When Charlie Watts died last August, it was a shock to everyone, including his Rolling Stones bandmates. They decided to continue with touring plans, something Keith Richards thinks the late drummer would've wanted, and Mick Jagger led a tribute to Watts during their first show without him.

Now that he's almost a year removed from the shock of loss, Jagger opened up about living without his friend and bandmate. “I don’t really expect him to be there any more if I turn round during a show," he told The London Times. "But I do think about him. Not only during rehearsals or on stage, but in other ways too."

“I would have phoned him up and talked about last night’s Arsenal game because he supported Tottenham and I’m Arsenal. I miss him as a player and as a friend," Jagger added before recalling some of Watts' onstage quirks. “In the show, when we come to the front and bow at the end, there’s no Charlie. He’d always be the last one down. I’d go: ‘Come on, what have you got to do?’ He’d be fiddling with his sticks because he always had to have them in a row before he’d get off the seat.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Jagger had some choice words to say about people comparing Harry Styles to him. “I mean, I used to wear a lot more eye make-up than him. Come on, I was much more androgynous,” he said. “And he doesn’t have a voice like mine or move on stage like me; he just has a superficial resemblance to my younger self, which is fine — he can’t help that.”

Smokey Robinson

June 2, 2022