Mick Jagger explains why he visits local spots while touring with The Rolling Stones: “Each town has something of great interest”
Mick Jagger has shed some light on why he visits local haunts while touring with The Rolling Stones instead of doing “typical tourist things” – excursions he documents on his Instagram account.
Since creating his Instagram account in 2013, the rock icon has posted a slew of pictures taken at unique spots while on tour with the Stones.
Attention to his account has since recently picked up, notably beginning in 2019, when the Stones began their ‘No Filter’ tour – thanks to images of Jagger visiting spots usually only frequented by locals. One incognito visit he made to a Charlotte, North Carolina establishment called the Thirsty Beaver Saloon made US headlines in October.
In a recent interview with The Washington Post, Jagger revealed how he picked unique places to visit while on the road. “Each town has something of great interest, whether it’s a beautiful park, or a lovely picture, or a museum that’s interesting to you, or some odd thing that you never thought of”, he said, adding that planning is key when the band’s time in a city is limited.
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When asked specifically how he discovered the Thirsty Beaver, Jagger explained: “Local people tell me that that’s a popular dive bar when I get there. In normal times, I would go into the bar and spend time in there. But, you know, I didn’t want to do that because of covid. So I just went outside.”
He added that sometimes, he’ll do “the typical tourist thing like the St. Louis Arch” at “certain times of the day” when “there’s not so many people”.
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Jagger has also made it a point to explore hiking trails, explaining: “Touring’s a pretty urban thing, so it’s nice to get out in nature and see a different perspective on things when you go to places like that. It’s wild. I went for some long hikes in some of these other places where I didn’t take any pictures.”
Jagger also shared that other members of the band don’t usually follow him on his adventures, saying that Keith Richards, for instance, “has a different approach to how he handles being on tour. I mean, he does occasionally go out to eat. But I think the covid thing… people quite rightly got worried about what would happen if they ran into a crowd of people.”
In December, the Stones played a secret, intimate show at Ronnie Scotts in London in celebration of their late drummer Charlie Watts, who died at the age of 80 in August.