More about: The Rolling Stones

If we cryogenically froze the Rolling Stones (and we can’t rule out they’re not already taking steps if Keith Richards’ ‘Do Not X-Ray’ T-shirt is anything to go by), they would likely still be putting on an excellent rock show in another 60 years. Still eye-poppingly fit, slick on their instruments and — in Mick Jagger's case — bendy, the three remaining long-timers Ronnie Wood, Keith and Mick all slide through a two-plus-hour set with swagger at their second BST evening in London’s Hyde Park.

Proceedings kick off with a tribute to Charlie Watts, for whom Mick asks the crowd to show some love. The compliance is enthusiastic: the Stones had been playing with him for 60 years before his death last summer, after all. 

Coming on to 1965 single ‘Get Off My Cloud’, the Stones immediately get the crowd involved; this is to be a call-and-response heavy gig, and the throng is more than happy to get involved. An unusual mix of super-fans, media and those wealthy enough to afford Golden Circle access (more on that later) bob along to ‘19th Nervous Breakdown’, ‘Tumblin’ Dice’ and ‘Out Of Time’ before ‘Angie’ allows Mick to demonstrate just how little his voice has changed with age. 

‘Can’t Always Get What You Want’ is the first of several super, mega, massive hit renditions, most of which come during the final third of the set: ‘Paint It Black’, ‘Start Me Up’, ‘Gimme Shelter’, ‘Jumping Jack Flash’ and encore tracks ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ and ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ run one to the next, the band showing no sign that six decades of playing these hits has dampened their enthusiasm for them. This is perhaps the most impressive thing of all; more even than the fact of Keith Richards’ sprightliness. As Mick tells the crowd ahead of the encore tonight, this is the band’s 203rd London show — and yet they play as if it still genuinely delights them. Jagger, Wood and Richards lark about on stage, jostling one another and as Wood takes a bow, Mick implores people to buy his handprinted set-lists because “he’s got a young family to support”.

As evidenced by the ludicrous number of Stones T-shirts on display at tonight’s show, this is band who like making money. It’s not the band but the festival that allow greed to get in the way of a good time at Hyde Park tonight though. It’s been this way at BST for many years; a sizeable chunk of space at the front of the stage is given over to guests and those willing to pay more for the privilege. With a second barrier set far back from the stage for those who paid less (still around the £90 mark), there’s a noticeable vivisecting of atmosphere that one can only imagine is far from the way things were at their free 1969 show in the same spot. As members of the media, Gigwise are stationed within the Golden Circle, far in front of those fans who have brought signs that the band will never be able to see. It’s an uncomfortable sectioning only made worse by the two enormous VIP blocks that obscure great swathes of the view for those in general admission. The buzz in the show’s aftermath prove that everyone had a fantastic time regardless, but it’s a dampener to see a homogenised crowd of wealthy folk getting (as always) the better experience.

Though this Soho House-ification of the rock show has a real bearing on the overall vibe of the night, the Stones themselves are marvellous as ever, their light undimmed by the many years that stand between 1969 and its tribute to Brian Jones, and tonight with its Charlie Watts tribute. It may no longer be ethically viable to release hundreds of white butterflies into the Royal Parks, but by playing their hits with such vim to a crowd of multi-generational fans, The Rolling Stones have proven that sixty years is nothing at all.

The Rolling Stones played:

Get Off My Cloud
19th Nervous Breakdown
Out Of Time
Angie
Can’t Always Get What You Want
Like a Rolling Stone
You Got Me Rockin’
Honky Tonk Women
You Got The Silver
Happy
Miss You
Midnight Rambler
Paint It Black
Start Me Up
Gimme Shelter
Jumping Jack Flash
Sympathy for the Devil
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction

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More about: The Rolling Stones