Charlie Watts Recalls How Led Zeppelin Changed The Rolling Stones Career

During his long career with The Rolling Stones, late-drummer Charlie Watts probably played more stadiums concerts than theater or barroom gigs, but that wasn't necessarily Charlie's dream.

When Charlie joined the Stones in 1963, stadiums were only used for sports; theaters, bars and clubs were where music was played.

The Beatles began to change that in 1965 when they sold out a concert at Shea Stadium in Queens, New York. But it wasn't until the following decade when Led Zeppelin took off that 'stadium rock' or 'arena rock' became genres of entertainment.

The Rolling Stones have never been allergic to money, and the band seized the opportunity to begin playing stadiums. Charlie, however, as is revealed in his official biography, Charlie's Good Tonight, by Paul Sexton, longed for the days of smaller venues, more intimate performances and, in particular, shorter sets.

"You'd be playing a month in a town to play to 30,000 people," Watts recalled in one section of the book (via Billboard). "Where would you play, in a 3,000-seater hall?"

The move to arenas/stadiums, of course, allowed the Stones to "accommodate" more fans in a single night. "And that's what we've become," Watts continued. "It's our own fault, or pleasure, of whatever you call it. That's how we've directed what we do. That's how the world of doing what we do has gone."

But stadium shows also necessitated longer gigs. A two-hour show, as has become the standard for such an event, is a far cry from what the Stones were doing when they started out.

"I blame Led Zeppelin for the two hour-long show... we jumped in a few years from doing 20 minutes, all the hits and off — the Apollo Revue, we'll call it — we went from doing club dates, which are two sets a night, which was great fun... to doing, thanks to Led Zeppelin, this two-hour long show."

He added that Led Zeppelin's virtuoso presentation went a long way towards filling the time. But people don't go see The Rolling Stones for solos; they want hits and plenty of them.

"If you're Jimmy Page, you can do that, and [John] Bonham's 20-minute drum solo. It wasn't about that with us; it was a different thing. I don't like doing drum solos, period."

Charlie's Good Tonight is available now via HarperCollins. Go here for more information.