Hyde Park, London - 25th June 2022

The Sixty Tour - Gig 1

Support by The War On Drugs, Phoebe Bridgers, Vista Kicks, JJ Rosa, Kelly McGrath

By Robert Corich

The indomitable Rolling Stones once again hit Hyde Park almost 53 years to the week from when they first played a free concert here in July 1969 to a then estimated crowd in excess of 250,000 and possibly up to 500,000 people lounging in the park.

This time around it was a mere sixty five thousand paying punters in attendance gleefully getting their Ya Ya’s out and trying to keep up with the amazing performers that are Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones dancing the night away.

For what was a good two hour show there was virtually no let up from start to finish by these iconic musical troubadours.

Opening the gig was a heartfelt tribute to the recently departed Charlie Watts and then with the roar of the approving crowd they were off.

Bassist Daryl Jones was as solid as ever and Charlie Watts fill-in Steve Jordan did a stellar job under the circumstances. One cannot completely replace the irreplaceable Charlie after all.

Ronnie Wood shone with his playing the entire night and Keith Richards delivered superbly, defying what a man of his age should be able to deliver. No Zimmer frames for these boys and the way they are going it looks like they may well rock till they drop.

Jagger duetted beguilingly with the force of nature that is the beautiful Sasha Allen on ‘Gimme Shelter’ and his interplay with his elder statesmen and brothers in arms in the band was delivered with aplomb, energy and near perfection.

The band, despite now being well into their autumn years can still blow every other band off a stage when it comes to playing rock and roll and tonight was no exception.

I would hazard a guess that everyone in the crowd was pinching themselves with glee that they were actually there with these musical icons of icons for what may well be the last tour by the band.

From the opening chords of ‘Street Fighting Man’ to the last echoes of ‘I Can’t Get No Satisfaction’ Messers Jagger, Richards, Wood and Co. beautifully executed a set that covered generations, was played to generations and will probably last for generations. Hopefully the full concert video will be available soon.

Highlights were the opener ‘’Street Fighting Man’, ‘Midnight Rambler’ interpolating a brilliant version of Robert Johnsons ‘Come On In My Kitchen’, ‘Painted Black’ and of course the stomping classic ‘Gimme Shelter’.

The depth of feeling towards Russia’s ugly and unjust war was obious as the crowd roared when the Stones let the Ukrainian flag fly high on the big screens during ‘Gimme Shelter’.

But other songs shone too, in particular the lockdown special ‘Living In A Ghost Town’, the crowd pleaser that is ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ and of course the encore finale ‘I Can’t Get No Satisfaction’.

Jagger, Richards, Wood and Co. with their amazing eight member support band certainly reached for the sky this time around. All in all this was truly magnificent night and one not to be missed.

Setlist:

1. Street Fighting Man

2. 19th Nervous Breakdown

3. Tumbling Dice

4. Out Of Time

5. She’s A Rainbow

6. You Can’t Always Get What You Want

7. Living In A Ghost Town

8. Can’t You Hear Me Knocking

9. Honky Tonk Woman

10. Slipping Away

11. Connection

12. Miss You

13. Midnight Rambler

14. Paint It Black

15. Start Me Up

16. Gimme Shelter

17. Jumping Jack Flash

Encore:

1. Sympathy For The Devil

2. I Can’t Get No Satisfaction

Support acts and fans…

Photography by BST Hyde Park / Rory Barnes / Jeff Moh / Ishasha Photography / Aye Fone