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More than fifty years into their career, The Rolling Stones still managed to turn a London stadium into their personal playground, proving that rock legends apparently do not believe in graceful aging. While younger bands spend half their careers chasing authenticity, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards casually pulled it out of thin air during performances of Street Fighting Man, Paint It Black andGimme Shelter. The real surprise was not the spectacle, but how comfortably the band balanced raw blues roots with giant-screen stadium excess. Somehow, the chaos still felt natural. At this point, the Stones are less a touring band and more a moving historical monument with amplifiers.
May 22, 2018: London Stadium, London, England Street Fighting Man/It’s Only Rock’n Roll/Tumbling Dice/Paint It Black/Ride ‘Em On Down/Under My Thumb/Fool To Cry/You Can’t Always Get What You Want/Honky Tonk Women/Band introduction/Before They Make Me Run/Slipping Away/Sympathy For The Devil/Miss You/Midnight Rambler/Start Me Up/Jumpin’ Jack Flash/Brown Sugar/Gimme Shelter/Satisfaction *All photos by Hendrik Mulder
The Rolling Stones Return To London
Five years after their previous UK appearance, The Rolling Stones rolled back into London carrying the kind of atmosphere usually reserved for royal farewells, championship finals, or the last functioning pub before closing time. Plenty of fans arrived convinced this might genuinely be the final chapter of the band’s live history, though Mick Jagger wisely avoided tempting fate by skipping The Last Time altogether. Instead, the group delivered a stadium-sized reminder that rock mythology survives through movement, noise, and sheer stubbornness. At 74, Jagger moved across the massive stage with absurd levels of energy, somehow sprinting, dancing, joking, and commanding tens of thousands of people as if aging were merely an optional side project. His crack about Prince Harry’s wedding, complete with imaginary appearances by Bono and “the American bishop,” showed that the Stones still understand one crucial truth: if you can laugh at the circus surrounding you, you probably own it. More importantly, the concert proved the band could still turn nostalgia into something thrillingly alive rather than museum-grade classic rock preservation.
Blues, Swagger and Controlled Chaos
Ironically, some of the night’s biggest moments came from songs that were not the obvious stadium anthems. While Start Me Upand Satisfaction occasionally felt rough around the edges, deeper selections carried genuine spark. Ride ’Em On Down dragged the audience straight back to the Stones’ gritty blues beginnings, with Jagger sounding startlingly youthful and hungry. Fool To Cry gained emotional weight rarely associated with a band more famous for swagger than vulnerability, while Under My Thumb exploded with a groove-heavy pulse that transformed the song entirely.
Keith Richards, meanwhile, embraced his modern role as rock’s most relaxed outlaw uncle, casually slicing through riffs with that unmistakable loose elegance only he can get away with. Ronnie Wood handled much of the fiery solo work, but the true magic appeared when both guitarists locked together on Street Fighting Man, Paint It Blackand Honky Tonk Women. Behind them, Charlie Watts remained the quiet engine of the entire machine, proving once again that the calmest person onstage was somehow responsible for the loudest impact.
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