‘She’s an amazing singer, but I’ve worn sparklier dresses’: Mick Jagger gives shout-out to Adele at BST show
Mick Jagger paid tribute to Adele while performing with The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park in London on Sunday evening (3 July).
The singer was in a talkative mood throughout the two-and-a-half hour show, revealing that it was the band’s fifth gig in Hyde Park, and 203rd in London.
He noted how much was going on in London, including Pride and Wimbledon, adding: “I went to see Adele here last yesterday. She’s an amazing singer, but I’ve worn sparklier dresses.”
The gig started with a video tribute to drummer Charlie Watts, who died last August. He was 81.
Jagger said: “We played with Charlie for 60 years and we really, really miss him, so we dedicate this show to him.”
The band opened with “Get Off My Cloud” and at one point they played Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”, with Jagger saying there was a guy they knew “who won the Nobel Prize for Literature and he wrote us this song”.
After “Honky Tonk Women”, he joked: “Welcome to the American Express British Summer Time Covid super spreader event.”
Jagger introduced guitarist and keen painter Ronnie Wood as “the Botticelli of Belgravia” and said Keith Richards had come “all the way from Dartford”.
Richards took lead vocals on the bluesy “You Got the Silver” from Let It Bleed and “Happy” from Exile on Main St, with the guitarist also saying it was great to be back “in our wonderful island”.
The Rolling Stones played 19 songs as part of their Sixty tour, including the encores of “Sympathy for the Devil” and a mass crowd singalong to “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”.
Other fan favourites included “Miss You”, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”, “Paint It Black”, “Start Me Up”, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”. They also played 1969’s “Gimme Shelter”, during which there were images on the video screens of the Ukraine flag and scenes of bomb damage.
Jagger – who tested positive for Covid last month, forcing the band to reschedule a show in Amsterdam – was in energetic form all evening, making full use of the stage runway into the crowd. There were also numerous costume changes.
Earlier in the day there were performances by artists including US blues prodigy Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett, and rising Geordie star Sam Fender.
The Stones now head for Amsterdam as their European tour continues for another month, while BST returns with grunge giants Pearl Jam on Friday and Saturday (8 and 9 July), and wraps up with Duran Duran on Sunday (10 July).
Apart from Adele’s two nights, the BST series has also seen Elton John and the Eagles play to huge audiences in Hyde Park.
