The Rolling Stones Play Private Tribute For Charlie Watts

The Rolling Stones gathered on Monday night (December 6th) at London's Ronnie Scott's club to pay tribute to late-drummer Charlie Watts. Watts died of cancer this past August 24th at age 80. The Sun reported Mick Jagger was accompanied by girlfriend Melanie Hamrick, Keith Richards with wife Patti Hansen, and Ron Wood with wife Sally. Former-bassist Bill Wyman was in attendance — but did not perform. Current Stones drummer — and longtime Charlie Watts friend — Steve Jordan also played.

Jager, Richards, and Wood played a pair of tunes — “Shame Shame Shame” — which was included on the band's recent expanded edition of Tattoo You — and “Down The Road Apiece,” which the Stones recorded in 1965 for their second album.

Former-Squeeze keyboardist Jools Holland served as the evening's MC and headed up the house band — which included performances by Stones vocalist Bernard Fowler, former singer Lisa Fischer, and the Stones' touring sax player Tim Ries.

No too long ago, Charlie Watts said that as a live band, the Stones remained at the top of their game: “Great bands, whether they're Count Basie or (whoever), when they're at their best is when they're a unit, that's playing every night for a number of years. And that's what the Rolling Stones are. I mean, we fortunately get along, and enjoy what we're doing, and nowadays, we get a lot of time off in between doing that.”