The Drummer Who Replaced Charlie Watts for the Rolling Stones' 2022 'Sixty' Tour

When Charlie Watts died in August 2021, the Rolling Stones had already lost the backbone of their rhythm section for 59 years. Watts had picked his own successor years earlier: Steve Jordan, a veteran session drummer who had played with Keith Richards in the X-Pensive Winos and who Watts had personally groomed to take over if needed. Jordan stepped in for the 2022 Sixty tour, and the change wasn’t subtle.

Where Watts swung with a jazzman’s relaxed pocket, Jordan hit harder and straighter, with more of a funk-R&B attack. The open hi-hat and ride cymbal work that gave “Honky Tonk Women” its lilt became punchier on the fills, and songs like “Start Me Up” lost some of the loose shuffle in favor of a tighter, more modern backbeat. Critics noted the band sounded more muscular but less elastic—still unmistakably the Stones, but with a different engine driving the train.

Jordan’s background with Richards meant the two locked in fast, but the chemistry with Ronnie Wood and Mick Jagger took time. The result was a leaner, more aggressive live sound that honored Watts while pushing the band into a new rhythmic chapter. The tour proved the Stones could survive the loss, but it also underscored how irreplaceable Watts’ swing really was.