Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts will miss the band’s upcoming rescheduled No Filter U.S. tour after undergoing an undisclosed medical procedure. Watts will be replaced by Steve Jordan on the 13-date trek.
“Charlie has had a procedure which was completely successful, but I gather his doctors this week concluded that he now needs proper rest and recuperation. With rehearsals starting in a couple of weeks it’s very disappointing to say the least, but it’s also fair to say no one saw this coming,” a spokesperson for Watts said in a statement.
Watts himself had a statement expressing his own disappointment in missing his first shows since joining the band in 1963.
“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,” Watts said.
Jordan is familiar with the Stones, as he’s a member of Keith Richards’ side project X-Pensive Winos.
“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.”
