With Rolling Stones’ return, Keith Richards looks for peace and quiet — onstage

By Geoff Edgers


Rob Grabowski/Invision/AP

Sometime this weekend, depending on when they hop into the private plane with the lips logo on the side to fly from Ontario to Washington, D.C., Keith Richards may sidle up to Mick Jagger and bring up an important issue: whether the Rolling Stones will play their cover of Don Covay’s “Mercy, Mercy” at FedEx Field.

That may not seem like a big deal, unless you consider that, for the 3,198 times Jagger and Richards have played “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Brown Sugar” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” Covay’s soul classic has been tabled — ever since the group’s free gig in London’s Hyde Park on July 5, 1969. (Their lone D.C. performance of the song came at the Washington Coliseum in 1965.)

“We’re working that up,” says Richards, speaking by phone from Canada on Friday. “The main thing is you haven’t played it for 50 years. So I’m just looking for the opportunity on the set-list to say to Mick, ‘Hey, today how about ‘Mercy’?”

It has been a slightly rough road to this date, the fourth of 17 on the second leg of the band’s “No Filter” tour. Jagger’s heart surgery this spring pushed the concerts back from an April start, and also brought Richards a brief moment of contemplating a life without his compatriots — a reality, the 75-year-old says, “you kind of always know that could be coming.” But a series of Instagram posts made it clear that Jagger would be back, and he wouldn’t be gyrating from behind a walker. On June 21, at Chicago’s Soldier Field, the band — featuring core members Ron Wood and Richards on guitar and Charlie Watts on drums, as well as touring bassist Darryl Jones — played 20 songs, a concert bookended by “Street Fighting Man” and “Satisfaction.”

“As Ronnie and I often say to each other, let’s go onstage and get some peace and quiet,” Richards says.

There have been some changes over the years. Richards is off the hard stuff and, as the Daily Mail saw fit to print, he has ditched his bandanna and given his hair a slight brownish tint. But that doesn’t mean the onetime serial consumer heads to a Pilates class after soundcheck. He gets his exercise the way his heroes did: onstage.

“I have a beer occasionally, and that’s about it,” Richards says. “I live a normal life without being too preoccupied about my health. I find that what I do as a job actually is enough for me.”

He pauses and gives that Keef cackle, a laugh that falls somewhere between a pirate and a prep-school prankster.

“As you know, I’m different from a lot of people,” Richards says.

So is the band. The how-long-will-they-do-it narrative, birthed in the late ’80s, has given way to you-better-see-it-while-it’s-still-awfully-good. There is the Richards-Wood weave, with the guitarists swapping lead and rhythm roles by simply offering a look. There are the nightly surprises. Richards estimates the Stones worked up about 50 songs for the tour, meaning that “Sad Sad Sad” and “Monkey Man” were heard in Chicago. There is also an acoustic set part of the way through — the only real concession, according to Richards, to slowing down. That leads to the up-tempo stretch that closes out the show.

Without a record of new material to promote in more than a decade, a Stones gig remains steady and packed with staples, including “Honky Tonk Woman,” “Start Me Up” and “Sympathy for the Devil.”

Is there anything the band won’t play? Richards doesn’t hesitate.

“ ‘The Lantern,’ ” he says, referring to a forgettable cut on the band’s foray into psychedelic music: 1967’s “Their Satanic Majesties Request.”

It has been 14 years since “A Bigger Bang,” the last studio album of original songs. Richards says that in February, the Stones recorded at least five new songs with producer Don Was. They are likely to finish the album, which would be their 31st, later this year.

The Rolling Stones remain a kind of rock-and-roll chemistry experiment, an adventure to see how long it can last.

“Basically, yeah, nobody has taken it this far before, and there’s no guidelines,” says Richards. “And basically, we count on our audience. They’re incredibly loyal and you feel you would let those people down if you said, ‘I’ll chuck it in.’ ”

A week in, there also haven’t been any media-fueled blowups between Richards and Jagger. Though the guitarist has sniped at the singer in the past — in song, in his memoir and in interviews — this has never been Oasis. Richards says that their relationship has actually rarely been about conflict.

“First off, it ain’t like that,” he says of the supposed tension between himself and Jagger. “People only hear about the conflicts, which, after 50 years, there may have been two or three. The other 99.9 percent of the time, Mick and I are very close friends and have grown closer the older we get.”

He laughs.

“We are the only ones we know who are still alive.”

[www.washingtonpost.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019-06-30 07:19 by bye bye johnny.

‘We are the only ones we know who are still alive.’

Classic Keith

Mick and I are very close friends and have grown closer the older we get.”


mmmmmmmm aint that lurverly ta read …..



ROCKMAN

Is there anything the band won’t play? Richards doesn’t hesitate.

“ ‘The Lantern,’ ” he says, referring to a forgettable cut on the band’s foray into psychedelic music: 1967’s “Their Satanic Majesties Request.”

So Keef... you are saying... we have a chance... to get GOMPER!!! ?
All they have to do is move the needle 2 tracks in from Shes a Rainbow which we heard tonight.

btw- I personally would have found it hilarious if he had said Gomper instead of The Lantern

He sounds intellectually much more alert than in recent years!

Quote
Xam
Is there anything the band won’t play? Richards doesn’t hesitate.

“ ‘The Lantern,’ ” he says, referring to a forgettable cut on the band’s foray into psychedelic music: 1967’s “Their Satanic Majesties Request.”

So Keef... you are saying... we have a chance... to get GOMPER!!! ?
All they have to do is move the needle 2 tracks in from Shes a Rainbow which we heard tonight.

btw- I personally would have found it hilarious if he had said Gomper instead of The Lantern

So, 'In Another Land'sometime, maybe?

So, they have 5 songs...
Great
Jeroen

"Richards says that in February, the Stones recorded at least five new songs with producer Don Was."

sure they did...i think this answers any questions about a new record...

Quote
runrudolph
So, they have 5 songs...
Great
Jeroen

5 new songs. Great news

Quote
cowboytoast
"Richards says that in February, the Stones recorded at least five new songs with producer Don Was."

sure they did...i think this answers any questions about a new record...

They have been saying this for years. How hard can it be for 2 of the best songwriters in rock history to write 5 songs?

Quote
cowboytoast
"Richards says that in February, the Stones recorded at least five new songs with producer Don Was."

sure they did...i think this answers any questions about a new record...

Yeh,release date 2020 or 2021
Jeroen

Quote
Rockman
Mick and I are very close friends and have grown closer the older we get.”


mmmmmmmm aint that lurverly ta read …..

mmmmmmm would Mick care to comment, please?

Quote
TornAndFried

Quote
cowboytoast
"Richards says that in February, the Stones recorded at least five new songs with producer Don Was."

sure they did...i think this answers any questions about a new record...

They have been saying this for years. How hard can it be for 2 of the best songwriters in rock history to write 5 songs?

+ the 20 or so they have recorded already. Sounds good to me.

Quote
TornAndFried
How hard can it be for 2 of the best songwriters in rock history to write 5 songs?

They have to be able to stand in the same room for days/weeks, and re-create the creative alchemy they had in the 60's and the 70's.

Imho that's even more difficult than to ask Keith to learn to play a few Slayer songs for a Jeff Hannemann tribute show...

Regarding the supposed new album, I'll believe it when I see and hear it...thinking 2022 or 2023.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

damn i love the lantern!

A good job. He actually asked some questions. Not the usual bullshit. This guy must be a fan. And we have a new word for warhorses - staples...

Quote
maumau
damn i love the lantern!

Me too, but I don't think they've ever played it live and they never will.

Quote
Xam
Is there anything the band won’t play? Richards doesn’t hesitate.

“ ‘The Lantern,’ ” he says, referring to a forgettable cut on the band’s foray into psychedelic music: 1967’s “Their Satanic Majesties Request.”

So Keef... you are saying... we have a chance... to get GOMPER!!! ?
All they have to do is move the needle 2 tracks in from Shes a Rainbow which we heard tonight.

btw- I personally would have found it hilarious if he had said Gomper instead of The Lantern

As much of a chance as anything else other than Harlem Shuffle from their worst album ever as well as a majority of all their albums except SOME GIRLS and LET IT BLEED.

Quote
dcba

Quote
TornAndFried
How hard can it be for 2 of the best songwriters in rock history to write 5 songs?

They have to be able to stand in the same room for days/weeks, and re-create the creative alchemy they had in the 60's and the 70's.

Imho that's even more difficult than to ask Keith to learn to play a few Slayer songs for a Jeff Hannemann tribute show...

Ha! Nice visual reference.

However, I think writing some solid songs with Mick IS possible. There is literally ZERO chance Keith could play something by Slayer.

Listen, they don't write songs together anymore. That's a thing of the past. They separately bring songs to the studio and then works on them.
And the sessions seems to be shorter and more far between. That's the reason for 5-15 years between albums.

Another question is: How many years can you talk about a new album before it becomes ludicrous? 3 years? 5 years?

Quote
Stoneage
Listen, they don't write songs together anymore. That's a thing of the past. They separately bring songs to the studio and then works on them.
And the sessions seems to be shorter and more far between. That's the reason for 5-15 years between albums.

You're right of course.

And it's well past the point of ludicrous.

maybe we will see the album next year then? would be a fitting end. release the album and play some other countries. play the usa in 2021. play the uk in 2022, the bands 60th year and end it there

Quote
Stoneage
Another question is: How many years can you talk about a new album before it becomes ludicrous? 3 years? 5 years?

Well, hasn't Jimmy Page been talking about a new (solo) album for 20 plus years?

Nice interview, good questions...

The only thing I saw when I read the interview was that Mercy Mercy could be played on this tour, every other word disappeared after that.

I told her "Crap now I have to max out the cards and see every show until it's played"
She said "Um, no"
I said "You know I'm only joking"
But we both knew that was a lie

Have Mercy baby!

“The main thing is you haven’t played it for 50 years. So I’m just looking for the opportunity on the set-list to say to Mick, ‘Hey, today how about ‘Mercy’?”

Keith got the opportunity!

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jlowe

Quote
Rockman
Mick and I are very close friends and have grown closer the older we get.”


mmmmmmmm aint that lurverly ta read …..

mmmmmmm would Mick care to comment, please?

Mick would never comment in those terms anyway.

He's too much the "staid, reserved Englishman" in that respect...embarrassed to talk about feelings... even if he did want to.