we go to them, we wonder if it’s the last time. We’re really afraid of it,” adds another concertgoer, Savannah Welch, who traveled from Austin, Texas. She also took her son Charlie to the Rolling Stones concert.
The British group went on tour after a two-year hiatus. In 2022, she performed in several European cities, her last performance in the USA as part of the No Filter tour in 2021, just a few weeks after the death of drummer Charlie Watts. This year, they brought Icelandic rockers Kaleo, American Ghost Hounds and guitarist and singer Joe Bonamassa with them as a support band. However, local native Gary Clark Jr. performed in front of them in Houston.
Video: The Rolling Stones played a new song in Houston
At Sunday’s concert in Houston, The Rolling Stones played Mess It Up from last year’s album live for the first time. | Video: Fake Fan
Tags: Rolling Stones started tour Singer Jagger dances evening
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