{"id":479791,"date":"2018-12-12T10:36:59","date_gmt":"2018-12-12T17:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=764043"},"modified":"2018-12-12T10:36:59","modified_gmt":"2018-12-12T17:36:59","slug":"keith-richards-reveals-hes-cut-back-on-drinking-i-got-fed-up-with-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/keith-richards-reveals-hes-cut-back-on-drinking-i-got-fed-up-with-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Keith Richards Reveals He\u2019s Cut Back on Drinking: \u2018I Got Fed Up With It\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keith Richards<\/a> can name several highlights of the Rolling Stones<\/a>\u2019 most recent\u00a0overseas tour. He talks about how Mick Jagger pushed the band to start opening their shows with \u201cStreet Fighting Man,\u201d how they tackled their 1967 rarity \u201cShe\u2019s a Rainbow\u201d and brought back their cover of Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cLike a Rolling Stone,\u201d which became a frequent highlight. \u201cMick was having a lot of fun with it, especially with the harp at the end,\u201d says Richards. \u00a0As the tour wound down, Richards says, \u201cEveryone looked at each other saying, \u2018No, we\u2019re just getting going!\u2019 That\u2019s when the idea came to play the States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even as peers like Paul Simon and Elton John say goodbye to the road, the Stones are ramping up. The latest leg of their No Filter<\/em> Tour kicks off April 20th at Miami\u2019s Hard Rock Stadium. Between then and the final show in Chicago on June 25th, they\u2019ll play 14 cities to nearly a million people. \u201c[America] is really our first hunting grounds,\u201d Richards tells Rolling Stone<\/em>, recalling how the group first toured the U.S. in a station wagon in 1964. \u201cQuite honestly, I can\u2019t believe I\u2019ve been around this long, man. I\u2019ve watched this country grow up.\u201d<\/p>\n

For their first U.S. shows since Desert Trip in 2016, the Stones are planning to revamp their set with extended rehearsals. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like pulling out a great car that\u2019s been sitting on the blocks for nine months \u2014 you\u2019ve got to break it in again,\u201d Richards says. Mostly, though, they rehearse because it\u2019s fun; he mentions that he\u2019d like to try bringing back the Stones\u2019 cover of Solomon Burke\u2019s soul classic \u201cCry to Me.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Guitarist Ronnie Wood has been thinking about the band\u2019s setlists a lot lately. An accomplished artist, he\u2019s releasing Set Pieces\u00a0<\/em>this month,\u00a0a coffee table book with more than 400 Stones setlists he\u2019s painted over the last two decades backstage. \u201cWhen I get the final list, I get cracking on my canvas,\u201d says Wood of his backstage routine. Looking back at them has given him a lot of ideas for this tour; he\u2019s hoping the band breaks out \u201cBeast of Burden\u201d and \u201cPlay With Fire,\u201d which they recently performed in Hamburg, Germany for the first time in nearly 30 years (\u201cMick didn\u2019t realize what a great song it was,\u201d Wood says.) Wood has loved playing \u201cUnder My Thumb\u201d recently \u2013 \u201cIt\u2019s a difficult song to handle, but if you get it right, it\u2019s a really good payoff\u201d \u2013 as well as the raucous blues covers from their 2016 album Blue & Lonesome<\/em>. \u201cMick decided to keep it to one [blues number] on the last tour, [maybe because] of his waning confidence in people thinking, \u2018Maybe they don\u2019t want to hear too much off of that blues album.\u2019 I disagree there. I think, \u2018Come on! Let\u2019s do more! Let\u2019s do a whole blues set!\u2019 That\u2019s what I\u2019d like to do one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Jagger is the group\u2019s chief setlist architect, he\u2019s open to suggestions at sound check or in his hotel room. \u201cHe\u2019ll be quite honest \u2014 like, \u2018We played it here last time,\u2019 or, \u2018That doesn\u2019t work here,\u2019\u2009\u201d says Wood. \u201cOr he may just go, \u2018Yeah, that\u2019s a good idea.\u2019 You never quite know what to expect, but you always get a good reason.’\u201d Wood also hopes the band will play one of their famous club warm-up shows ahead of the run: \u201cIf rehearsal\u2019s going well, we may make a last minute decision. That\u2019s normally how they come up; we never plan these things.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Richards, this tour will be different for a more personal reason: He has stopped drinking, for the most part. \u201cIt\u2019s been about a year now,\u201d Richards says quietly. \u201cI pulled the plug on it. I got fed up with it.\u201d While he admits he still has \u201ca glass of wine occasionally, and a beer,\u201d it\u2019s a major step for a guy whose hedonism is a key part of his legend. \u201cIt was time to quit,\u201d Richards says. \u201cJust like all the other stuff.\u201d Was it an adjustment? \u201cYou can call it that, yeah,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cBut I don\u2019t notice any difference really \u2013 except for I don\u2019t drink. I wasn\u2019t feeling [right]. I\u2019ve done it. I didn\u2019t want that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ronnie<\/p>\n

Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones on June 19, 2018 in London, England.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Wood, who got sober in 2010 after decades of substance abuse issues, couldn\u2019t be happier about the news \u2014 and he notices big changes in his friend. \u201cHe\u2019s a pleasure to work with,\u201d Wood says. \u201cMuch more mellow. He\u2019s open to more ideas, whereas before I\u2019d kind of grit my teeth and go, \u2018He\u2019s gonna give me some shit for saying this.\u2019 Now, he\u2019ll say, \u2018That\u2019s cool, man.\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just wasn\u2019t working anymore, you know,\u201d Wood says of Richards\u2019 drinking. \u201cI think the Keith that we used to know and love had this cutoff point where if he had one more, he\u2019d go over the top and he\u2019d be nasty. The cutoff point became shorter and shorter, you know, and he realized that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wood says that sobriety made him ready for some key life events recently, including the birth of his twins Alice and Gracie in 2016 and a cancer scare two years later<\/a>. \u201cI was lucky to get on the wagon when I did and was ready for all the stuff that came at me, cancer and all that. Luckily it was all in one place and I had it removed. I got my life again \u2013 I got a second chance and my little girls and my whole life now is so much better. I think Keith is seeing that kind of thing as well. And then he went on to the beers for a while, he cut down slowly, and now, you know, good luck to him. If he\u2019s gonna keep it up, I\u2019ll be there, full support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richards says he\u2019s noticed a difference onstage at the band\u2019s early 2018 shows: \u201cIt was interesting to play sober.\u201d Adds Wood, \u201cWe\u2019re weaving [guitar parts] a lot more conscientiously now. We\u2019re much more aware of the gaps and the spaces between. We\u2019re in our seventies, but we\u2019re still rocking like we\u2019re 40-year-olds, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stones plan to bring those good feelings into the studio as they continue work on their first LP of original songs since 2005\u2019s A Bigger Bang.<\/em> Though Jagger and Richards have been writing and recording together for the past few years, Wood says they recently listened to 12 or so tracks and decided to keep working. \u201cMick and Keith wanted to make sure the songs were really good, so we\u2019ve sort of taken a step back again, have a listen, put more into the pot,\u201d says Wood.<\/p>\n

Last year, drummer Charlie Watts \u2014 the group\u2019s oldest member, at 77 \u2014 hinted at retirement, saying \u201cit wouldn\u2019t bother me\u201d if the band stopped. But Wood waves off that idea. \u201cHe thrives on the music, whether he\u2019ll own up to it or not,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen he\u2019s playing with the band, his health gets better, he looks healthier, he\u2019s funny, he enjoys life more. It\u2019s damn hard work that he does. He has to have his back massage after every gig \u2019cause it\u2019s a lot of physical effort playing those drums for our set, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richards, meanwhile, says he\u2019s taking the future \u201cone tour at a time.\u201d So far, so good: Stones sources say the upcoming dates are selling out even faster than 2015\u2019s Zip Code<\/em> Tour. \u201cMaybe this will be the last one,\u201d Richards admits, although he hopes it isn\u2019t. \u201cIt\u2019s what I do, man. Give me 50,000 people and I feel right at home. As Ronnie and I often say before we go on, \u2018Let\u2019s get onstage and get some peace and quiet.\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keith Richards can name several highlights of the Rolling Stones\u2019 most recent\u00a0overseas tour. He talks about how Mick Jagger pushed the band to start opening their shows with \u201cStreet Fighting Man,\u201d how they tackled their 1967 rarity \u201cShe\u2019s a Rainbow\u201d and brought back their cover of Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cLike a Rolling Stone,\u201d which became a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-479791","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-11 09:57:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KQZR - The Reel","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479791\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}