The Rolling Stones’ drummer Charlie Watts has reached the age where he officially does not care what people think of him — nor should he. In a recent interview with The Guardian to promote the Stones’ upcoming No Filter UK and European tour, he let slip that he didn’t care if his band continued on.
“I love playing the drums and I love playing with Mick and Keith and Ronnie, I don’t know about the rest of it. It wouldn’t bother me if the Rolling Stones said that’s it … enough. I don’t know what I would do if I stopped. Keith is a great one for saying once you’re going, keep going. The big worry for me is being well enough. We don’t work like we used to fortunately. There are huge gaps between each show…For me, I would like to be standing on Sunday 8 July at the end of the show in Warsaw. That’s as far as I can see.”
Additionally, and perhaps more interestingly, Watts had some subtle criticisms of the late David Bowie. “I thought people would have been very sad obviously, and he was a lovely guy and he wrote a couple of good songs,” he explained briefly in the interview. “But for me, he wasn’t this musical genius.” This an especially hot take, considering the well-documented friendship between Bowie and Mick Jagger.
The Stones’ No Filter tour kicks off 5/17 at Dublin’s Croke Park. Check out the full routing here.
