Live music gigs are finally back after a long year of COVID-19 restrictions and The Rolling Stones finally head for their US tour in September. But drummer Charlie Watts won't be going with them.
The No Filter US tour starts on 26th September in St Louis, Missouri and the band will tour 13 stadiums, finishing in Austin, Texas on 20th November.
According to Rolling Stone, most of the stops planned on the original 2020 tour will be made, with the shows in Vancouver, Louisville, Cleveland and Buffalo as the exceptions due to scheduling difficulties. Instead, the band will now stop in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and the Jazz Festival in New Orleans.
Why is Charlie Watts missing the US tour?
It was announced on 5th August that the band's drummer, Charlie Watts, will be missing the US tour for medical reasons.
It's understood that he's undergone a surgical procedure which will prevent him from being able to travel to the States.
In a statement released by the band, a spokesperson for Watts said:
"Charlie has had a procedure which was completely successful, but I gather his doctors this week concluded that he now needs proper rest and recuperation. With rehearsals starting in a couple of weeks it's very disappointing to say the least, but it's also fair to say no-one saw this coming."
"For once my timing has been a little off," the 80-year old joked in a statement. "I am working hard to get fully fit but I have today accepted on the advice of experts that this will take a while."
"After all the fans' suffering caused by COVID I really do not want the many fans who have been holding tickets for this tour to be disappointed by another postponement or cancellation."
Watts has been a member of the band since the formation of the band in 1962 and it's hoped he'll continue to play for the band once he's recovered.
Who will fill in for Charlie Watts?
Watts said in the statement he'd asked his "great friend Steve Jordan" to fill in for him on the tour.
Who is Steve Jordan?
Watts' replacement for the US tour isn't a complete stranger to The Rolling Stones.
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Steve Jordan, 64, is a multi award-winning music producer, director, songwriter and musician who, since the mid 1980s, has been a member of the X-Pensive Winos, the side project of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards.
Jordan and Richards have been production and songwriting partners for many of RIchards' solo world.
Jordan currently fronts his own band, the John Mayor Trio, along with his wife, Meegan Voss.
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"It is an absolute honour and privilege to be Charlie's understudy and I am looking forward to rehearsing with Mick, Keith and Ronnie," said Jordan in a statement. "No-one will be happier than me to give up my seat on the drum-riser as soon as Charlie tells me he's good to go."
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