Members of the Rolling Stones are showing their support for drummer Charlie Watts, who has decided to pull out of the band’s upcoming No Filter Tour, running Sept. 26 through Nov. 20, as he recovers following a recent medical procedure. This marks the first time Watts has missed a tour with the Stones since 1963.
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“This has been a bit of a blow to all of us, to say the least, and we’re all wishing for Charlie to have a speedy recovery, and to see him as soon as possible,” said guitarist Keith Richards on Instagram, while frontman Mick Jagger said that the band is “really looking forward to welcoming Charlie back as soon as he is fully recovered.”
Ronnie Wood, who was recently cleared after receiving a second cancer diagnosis in 2020, said he will miss Watts on the upcoming tour, but said that the drummer told him “the show must go on.”
“I’m really looking forward to Charlie getting back on stage with us as soon as he’s fully recovered,” said Wood.
On Aug, 5, the band confirmed that Watts would “unlikely to be available” for the tour in a statement: “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.
“For once my timing has been a little off. I am working hard to get fully fit but I have today accepted on the advice of the experts that this will take a while,” said Watts in a statement on the band’s social media. “After all the fans’ suffering caused by COVID, I really do not want the many fans holding tickets for this tour to be disappointed by another postponement or cancellation. I have therefore asked my great friend Steve Jordan to stand in for me.”
In a post, Jordan said it was an honor to fill in for Watts. Jordan, who is part of the John Mayer Trio, and has served as a member of the house bands for Saturday Night Live and the Late Show with David Letterman, as well as Richards’ longtime producing and writing partner, and member of guitarist’s side project X-Pensive Winos, said it was an honor to be Watts’ “understudy” for the tour.
“I am looking forward to rehearsing with Mick, Keith, and Ronnie,” said Jordon. “No one will be happier to give up their seat on the drum-riser as soon as Charlie tells me he is good to go.”
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