The Rolling Stones share memories of final meetings with Charlie Watts
Mick Jagger shared how Charlie told them to go on tour without him
By Jen Thomas
The Rolling Stones have recalled the last time they saw their beloved drummer Charlie Watts, who sadly passed away back in August.
He died at the age of 80 and fans around the world have been paying tribute to him since, and the band dedicated their shows to him.
In an interview with the LA Times, The Rolling Stones have been sharing their memories of the last time they saw Charlie.
Guitarist Ronnie Wood shared that he was one of the last people to see Watts before he died.
Ronnie went to visit him in a London hospital, to find that Charlie was staying in the same room that Wood used when he was being treated for cancer last year.
Wood revealed the nickname that they had for the room: “We call it the Rolling Stones suite.”
He added: “We watched horse racing on TV and just shot the breeze. I could tell he was pretty tired and fed up with the whole deal.
“He said, ‘I was really hoping to be out of here by now,’ then after that, there was a complication or two and I wasn’t allowed back. No one was.”
Mick Jagger explained how Charlie told him the band should go on tour without him:
He explained: “When you’re a band for this long, it’s unlikely you won’t have any changes,
“Of course, this is probably the biggest one we’ve had. But we felt — and Charlie felt — that we should do this tour. We’d already postponed it by a year, and Charlie said to me, ‘You need to go out there. All the crew that have been out of work — you’re not gonna put them out of work again’.
“So I think it was the right decision to keep going. The band still sounds great on stage, and everyone’s been really responsive at the couple of big shows we’ve done so far. They hold up signs saying, ‘We miss you, Charlie,’ and I miss him too.”
Jagger paid an emotional tribute to Charlie onstage at their first show without him, and shared a video on Twitter.
Keith Richards , meanwhile, has been understandably reluctant to talk in detail about Charlie: “I’m still trying to put it together in my head. I don’t think I can be very erudite on Charlie at the moment.”
Steve Jordan, who previously stepped in so that Watts could recover from surgery, is now The Rolling Stones’ permanent touring drummer.