Rolling Stones rock old-school phone-free album release bash
It may still be only rock ’n’ roll for the Rolling Stones.
But that apparently does not include camera rolls.
At Thursday night’s album release party for “Hackney Diamonds” — the legendary British band’s first LP of new material since 2005’s “A Bigger Bang” — the Stones put the “old” in old-school by requiring all guests to check in their phones.
And at the A-list affair at Manhattan’s Racket club, that included stars such as Chris Rock, Trevor Noah, Jimmy Fallon, Daniel Craig, Elvis Costello, Mary Kate Olsen, Rachel Weisz, Christie Brinkley, Minka Kelly, Ed Burns and Christy Turlington.
It was a throwback to yesteryear, when the Stones made their debut six decades ago and went on to become Rock & Roll Hall of Fame icons.
And while their peacock-strutting frontman Mick Jagger is 80 now — with his Glimmer Twin Keith Richard right behind him, hitting that octogenarian milestone in December — he worked the unusually small (for him) stage as if he was 20, back when the Stones released their debut single “Come On” in 1963.
“This is the first club gig we’ve done here in a long time,” said Jagger, stating the obvious about his band, which last played the New York area at MetLife Stadium in 2019.
But Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood — plus Steve Jordan filling in for late drummer Charlie Watts — delivered plenty of satisfaction for the exclusive crowd from the moment they hit the stage to perform their classic “Shattered.”
“It’s nice to be back in New York,” said Jagger before the group launched into “Angry,” the snarling first single from “Hackney Diamonds.”
The seven-song set also included “Hackney Diamonds” standouts “Whole Wide World” and “Bite My Head Off” as well as Stones classics “Tumbling Dice” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”
Then New York club scene queen Lady Gaga made a surprise appearance on “Sweet Sounds of Heaven,” the gospel-blues penultimate track of “Hackney Diamonds.”
The release party clearly had Jagger savoring the Big Apple buzz: “We were missing the launches so much that we had to come back and make another album.”
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