The Rolling Stones tour will be a gas, gas, gas thanks to late drummer Charlie Watts ’ spirit, says Ronnie Wood.
The band have touched down in Spain to begin their first European tour since Charlie died aged 80 last August.
Ronnie insists Watts would have wanted the band to continue so they decided to bring in Steve Jordan on drums.
The guitarist said: “We were lucky enough to have his blessing to start rehearsals without him, with Steve Jordan, and we did it with a very strange feeling.
“What was going to happen when Charlie was gone? But despite the uncertainty and sadness we keep going. It is what he would have wanted, the Rolling Stones do not stop.
“And oddly enough, even if it’s almost magic, I can tell you the band now has an extra boost. It’s Charlie’s energy... Charlie lives.”
Ronnie, 74, hopes the tour with 78-year-olds Mick Jagger and Keith Richards will allow fans to forget about the troubles of the world for a night.
Reflecting on their longevity, he said: “Sometimes not even the Stones themselves believe they have been fighting for 60 years.
“It’s incredible that all this continues with such energy, and that the public continues to fill stadiums, screaming, dancing and asking for more from this gang of almost octogenarians.
“This world sucks sometimes, with all this going on... I’d like to think that we started this tour to make people forget for a couple of hours about the problems that overwhelm us so much.”
The band’s European tour kicks off next week in Madrid before heading to Munich.
The Stones will play several gigs around the UK this summer including one at Liverpool FC’s Anfield stadium on June 9.
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They will also appear at the BST Hyde Park festival on June 26 and July 3, 60 years after their first ever gig at London’s legendary Marquee Club.
Ronnie thinks if the band was up-and-coming now it would be harder to break through than when they began in the 1960s.
He explained: “I don’t know if today would be that easy with so much political correctness. I think we had it easier than it is now for the new bands.
“We lived in a world of musical references, of young people wanting to provoke and break the establishment. We had live music programmes on the radio and on TV.
“Now a new group has it complicated. Either you get millions of followers on a platform or you don’t have a place where someone sees you.”
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