The Rolling Stones’ Chuck Leavell on Liverpool’s ‘beautiful’ reaction to Anfield gig
The Rolling Stones’ keyboardist Chuck Leavell has said Liverpool’s reaction at Anfield last night was “beautiful”.
The iconic band is in the midst of their much-anticipated SIXTY tour, celebrating their 60 years in the music industry. Original members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are joined by long-standing member Ronnie Wood for the tour, with Steve Jordan on drums following Charlie Watt’s “tragic” death last summer.
Multi-talented Chuck Leavell serves as the band’s resident keyboardist and musical director. The Alabama native has been performing with The Rolling Stones for more than 40 years.
Last night, the rock legends took to the stage at Anfield stadium, with a show that dazzled and delighted thousands of enraptured fans. For Chuck, the Liverpool crowd’s response was “beautiful”.
Speaking to the ECHO, the musician said: “It was my first time playing Liverpool so it was very special for me.” Two of his grandchildren are “absolutely soccer crazy”, so the 70-year-old made the most of visiting the famed venue, filming behind the scenes.
He said: “I did a film throughout the venue last night, Liverpool and all the writings on the wall and the pictures and the history of the team, and I sent it to them and they just loved it.”
The European tour sees The Rolling Stones venturing to Madrid, Munich, Milan, Amsterdam and more. In England, their only stops are Liverpool and London.
On why Liverpool was chosen as a destination on the SIXTY tour, Chuck said: “I think the promoters and the band always try to find some unique situations. Obviously, this day and time, the tours are not long like they used to be back in the late 80s and going into the 90s and up to the 2000s – the Steel Wheels tour was something like 130 shows over maybe 18 months but now, the paradigm is very different and so it’s like 14 shows at a time.
“So they’re very meticulous and particular about what cities they think would benefit most and what would be most interesting for the tour. Liverpool, obviously with The Beatles, has a tremendous music history. I looked it up and, when was it, it was the 1972 I think, the last time maybe the band played Liverpool when they were being exiled from England over to France.
“I think the band and the promoters looked and said, ‘you know, Liverpool would be an interesting place to play, let’s do that’. And, of course, the London shows and Hyde Park, we’ve done Hyde Park before and it’s such a special place.”
Chuck got his start with the Stones in the 80s. After a series of auditions, he got the “big surprise” that the legends wanted him to join them on tour.
Reflecting on the phone call that would set him on a decades long collaboration with one of the most influential bands of all time, Chuck said: “It was a shock to get that call in the beginning and when 1982 rolled around and we did the European tour at that time, I thought to myself, ‘well wouldn’t it be great, this is unbelievable that I got this gig, wouldn’t it be great if it would last three or four years, that’d be fun’. 40 years later, here we are. I never would, in my wildest dreams, imagine that it would have gone this long.”
The musician spoke fondly of his time in the band, and the friendships forged on the way. He added: “So many beautiful memories. Of course, there has been gaps where the band was touring… it’s just been an amazing journey.
“I love the guys individually – of course, as we know, we lost Charlie (Watts) last year that was a big tragic thing for all of us both as musicians and partners, but as friends. He was such a beautiful soul. We think about Charlie all the time and, as you saw last night, we always do the tribute to Charlie.”
Asked whether, as a young teen, he ever thought his career would reach the heights it has, Chuck said: “No – are you kidding me? My first band played a lot of British Invasion along with the Indigenous music of the South where I grew up – I grew up in Alabama – so we had country music of course, we had rhythm and blues music, soul music, Delta blues… gospel music, both black and white, and then in the middle 60s, here comes British Invasion, right?”
During their childhood, Leavell’s older sister worked at a record store and the siblings would pool any of their “small money” together in order to buy a Rolling Stones record, or a Beatles record. Then, the musician would play them at a slower speed to learn, practise and hone his music skills. He said: “I’d listen over and over and over.”
His favourite Stones song to perform is Honky Tonk Women, and he cites an early memory as cementing the track’s personal significance: “I remember where I was when I first heard the song – I was with a small band that was recording in Nashville, we were living in a house. The guitar player came running in the front door, ‘I’ve got it!’ ‘You’ve got what, man?’ ‘I was driving down the road, the new Stones song came on called Honky Tonk Women, I pulled over to listen to it, I went straight into the record store and I bought it, here it is.’
“We put that thing on and we listened to it over and over and over again so I loved it from the beginning. Here’s an interesting fact for you, on the record, there’s no piano. It’s all guitar, bass, drums and cow bell and some vocals… but no piano. So, when I got in the band and we were rehearsing songs, they said, ‘hey, we’ve got to find something for Chuck to have a solo on. How about Honky Tonk Women?’ So I get my little spin on Honky Tonk every night.”
In addition to his work with The Rolling Stones, Chuck continues to make music and his piano and keyboard skills have been heard on the works of Eric Clapton, John Mayer, The Black Crowes, George Harrison, The Allman Brothers Band, The Indigo Girls, Blues Traveler, Train, Montgomery-Gentry, Lee Ann Womack and many more.
The Rolling Stones are supportive of his work with the Big Band – in particular, the late Charlie Watts. Chuck said: “Charlie loved jazz – when I played him the record, he was, ‘oh Chuck, this is amazing, I love it, man.’ On the tour in America when Charlie was still with us, I think it was maybe 2019, I did a show in New York with great musicians up there and we did the big band show in a beautiful theatre there and Charlie came. I got him to sit in, so the support has just been great.”
Chuck has also completed a documentary, titled The Tree Man. It explores the pianist’s love and affinity with music, forests and his family. For more information, click here.