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Rolling Stones quotes: Charlie Watts on touring with the Stones (2017)
Life on the road with The Rolling Stones isn’t all glitz and glamour, and Charlie Watts spills the unvarnished truth. Touring for months at a time meant leaving family behind, hauling gear, and hoping to return with all limbs intact. While Ronnie Wood packs his easel and extra baggage, Watts kept it simple, proving that rock stardom doesn’t have to mean chaos. With decades of experience, he reflects on the grind, exhaustion, and absurdities behind the legendary shows. For fans curious about the real touring life, his candid, slightly sarcastic insights reveal the human side of the world’s most famous rock band.
“You get your call-up, you get your kit together, you say goodbye to your wife and you come back two months later, hopefully with your limbs intact. It’s always been tough. The worst time is when you have a young child. I never took mine or my wife on the road. But if you take them like Ronnie -he lugs everything around, even his bloody easel to paint with- it’s not such a wrench. It’s admirable in one way, but I couldn’t work like that, too many distractions. Now it’s not so bad because we only do 10 or 15 shows. In the old days you’d get three sheets of dates and you couldn’t see the end.”
Life on the road: the good, the bad, and the bloody easels
Touring with The Rolling Stones isn’t exactly a picnic. According to Charlie Watts, it’s more like signing up for a two-month boot camp where your limbs are optional extras. “You get your call-up, you get your kit together…”, he quipped. And if you have a young child at home? Forget it. Watts never brought his own family on the road, and frankly, he seems proud of that.
Contrast that with Ronnie, who hauls his entire life—including his easel and paints—across continents. Admirable? Sure. Practical? Not so much. Watts’s dry humor reveals the absurdity behind the glamor: the endless travel, the relentless schedules, and the tiny comforts that can make or break a tour. For anyone imagining rock star life as champagne and limos, think again—it’s mostly logistics, exhaustion, and trying not to lose your mind between cities.
When fewer shows make life easier
These days Watts admits touring is a walk in the park compared to the old days. “Now it’s not so bad because we only do 10 or 15 shows…” That relentless pace, combined with the chaos of moving gear, crew, and people across the globe, would crush most mortals. Watts’s understated delivery, tinged with sarcasm, gives insight into the real-life toll behind the myth of the unflappable Rolling Stones. He balances respect for his bandmates’ quirks—like Ronnie’s over-the-top preparedness—with a wink at the challenges of maintaining sanity while living out the touring nightmare most fans only see from the stage. In other words: behind the glitter and screaming crowds, it’s grit, sweat, and the occasional canvas in the corner of a hotel room.
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