Dozens of music fans got a surprise last night when the Rolling Stones emerged on stage in Manhattan to perform a secret gig.
At Racket NYC, formerly the Highline Ballroom, Mick Jagger led the band in a seven-song set to celebrate the launch of their new album, Hackney Diamonds. They started with Shattered, their 1978 single, and played old favourites Tumbling Dice and Jumpin’ Jack Flash.
But what Sir Mick, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood really wanted was to get their teeth into material from the new album, out today.
Angry, the first single from the Hackney Diamonds, featured with other tracks Whole Wide World and Bite My Head Off. For the encore, the band turned things up a notch and invited Lady Gaga on stage to join them for the first live performance of Sweet Sounds of Heaven. There were some famous faces in the crowd — among them acting couple Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz, and music legend Elvis Costello — who probably had some idea what they were in for. But even with a combined age of 235, the Stones blew their socks off.
235
The combined age of Rolling Stones Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood
The combined age of Rolling Stones Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood
Hackney Diamonds is the first full album from the Stones since 2005, when they released A Bigger Bang, and it contains their first new material since the death of drummer Charlie Watts, aged 80, in 2021.
“Hackney Diamonds” is derived from Dalston Diamonds, an east London slang term for broken glass left over after a robbery. The band announced the title of the album in August after placing a cryptic advertisement in the Hackney Gazette, a local London newspaper.
