The Rolling Stones is back on the roads with their delayed No Filter tour opening at the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis last Sunday on September 26th.
The ongoing pandemic has put a halt to the live music industry. Musicians from all over the world have been dying to return to the stage performing live. Legendary English rock band The Rolling Stones are back with their new tour No Filter opening on Sunday, September 26th the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, which is the hometown of Chuck Barry, with whose song cover the band stepped into the scene. This is their first live performance without their late drummer Charlie Watts, who passed away just last month at the age of 80.
The concert began with an empty stage, accompanied by just a drumbeat. The photos of Watts projected on the stage backdrop and the band started their performance with ‘Street Fighting Man’ and ‘It’s Only Rock’N’Roll (But I Like It)’. Mick Jagger made an announcement of dedicating the show to Watts’s memory halting the event. He along with Roonie Wood and Keith Richards thanked the fans for their love and respect for Watts.
Jagger said that they were feeling great to be back on the stage. He described the situation as being emotional when the photos of Watts were put on the stage backdrop. Then he dedicated the song, ‘Tumbling Dice’ to Watts. He said that it is their first-ever tour that they have done without him and thanked the fans for their support.
This is not the first time the band has lost a member but it was never as significant as Watts. The hardcore fans of Watts claim that the impact of his loss is going to be tremendous on the band and they will be incomplete without him. A veteran Rolling Stones fan Chris Bowers said that Watts did not agree to do the tour and gave his approval to newcomer Steve Jordan. He has been present in over 70 shows of the band. He expressed his dissatisfaction with it and said that he has no problem if Watts gave his approval.
The fans could not help but miss Watts’ presence in the show. He is considered one of the best drummers of all time in the world. He joined The Rolling Stones in 1963 and had been an integral part of the band ever since. Though Jordan gave out an extraordinary performance in the concert, it could not fill the void in the hearts of the fans created by Watts’ absence.
With Steve Jordan, the band has concentrated on its dirty blues and funk resonance refreshing and amplifying it. Their emotional performance in the show is quite obviously dedicated to Watts. Richards went back and clasped Jordan’s wrist after their fifth performance, ‘19th Nervous Breakdown’ saying that it worked and laughing in joy.
Steve Richards may be new to the die-hard Rolling Stones fans by he is not new to the band’s works. He has performed in Richards’s solo albums ‘Main Offender’ and ‘Talk Is Cheap’. His drumming performance in the show was flabbergasting and helps the band present a more hardcore rock performance similar to Richards’s solo works. The overall tonal experience of the show has been high in energy. Daryl James has showcased incredible dexterity with his bass solo in the song, ‘Miss You’. The band ignites a fire on the stage with their exhilarating performance in the songs ‘Gimme Shelter’, ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’, ‘Midnight Rambler’, and more.
The band has gone on more than 45 tours in their career. Recently they have been performing on stage more frequently than ever. It reveals the brilliance of the songwriters of the bands, Jagger and Richards. The show was attended by thousands of fans from all over the country and they thoughtfully followed the Covid-19 protocol and wore masks during the concert. The organizers even set up a vaccination site at the dome and plan to set similar sites in all the concert centers in the tour. The band even released a public service message encouraging the audience to get vaccinated.
While talking about coming back to do tours after Covid-19, Richards said that it has been a bit of a tough journey to get to the tour. The tour was originally scheduled to happen in 2020 but due to the worldwide pandemic, the tour was postponed like many other events.
