The most telling moment in this quite remarkable display of rock’n’roll’s enduring power came when wasn’t even on stage during last night’s Liverpool performance.
Taking a breather after a wildly energetic version of Honky Tonk Women, moved centre stage for a moment. A beam breaking through his wrinkles, he told a rapt crowd how great it was to be in Liverpool – staggeringly the first time since 1971.
‘I never thought I’d make it,’ he chuckled.
And that’s the sad subtext to this Stones 60th anniversary tour. Another one of them hasn’t made it. The show began with a video tribute to drummer , Sir Mick dedicating the ‘first tour we have done in England without him’.
Yet it certainly felt that Watts’ passing has somehow re-invigorated The Rolling Stones once again; there was an infectious spirit to every song in this imperious, hit-laden set.
So Jumpin’ Jack Flash was suitably raucous, Miss You doubled down on its 1978 disco energy, Paint It Black’s hypnotising Eastern backdrop pounded around a stadium more used to the ballad You’ll Never Walk Alone. Richards’ crunching hooks were turned up to the max; this was not a band tiptoeing nervously towards their eighties.
It was a thrilling, life-affirming celebration of music; the nod to ‘some other local lads’ in the inclusion of Lennon and McCartney’s I Wanna Be Your Man a lovely, suitably ragged touch.
How Sir Mick, at 78, does all these struts and shakes, wardrobe changes and sprints across the stage, is both incredible and a complete lesson in showmanship and stage craft.
As he, Richards and took their final bow, you sense they knew any gig might be ‘The Last Time’. But they’re sure going to enjoy them. So will everyone else this summer.
