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Charlie Watts, the Rolling Stones drummer since the band’s inception in 1962, is “unlikely to be available” for the band’s rescheduled U.S. tour this fall, according to a statement from a Stones spokesperson.
Watts, who turned 80 in June, recently underwent an unspecified but “completely successful” medical procedure, the statement said.
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Veteran drummer Steve Jordan, who worked extensively with Stones co-founder Keith Richards, will replace; the 13 date “No Filter” tour begins in St. Lous on September 26th.
The spokesperson said: “Charlie underwent a completely successful procedure, but I guess his doctors concluded this week that he now needs proper rest and recovery. With rehearsals starting in a few weeks, it’s very disappointing to say the least, but it’s also fair to say that no one saw it coming.
Watts said in a statement: “For once my timing has been a bit off. I’m working hard to be in great shape, but I accepted today, on the advice of the experts, that it will take some time. . After all the fan suffering caused by Covid, I really don’t want the many RS fans who held tickets to this Tour to be disappointed with another postponement or cancellation, so I asked my great friend Steve Jordan to replace me.
Jordan said: “It is an absolute honor and privilege to be Charlie’s understudy and I can’t wait to rehearse with Mick, Keith and Ronnie. No one will be happier than me to give up my place on the drum lift as soon as Charlie tells me he’s ready to go.
Almost since the band’s inception, Richards and Watts have been at the heart of the Rolling Stones’ instrumental sound: Richards plays more than half of the band’s concerts upside down, facing Watts, nodding to the beat of the drummer. In fact, you could argue that without frontman Mick Jagger, Richards and Watts, they just aren’t the Rolling Stones.
And while the band did not effectively lose any momentum after bassist Bill Wyman left in December 1992 after 30 years, Watts is different. As this writer wrote in a review of a Rolling Stones concert in 2012, “Yet for all the supremacy of Mick and Keith, there is no doubt that the heart of this band is and always will be Watts: to 71 years old, his whip trap and supernatural sense of swing enlivens the songs with unparalleled authority and defines the contradictory tense-relaxed side that is at the heart of the Stones’ rhythm.
Unlike some of the other members of the Stones, Watts has generally been in good health throughout the group’s career. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2004, but successfully recovered and suffered from drug addiction in the 1980s, but also beat that.
Although Watts was never a flashy drummer, piloting the beat of a band as powerful as the Rolling Stones for a two-hour set is an act of great physical endurance. It is hoped that the group’s optimistic attitude towards their imminent return holds true.
The dates for the group’s 13-date US “No Filter” tour, initially scheduled for 2020, can be found here.
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