When The Rolling Stones launched their latest album, Hackney Diamonds, at the intimate Manhattan rock club Racket NYC last October, it was a celebrity-studded affair (boasting a surprise Lady Gaga duet) at a venue that caps at 650 people. Thursday night (May 23) at New Jersey’s gargantuan MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., the Stones brought their Hackney Diamonds Tour to the tri-state area and performed at a stadium that seats more than 80,000. And while the star-to-civilian ratio was understandably lower than that album launch party seven months earlier, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood seemed looser, happier and more at ease performing a two-hour set for tens of thousands than a seven-song underplay for the lucky and the elite.
Jagger was at his hip-swiveling, finger flailing finest as he gave “Shattered” its tour debut, ripped through new tunes like “Angry” and wailed on the harp for “Miss You”; Richards, as usual, found his guitar groove and fixated on it, occasionally cracking a smile or sharing a laugh with his bandmates; and Wood, still the new guy after 48 years, seemed a bit awestruck as he sized up the sea of people dancing (with varying degrees of versatility) and singing along.
While introducing the band, Jagger cheekily hailed Wood as the “Botticelli of the Bronx, the Monet of Manhattan, the Basquiat of Brooklyn” – none of which really apply to a guitarist born in Middlesex, England, but Wood did demonstrate his artistic flair during a fervent solo spotlight on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (a song title that probably held a deeper resonance for those tucked away in the nosebleeds).
Before trotting out the fan-voted song in the setlist, “Wild Horses,” Jagger made a point of telling the crowd, “There’s a much bigger vote happening in November.” Later on in the night, he couldn’t resist a jibe at the expense of a former president. “I was a bit worried about the weather – I thought we were going to get a bit of a Stormy Daniels,” he said slyly, referring to the adult star involved in the criminal hush money trial against Trump.
Also on the menu for stage banter: The Tick Tock Diner in Clifton, N.J. Back in 2019, Jagger was on the very same stage for the band’s No Filter Tour and shouted out the aforementioned diner, telling the crowd he snagged a “Taylor ham with disco fries – and sloppy joe to go” at the regional hot spot. On Thursday night, we got the follow-up. “Last time [we played here] I mentioned I went to this diner called the Tick Tock Diner. So on the way to the show, I stopped in there, and I found out they got a new sandwich — and it’s called the Mick Jagger. I’ve never had a f–king sandwich named after me before, so I’m very, very proud. And me and Keith and Ronnie are going to eat it after the show.”
The Glimmer Twins are still shining at 80, but who knows if and when England’s longest running hitmakers will return on a tour of this magnitude. At the very least, their Hackney Diamonds Tour (and the Tick Tock Diner) is giving fans something savory and satiating to celebrate the living legends.
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