Rolling Stones veteran Ronnie Wood has added some extra star power to the Hollywood Vampires as they kicked off their European tour in London.
The horror-tinged supergroup, which sees Alice Cooper flanked by guitarists Joe Perry, Tommy Henriksen, and actor-cum-rockstar Johnny Depp, already have plenty of appeal. But when they have a little black book as prestigious as they do, it would be rude not to make the most of it.
Wood, fresh from dropping the Stones’ 25th album, Foreign Tongues, joined the band for the first two songs of a three-track encore. First, he spearheaded a cover of Tiny Bradshaw’s blues classic The Train Kept A-Rollin’, a song made famous in the British blues boom of the 1960s by the Yardbirds. Then he headed up a take on Brown Sugar, a track that predates his stint in the Stones. Imelda May also featured on vocals.
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While Wood handled two songs he knows all too well with the cut and thrust you’d expect from a man used to entertaining large crowds, his choice of electric guitar caught the eye. He opted for his left-of-center signature guitar, the Duesenberg Starplayer TV Ronnie Wood, which has become a regular feature with his main band.
The guitarist’s appearance continues a run of form for the band, using London dates to wheel out their friends in high places, with Tony Iommi’s 2023 appearance to play a Sabbath classic a notable example.
Wood disappeared for the final track, a cover of his former bandmate Jeff Beck’s instrumental classic, Hi Ho Silver Lining. Beck’s final studio album was a 2022 collaboration with Depp.
The Hollywood Vampires have dates across Europe over the next few months, concluding in Łódź, Poland, on September 10. Their new live album, At Montreux Jazz Festival, is out today (August 14).
