Charlie Watts will miss the Rolling Stones‘ upcoming US tour to allow him to recover from an unspecified medical procedure.

The Stones are set to resume their No Filter tour with a show in St Louis on September 26, but a spokesman for the drummer has confirmed that Watts’ place will be filled by Steve Jordan, a long-term collaborator of Keith Richards.

Advertisement

Said Watts, “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. After all the fans’ suffering caused by Covid I really do not want the many RS fans who have been 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.”

Jordan said: “It is an absolute honour and a privilege to be Charlie’s understudy and I am looking forward to rehearsing with Mick, Keith and Ronnie. No-one will be happier than me to give up my seat on the drum-riser as soon as Charlie tells me he is good to go.”

Advertisement

The other Stones’ have sent public messages of sympathy to Watts.

“We really look forward to welcoming Charlie back as soon as he is fully recovered,” Mick Jagger wrote. “Thank you to our friend Steve Jordan for stepping in, so we can still play all the shows for you this fall.”

“This has been a bit of a blow to all of us, to say the least,” admitted Richards. “And we’re all wishing for Charlie to have a speedy recovery and to see him as soon as possible. Thank you to Steve Jordan for joining us in the meantime.”

“I will miss Charlie on the upcoming tour,” added Wood. “But he told me 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. A huge thank you to the band’s old friend Steve Jordan for rockin’ on in Charlie’s place, and on his drum seat for the Autumn tour.”

https://twitter.com/ronniewood/status/1423162099480498183/photo/1