SINGAPORE – Rock icon Mick Jagger’s memories of Singapore span vastly different eras of The Rolling Stones’ career, from the English band’s first performance here back in 1965 to their most recent concert at Marina Bay Sands’ (MBS) Grand Ballroom in 2014.

Speaking to The Straits Times in a Zoom video call from London, the 82-year-old singer remembers the gig from about 60 years ago, recalling the venue, the Singapore Badminton Hall in Guillemard Road, as “a quite small place”. It was their first show in Asia.

The Stones’ subsequent visit comprised two nights at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in 2003. More recently, at the MBS show, Jagger famously endeared himself to the audience by dropping Singlish phrases, with lines like “Wah lau, your weather damn hot” and “stylo milo”, and teasing band member and guitarist Ronnie Wood, 79, as “blur like sotong”.

Looking back, Jagger laughed about using the “Singaporean sort of dialect”, noting humorously that “of course, not everyone understood it, because not everyone was (from) Singapore”.

Will the Stones bring their live show back to Singapore’s shores? Jagger certainly hopes so. “I always have a good time there,” he said. “I like Singapore very much and, yeah, I would really like to go back and do a show there.”