Rolling Stones rock Hyde Park with Bob Dylan song and tribute to ‘amazing’ Adele

The Rolling Stones paid tribute to Adele and performed a Bob Dylan song as they returned to Hyde Park in London on Sunday evening.

Eight days after their first appearance on the Great Oak stage for British Summer Time, they started with a video tribute to drummer Charlie Watts, who died last August.

Sir Mick Jagger said: “We played with Charlie for 60 years and we really, really miss him, so we dedicate this show to him.”

The band opened with Get Off My Cloud, one of several changes to the setlist from last week, including Angie in place of She’s A Rainbow.

British Summer Time festival – London
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards performing (Suzan Moore/PA)

And Sir Mick said there was a guy they knew “who won the Nobel Prize for Literature and he wrote us this song” before they played Dylan’s Like A Rolling Stone.

The singer was in a talkative mood throughout the two-and-a-half hour show, revealing it was the band’s fifth gig in Hyde Park, and 203rd in London.

After Honky Tonk Women he joked: “Welcome to the American Express British Summer Time Covid super spreader event”.

He noted how much was going on in London, including Pride and Wimbledon, adding: “I went to see Adele here last yesterday. She’s an amazing singer, but I’ve worn sparklier dresses.”

Sir Mick introduced guitarist and keen painter Ronnie Wood as “the Botticelli of Belgravia” and said Keith Richards had come “all the way from Dartford”.

Richards took lead vocals on the bluesy You Got The Silver from Let It Bleed and Happy from Exile On Main St, the guitarist also saying it was great to be back “in our wonderful island”.

The Rolling Stones played 19 songs as part of their Sixty tour, including the encores of Sympathy For The Devil and a mass crowd singalong to (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.

British Summer Time festival – London
Sir Mick tested positive for Covid last month (Suzan Moore/PA)

Other fan favourites included Miss You, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Paint It Black, Start Me Up, Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Gimme Shelter, during which there were images on the video screens of the Ukraine flag and scenes of bomb damage.

Sir Mick, who tested positive for Covid last month, forcing the band to reschedule a show in Amsterdam, was in energetic form all evening, making full use of the stage runway into the crowd, while there were numerous costume changes.

Earlier in the day there were performances by artists including US blues prodigy Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett and rising Geordie star Sam Fender, whose final song Seventeen Going Under saw fans chanting the chorus.

The Stones now head for Amsterdam as their European tour continues for another month, while BST returns with grunge giants Pearl Jam on Friday and Saturday, and wraps up with Duran Duran on Sunday.

Apart from Adele’s two nights, the BST series has also seen Sir Elton John and the Eagles play to huge audiences in Hyde Park.

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