Music

Willie O’Reilly: Stones are still the immovable object of rock

After 60 years on the road, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and ‘new hire’ Ronnie Wood are still strutting their stuff and sending the crowd wild

The Rolling Stones on stage at Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid on June 1: Mick Jagger is almost 79, Keith Richards hits that age in December and Ronnie Wood is 75 – but they’re still cool and Jagger’s vitality is always present. Picture: Javier Bragado/Redferns

Last Wednesday night, I stood among 46,000 music fans in Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano stadium. The temperature was a balmy 26C, and I was looking deep into the history of rock ’n’ roll as the Rolling Stones’s 60th anniversary tour had landed in the Spanish capital.

The band’s story started out modestly enough in 1962, at London’s Marquee club playing blues covers. In 2022, they are a juggernaut of private planes, football stadiums and tours that ...