Chuck Leavell Calls 2021 Rolling Stones No Filter Tour “A Miracle”
The Rolling Stones musical director and keyboard player Chuck Leavell says the ‘No Filter’ tour of 2021 even happening was “a miracle”.
‘No Filter’ was first sidelined in 2020 due to Covid. The resumption of the tour was announced for 2021 but then tragedy struck … Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts died just a month before the tour was due to begin.
Watts had already pulled out of the tour due to ill-health but no-one was expecting him to die. Chuck Leavell told Local Spins, “We knew he couldn’t make the tour, but we were told to expect he would recover and possibly even make an appearance towards the end.”
Chuck says the tour went ahead as a tribute to Watts because that’s what Charlie would have wanted. “Charlie would never want to be the reason the band would stop. We all knew that, so we just had to suck it in and start rehearsing with (drummer) Steve (Jordan) and all of us. The music very much helped to heal us, and kept us all engaged mentally and on our toes.”
Chuck has more to say about the No Filter tour at his website.
The Rolling Stones’ ‘miracle’ tour set for Detroit after ‘gut punch’ of Charlie Watts’ death