SECRETS OF THE STONES
Skeletons, candles, paintbrushes, Mick’s
THE secrets of the Rolling Stones’ dressing room have been revealed, including skeletons, artists’ easels and a tribute to their late drummer Charlie Watts.
Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, both 78, and Ronnie Wood, 75, are preparing for their BST festival performance tomorrow and Sunday night at Hyde Park in London.
And ahead of the historic gig, the band’s dressing room co-ordinator Heather Foster Kjollesdal, 50, revealed what happens backstage.
She said: “Keith smokes a lot, and not everybody wants to be around that, so they have their own individual rooms. It really isn’t a hateful thing, they just have different styles.
“Everyone knows Keith, he likes pirates and baggy clothes. His room looks like him. It’s a little darker and it’s got cool statues of skeletons. It’s awesome, my favourite room, I love it. There’s lots of candles, with lots of great ambience.
“Ronnie does the set lists every night so his room is very artistic really. He’s got a lot of things in there that inspire him.
“I hang drapes over the pipe that just give the room some texture and some colour. The easel comes in, he has paints, special markers. He has kids, so we’ll get small canvases for them. They’re really artistic too. “Mick likes surfaces. There’s not a lot of stuff. It’s very clean. “I do set up a little warm-up area. I’ve never seen what goes on, I know there’s music. “He probably just loosens up his limbs. From what I understand from his trainer, he trains like that.
“Before the tour, he’ll do serious training for four or five minutes and then he’ll bring his heart rate down. So it’s very much interval training.
“That’s why he can sing a song, run across the stage, and then the song ends and he’s talking to the crowd and he’s not out of breath. He’s absolutely incredible.” Charlie – who died last August aged 80 – has been replaced by Steve Jordan. Heather told how he is still remembered every day.
Speaking on the Talk is Jericho podcast, she said: “That was a tough day. We knew it was coming, but it doesn’t hit you until it happens. Rehearsals were cancelled. The crew got together at our hotel and we bought champagne, told Charlie stories. “It was just a nice way to remember him. He was a gentleman down to the core. We’ve kept a picture of his dressing room sign on our road cases and every time we open our cases we see it and are always like, ‘Hey, Charlie.’”
Asked how the band carried on with the American tour after Charlie’s death, Heather revealed: “I think the first show was a little difficult.
“They took the day off, who knows what they did to remember Charlie, but they came back and were ready.
“Charlie was their backbone. He was a big loss.”