Steve Jordan on Touring With the Stones:
‘It Was Like Being Strapped to a Rocket Ship’

The drummer has been playing with Keith Richards for the past 35 years
in various side projects, but he never imagined he’d be called in to tour
with the Rolling Stones

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/steve-jordan-rolling-stones-drummer-interview-1265720/

(I read the whole thing, its good, Steve is articulate.
Copy and paste portions on this thread if you so wish)

https://i.imgur.com/8YqHE0d.jpeg

(Steve also today released a percussive soundscape with Mix Master Mike --
the vid has Koyaanisqatsi-type visuals, some apparently by Salvador Dali)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EL6Kq63OVM

Good read. Thanks. Interesting that Steve puts the kibbosh on the long held belief that Charlie is AWOL on a few songs on 'Dirty Work'.

There are quite a few other drummers/percussionists credited on that album such as Steve and Anton Fig and it's been often speculated that its Ronnie on drums on 'Sleep Tonight'

Gazza wrote on Dec 6^th, 2021 at 11:41am:

it's been often speculated that its Ronnie on drums on 'Sleep Tonight'

I think this one was confirmed by Ronnie (I know, not always reliable) on his radio show maybe where he said that Charlie heard him play it and said that he couldn't do better, which Ronnie was humbled by or words to that effect.

yes indeed


Yes - (I played) drums on... Sleep Tonight - I could never get over the thought of playing instead of Charlie, I thought that would be a sacrilege, but he insisted because he was going through a lot of problems at the time and couldn't be at the studio. Keith said, Right, you're on drums, so I finally hacked it into shape and when Charlie got there I gave him the sticks and he said, No, I can't get it right, you play it. It worked out good.
- Ron Wood, 1988

On Too Rude, I got to play the drums. That was when Charlie was going through a terrible time with Shirley. They were having lots of heavy arguments and so Charlie was often late, or Shirley would come into the studio and forcibly drag him out. On one of those nights Keith said, All right, you're on drums, Ronnie... The drum sound was very dynamic: I ended up sounding like Solomon Burke's drummer. I was very proud of it, actually.
- Ron Wood, 2003

although Keith seems to think otherwise re : 'Too Rude'
Too Rude is a song I picked up in Jamaica when I was living there in the summer of '84. When we were starting these sessions five months later, I found the tape and this song was driving into my brain. I drove everybody mad with it. I had no intention of cutting it, but it was my own little talisman. I made a tape of it going around and around that I'd play on the way to the studio. Every day I'd jump in the car and put on this stape of Too Rude for the twenty-minute drive. After about six weeks of this, nobody wanted to drive with me. Then it started to get to Woody. One night he and I had gotten there first, Charlie walked in, and we started to play it. By now this song is insisting on being on this album. That song said, I'm in! It wasn't anything to do with me. I believe that songs arrive at your doorstep and all you do is give them an airing.

- Keith Richards, 1986


(from http://www.timeisonourside.com)

I guess it's safe to say that Steve wasn't at the sessions anywhere near as often as Ronnie was!

Wait...Steve never saw a whole Stones show because ...he had to leave early to beat the traffic?

andrews27 wrote on Dec 6^th, 2021 at 10:24pm:

Wait...Steve never saw a whole Stones show because ...he had to leave early to beat the traffic?

I tend to do that as Satisfaction plays (as encore, obviously)...I leave slowly and the song is about 75% done by the time I am out...I really cant stand the cattle herd of the exit...I usually can make it to see/watch the motorcade exit, which is very exciting, to me at least.

The last time, was with TomL in Raleigh ZIP Code

For all you setlist nay-sayers:

Each night had a different set list on this tour, and they threw in some real surprises, like “Connection.”


When you have 8 million songs that are great, you can’t just play the same 19 songs every night. Not only does that keep the band fresh, but people that follow this band all over the world don’t want to hear the same songs every night. The band is very cognizant of the fact that they have fans that travel all over to see them, or remember what they played the last time they were in that town. Mick and the band are very cognizant of that, as well. There’s a record of what was played the last time they were in the city. It’s very thorough. It’s not a slapdash kind of approach. It’s very thorough.


Interesting...always wondered about this since Howard Stern keyed in on it:
"Every show began with that audio collage of Charlie. Hearing that as you walked out must have been a real reminder of his legacy."

I had one friend come to one of the shows and go, “Was that a loop you played to play under the thing?” I went, “No, that’s Charlie Watts, dude! That’s the isolated drums on ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking.’ That’s Charlie!”