The Rolling Stones can't always get what they want -- they'll be touring without their original drummer for the first time in their nearly 6 decades as he recovers from an unspecified medical procedure.
Charlie Watts is 80 -- the oldest of the Stones -- and has been with the band since its inception in 1962, but he says he's going to have to sit out their upcoming U.S. tour "on the advice of the experts that this will take a while."
The good news ... Watts' medical procedure is said to have been a complete success, but time just isn't on his side to make a recovery before the band is set to resume their No Filter tour with a stadium show in St. Louis on Sept. 26.
They've also sold out many other big shows for the fall tour, and Watts will be replaced by his friend, Steve Jordan ... a veteran musician who's played with Keith Richards for years.
Still, the Stones say this is all "very disappointing to say the least, but it’s also fair to say no one saw this coming."
Watts joked, "For once my timing has been a little off," adding that he didn't want his recovery to delay the tour any more after all the suffering fans have gone through with Covid.