~~~~ 2020-2021~~~~and on…….
In March 2020, the No Filter Tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Rolling Stones—featuring Jagger, Richards, Watts and Wood at their homes—were one of the headline acts on Global Citizen’s One World: Together at Home on-line and on-screen concert on 18 April 2020, a global event featuring dozens of artists and comedians to support frontline healthcare workers and the World Health Organization during the COVID-19 pandemic. On 23 April, Jagger announced through his Facebook page the release (the same day at 5pm BST) of the single “Living in a Ghost Town”, a new Rolling Stones song recorded in London and Los Angeles in 2019 and finished in isolation (part of the new material that the band were recording in the studio before the COVID-19 lockdown), a song that the band “thought would resonate through the times we’re living in” and their first original one since 2012. The song reached number one on the German Singles Chart, the first time the Stones had reached the top spot in 52 years, and making them the oldest artists ever to do so.
On 11 September 2020, Goats Head Soup reissue topped the UK Albums Chart as the Rolling Stones became the first band to top the chart across six different decades.
In August 2021, it was announced that Charlie Watts would undergo an unspecified medical procedure and would not perform on the remainder of the No Filter tour; longtime Stones associate Steve Jordan was to fill in as drummer for the rest of the tour. Watts died on 24 August 2021, with no cause of death given. Following his death, the Rolling Stones’ official website contents were replaced with a single picture of Watts in his memory. On 27 August, the band’s social media accounts shared a montage of pictures and videos of Watts.
The tour went on– beginning in St. Louis on Sept. 26, 2021.
“Charlie’s absence was felt through the entire set, and it was hard not to get a little misty-eyed when just three men as opposed to four stepped up at the end of the night to take a special bow. As they walked off, a photo of the latter-day Watts, dressed impeccably as always, filled the screens to thunderous applause.
This tour will keep the Stones on the road through November 20th, and there are already rumors of a 60th-anniversary run in Europe next year. In an ideal world, they would have reached that landmark year with Watts behind the drum kit. But they’d been working on a new album for several years when he died, so his final recordings will hopefully be heard at some point in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, this is the start of yet another new chapter for the Stones. Let’s hope it’s another long one.”
–Rolling Stone Magazine
“Trouble’s A Comin’ ” is the advance single from the upcoming Tattoo You 40th Anniversary (10/22/2021). 🖤 A whole new experience… The song captures that vintage Rolling Stones sound that’s given fresh edge courtesy of Keith Richards‘ searing, fuzzed-out guitar leads and drummer Charlie Watts‘ disco-tinged backbeat. 9 new unheard tracks (including the Chi-Lites ‘Troubles A’ Comin’ & ‘Living In The Heart Of Love’.) Recorded in Paris in 1979 during sessions for the band’s “Emotional Rescue” album. One of nine unreleased tracks that make up Lost & Found, the bonus disc of newly completed songs and rarities featured on the 40th anniversary of the band’s seminal album Tattoo You, alongside an all-new 2021 remaster of the classic album & Stones infamous Wembley Stadium ‘82 live show. Available in expansive super deluxe boxsets, on 2CD & 2LP, limited edition picture disc, super limited clear LP & more.
2/10/2023!:
Grrr Live is billed as the “definitive greatest hits live” package, and of these 23 songs, 18 or 19 of them could rightfully be considered as either greatest hits or as beloved entries in the Stones’ canon. As with each of the seven live Stones albums that preceded it, Grrr also features a rarity or two (“I’m Going Down,” originally found on 1969 odds and ends release Metamorphosis ) and latter-day attempts at hits (“Doom and Gloom,” “One More Shot”).
Anyone reading this will undoubtedly know almost all of these songs, so suffice it to say the most important takeaway here about Grrr is that the performances here are better than almost anything on any of the earlier live albums, with perhaps an exception or two (it’s tough to beat the version of “Midnight Rambler” from Get Yer Yah Yahs Out!), it sounds as if the Stones, on a night in New Jersey in December 2012, were working extra hard to give a good performance. And when they are focused, there isn’t a better band in rock and roll to get it done.
2023! **A brand new studio album from The Rolling Stones… Hackney Diamonds is out October 20th, 2023. “Sweet Sounds of Heaven” with Lada Gaga and Stevie Wonder is on K-ZAP now, plus “Bite My Head Off” with Sir Paul McCartney (on raging fuzz bass!)
