Last night (September 26th), the Rolling Stones officially kicked off their latest leg in their ongoing “No Filter Tour” at St. Louis, Missouri’s The Dome at America’s Center. The show, which follows last week’s private gig in Foxborough, Massachusetts at at Gillette Stadium, marks the band’s first public concert without the late Charlie Watts on drums.
Behind the kit was longtime Stones associate and Keith Richards solo collaborator Steve Jordan, who’ll be sitting in for Watts during the upcoming dates. The show started with a brief video tribute to Watts before the band was announced.
We caught up with the Rolling Stones’ production designer, Dale Skjerseth, who gave us an update on the band ramping up for the tour: [“We’ve been in the venue for about 10 days now preparing for the tour. The guys are in great spirits, we’ve been rehearsing every day for the last five weeks in Boston, and then we did the show. And then we’re here now, getting ready to do the tour, which’ll be great.”] SOUNDCUE (:16 OC: . . . which’ll be great)
We asked Skjerseth about how Charlie Watts’ creative fingerprint remains within the Stones’ tour presentation: [“This is our fourth leg of the ‘No Filter Tour,’ so, yes, he had the artwork and input in all of that, he had. So, his stamp is still here and always will be here with the guys. So, what you see is always a piece of Charlie. The artwork — that’s part of his world. He always picked out those things and video intake and all of that. I mean, he’s part of the creative end; so everything from the top to the bottom, his input is on the show — looks and things, like that.”] SOUNDCUE (:28 OC: . . . thinks like that)
The Stones’ opening night setlist last night in St. Louis at The Dome at America’s Center – via Setlist.fm:
“Street Fighting Man”
“It’s Only Rock And Roll (But I Like It)”
“Tumbling Dice”
“Under My Thumb”
“19th Nervous Breakdown”
“Wild Horses”
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
“Living In A Ghost Town”
“Start Me Up”
“Honky Tonk Women”
“Little T&A”
“Slipping Away”
“Miss You”
“Midnight Rambler”
“Paint It, Black”
“Sympathy For The Devil”
“Jumpin’ Jack Flash”Encore:
“Gimme Shelter”
“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
- The Rolling Stones tour dates (subject to change)
September 30 – Charlotte, NC – Bank Of America Stadium
October 4 – Pittsburgh, PA – Heinz Field
October 9 – Nashville, TN – Nissan Stadium
October 14, 17 – Los Angeles, CA – SoFi Stadium
October 24 – Minneapolis, MN – U.S. Bank Stadium
October 29 – Tampa, FL – Raymond James Stadium
November 2 – Dallas, TX – Cotton Bowl Stadium
November 6 – Las Vegas, NV – Allegiant Stadium
November 11 – Atlanta, GA – Mercedes-Benz Stadium
November 15 – Detroit, MI – Ford Field
November 20 – Austin, TX – Circuit of The Americas
FAST FACTS
- Charlie Watts died on August 24th at the age of 80 and had already announced he would be sitting out of the Rolling Stones‘ North American tour.
- Watts, who joined the Stones in 1963, was laid to rest in a private ceremony in Devon.
SIDE NOTES
- The Rolling Stones will release their latest archival set, Tattoo You: 40th Anniversary, on October 22nd.
- The deluxe edition features a new remaster of the 1981 nine-week chart-topper, a bonus disc of nine previously unreleased — yet heavily bootlegged tracks — and a two-disc June 1982 performance art London’s Wembley Stadium.
- Tattoo You was originally released on August 24th, 1981 and was comprised mainly of reworked outtakes from the band’s archive dating back to the 1972 sessions for the following year’s Goats Head Soup album.
CHECK IT OUT: Last night’s Charlie Watts intro tribute: