Mick Jagger reveals pre-concert routine

Mick Jagger has said he will live a “dull” life in the months leading up to the Rolling Stones concert in Hyde Park to make sure he is on top form.

The band is set to headline there in July – almost 45 years to the day since they played a famous free concert in the central London park.

In an interview on the Absolute Radio station yesterday Jagger said the band wanted to start the show with a bang.

He said: “You’ve got to try and make sure that first number really cooks, you know, it gets everyone confident. That first number has got to be something you’re super-confident with.

“It’s no good doing some sort of slightly unknown number that the audience isn’t gonna deal with. I think the first number’s really important.”

The 69-year-old singer said the prospect of playing a gig “energises you”.

He said: “You’ve just got to be there and be ready for anything. I don’t really have any secrets. I mean, to do a stage show at the O2 you do have to get into shape. So you can’t really do that out of shape at any age to be honest. So I’m afraid that does require a lot of boring discipline and rather a dull lifestyle for a month or two leading up to it, and during it all.”

The band will also headline Glastonbury and tour the US this year.

Their first Hyde Park concert, on 5 July 1969, was only two days after the death of founder member Brian Jones, and marked the live debut of his replacement guitarist, Mick Taylor.

Guitarist Keith Richards said he hoped there would be “some emotion involved” in July.