Sir Mick Jagger got a thrill out of playing tiny club gigs in between stadium shows, according to Joe Satriani.
The Rolling Stones frontman, 78, recruited the 65-year-old guitarist for his solo tour in 1988 and has recalled how much ‘Satisfaction’ the rocker got out of playing surprise sets at bars.
Speaking to Ultimate Classic Rock, the former guitar teacher – who mentored Metallica’s Kirk Hammett – shared: “It seemed like once a month we would find a bar somewhere and we would make a deal with the local band that we would just walk in and take over their gear. And if we needed to bring an extra guitar, we would. But pretty much we plugged in to whatever they had.
“It was always great, just to see Mick turn it on when he’s literally 12 inches away from the audience.
And they can touch him and everything. He loved playing blues songs and rock and roll favourites and stuff. We all got a kick out of it.”
The pair would sneak in via the back entrance and quickly disappear as soon as they finished their set.
Satriani added: “The whole thing was crazy, because we’d pull up in these SUVs all clandestine like, you know, because of Mick. He’s such a famous person he had to be handled very carefully. But he loved it, he just loved being with people. He loved performing and to just stand next to him while he exuded this positive rock and roll energy was just, oh man it was worth every second. It was just amazing.
“I stood next to him on the stage at the Tokyo Dome in front of 95,000 people and in front of this little club where people, where there couldn’t have been more than 80 or 100 people, totally packed into this teeny thing.
“The stage was about six inches high. He loved it though, doing ‘Little Red Rooster’ in a little club like that, everyone’s drinking and having a great time. It was fun. We’d go in there, play for 45 minutes and run out. And then go have a party back at the hotel!”