Mick Jagger And Keith Richards Hold Hands As They Get Emotional Seeing Charlie Watts’ Pictures

The Rolling Stones recently performed their first concert of the No Filter Tour at the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis which was their first performance regarding the tour without the late drummer Charlie Watts. As expected, the members didn’t forget to pay tribute to their deceased friend and bandmate with an emotional speech in front of their fans while Keith Richards and Mick Jagger hold each other’s hands.

As some of you might recall, Charlie Watts was unfortunately diagnosed with throat cancer back in June 2004 despite quit smoking many years earlier. After a series of treatments including radiotherapy, ‘The Wembley Whammer’ eventually started to feel so much better and his cancer went into remission.

Althgouth the musician’s health has been allowing him to tour all over the world and continue making music for the past 17 years, it was announced on August 5 that Watts wasn’t able to continue the remaining dates of the band’s US No Filter Tour. Fans were initially informed that his absence was due to a medical procedure and Steven Jordan temporarily replaced him on drums.

Less than a month following the surgery announcement, Charlie Watts passed away at a London hospital on 24 August 2021, at the age of 80. The cause of death still remains unclear as well as the procedure that kept him away from touring both of which are no longer important now that the Stones are left without their beloved bandmate.

Althgought they lost a band member and friend, the remaining members of Rolling Stones continued performing and played their first show without Watts on September 20 for a concert in Foxborough, Mass. The show stood as a warm-up gig prior to their No Filter tour which is now officially started with their first performance on September 26 at the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis.

As expected, the Rolling Stones paid tribute to their late bandmate during their first show, and Charlie Watts’s images and videos were displayed on the arena’s big screens before the members took the stage. This set the tone for the concert and the audience shouted the late drummers as loudly as possible and that’s when the Stones stepped foot on stage.

After Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood showed up on stage, it was pretty clear that they were saddened by the absence of their friend. The frontman talked to their fans as he was holding hands with the lead guitarist and expressed how they all will miss the late drummer both on and off stage. The band then dedicated their next song, ‘Tumbling Dice,’ to Charlie Watts, and their first show without the musician officially began.

Mick Jagger’s speech about Watts follows:

“It’s really quite emotional seeing those pictures of Charlie up on the screen. This is the first-ever tour we’ve ever done without him. We’ll miss Charlie so much, on and off the stage.”

You can see those moments down below.