Established rock and roll stars are no strangers to out-there costumes and fashion choices. From Elton John‘s extravagant attire to the glittery jackets of Mick Jagger, rock stars need wild, eye-catching fabrics for their show. Boy George of Culture Club fame is defined just as much by his hats as he is by Do You Really Want to Hurt Me.
The same goes for Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones‘ long-serving guitarist, who once shared why eyeliner and bandanas had become a permanent fixture of his wardrobe. The veteran performer can be spotted wearing makeup and headgear while on stage. But his reason for doing so was relatively unclear until he shared the reason for his fashion choices with MOJO Magazine.
He said: “Kind of. I’ve got a bit on from yesterday, actually, we did a photoshoot. I don’t know, I always felt I didn’t have enough eyelashes! On-stage, I thought, I’ll thicken them up a bit. Then it becomes like warpaint.” That warpaint would serve Richards well too as the veteran performer has played across the world to hundreds of thousands of fans.
Aside from the “warpaint” Richards says he needs a bit of patience when working with Mick Jagger, who believes the setlist should be a little more than obvious for attendees. Richards made it no secret that he and Jagger disagree often on which songs feature in The Rolling Stones’ shows, with a “natural conservatism” from the long-serving frontman often winning out over deep cuts from the band.
Speaking in the According to The Rolling Stones book, Richards would detail how songs are chosen from show to show. Ronnie Wood also weighed in on the situation, citing the Forty Licks tour as an example of how the band would bring out the best in one another by performing a different setlist night to night when celebrating their anniversary compilation album.
Ronnie Wood said: “On the Forty Licks tour, we changed the set list every night, throwing in songs and often going back to the drawing board; Keith would say, ‘Oh shit, get my five-string in here, we’re going to revise this one.’ We all got off on the challenge of a new surprise every day.
“The variety and the choice of the songs helped contribute to keeping the liveliness of the band alight, plus the fact that we were still doing a soundcheck before every new show. Wherever we are in the world, Chuck Leavell is able to look at his notes and tell us which songs we played in that city the previous time and the times before that.”
Richards added: “In general I let Mick decide the set lists because he’s the one who has to sing the songs, and his decision depends on how he feels on any particular day, but sometimes if I thought he was flaking me, I would push him. I’d have to make a decision between Mick’s natural conservatism and the fact that the band would get bored if there wasn’t enough variety.
“The band would always play the setlist as well as they could, but we didn’t rehearse 145 songs in Toronto in order to play only thirty of them on the road. It was a matter of working out how to break Mick out of his shell.
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