The Rolling Stones have performed at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and broke out the first live performance of ‘Time Is On My Side’ in 25 years. Check out footage of the set below.
The rock veterans took to the stage at the iconic festival last night (May 2), for one of their first festival appearances since sharing their critically acclaimed album ‘Hackney Diamonds’ last year.
As well as breaking out a number of tracks from the LP, fan favourites and tour debuts on the night, the band also used the set to play a live rendition of their cover of ‘Time Is On My Side’ in over two decades.
The moment saw them invite Irma Thomas to the stage, and took place exactly 50 years after they recorded the cover of the Jerry Ragovoy track. It was their first time performing the cover since 1998, and the second time since 1982.
“In 1964, which is a very long time ago, we heard this great song on the radio by this amazing singer,” frontman Mick Jagger told the crowd, introducing Thomas to the stage (via Rolling Stone). “We recorded it and it became our first kind of hit in America. The lady that did the song first, she’s the Soul Queen of New Orleans! I’d like to bring out on stage now to sing the song with us.”
The performance marked the Stones’ debut at the jazz festival. Originally, they had been booked to perform at the event back in 2019, but were forced to cancel the slot due to the frontman undergoing heart surgery.
They were then rescheduled for the 2021 edition, but this was ultimately cancelled due to COVID-19.
Now, finally taking to the stage at the festival in 2024, the 18-song set from the rock icons featured other surprises, including the tour debut of one song from ‘Hackney Diamonds’ and one song from their earlier discography.
After opening with fan-favourite ‘Start Me Up’, and going on to perform the lead single from their latest album ‘Angry’, Jagger and co. invited Zydeco musician Dwayne Dopsie on stage with them for the first performance of ‘Let It Bleed’ this year. The song was initially released as the title track from their 1969 album, and hadn’t been played on their current tour until last night.
Fan favourites including ‘Sympathy For The Devil’, ‘Gimme Shelter’ ‘Paint It Black’ and ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ also made it into the latter half of the setlist, as did their 2023 collaboration with Lady Gaga ‘Sweet Sounds Of Heaven’.
For the most part, the setlist at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was the same as their show in Houston over the weekend – which marked the opening night of their US tour. That being said, they did change the performance up by substituting the Hackney Diamonds song ‘Mess It Up’ for the tour debut of another from the album: ‘Whole Wide World’.
Check out more footage of the gig below, as well as the full setlist.
The Rolling Stones setlist was:
‘Start Me Up’
‘Get Off of My Cloud’
‘Out of Time’
‘Angry’
‘Let It Bleed’ (with Dwayne Dopsie, tour debut)
‘Time Is on My Side’ (with Irma Thomas, first performance since 1998)
‘Whole Wide World’ (tour debut)
‘Tumbling Dice’
‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’
‘Little T&A’ (Keith Richards on lead vocals)
‘Sympathy for the Devil’
‘Honky Tonk Women’
‘Miss You’
‘Gimme Shelter’
‘Paint It Black’
‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’
‘Sweet Sounds of Heaven’
‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’
Reviewing ‘Hackney Diamonds’ in October – their first studio album of new material since 2005’s ‘A Bigger Bang’ – NME described the record as an “absolute barnstormer”.
The four-star write-up added: “But if ‘Hackney Diamonds’ does round off the most successful career in rock music ever, it wouldn’t be a bad place to leave it. A natural end, but definitely not a normal one.”
Ronnie Wood then spoke to NME about the “explosive” new songs and how they would translate live. “I have complete faith. We could play the whole album, you know what I mean? But [Mick and Keith] will go, ‘Oh no Ron, that’s so ambitious’. We’re not gonna forget the back catalogue,” he shared.
Check out the full dates for the US ‘Hackney Diamonds’ tour and purchase any last minute tickets here.
The post Watch The Rolling Stones play ‘Time Is On My Side’ for first time in 25 years and roll more songs into setlist at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival appeared first on NME.
