Mick Jagger in top form as Rolling Stones kick off tour at Soldier Field

The signs looked ominous in April when the Rolling Stones postponed their North American tour. Front man Mick Jagger needed a new heart valve, and presumably he’s the healthier Glimmer Twin, with guitarist Keith Richards as famous for his excesses as his bone-crunching power chords.

And in an ironic bit of trivia, the sole sponsor of the band’s No Filter tour is the nonprofit Alliance for Lifetime Income, a retirement planning organization. The four principal band members have roamed the Earth for a combined 300 years, but their IRAs are presumably in good order and looking stronger with multimillion-dollar gates lined up for the current road trek.

Kate Scott/For the Sun-Times

When the 15-city, 17-date jaunt kicked off Friday night in Soldier Field, Jagger proclaimed, “We loved Chicago so much we decided to start the tour here instead of Miami.” Presumably Jagger’s comment will be forgotten by the time the curtain closes on Aug. 31 in Miami.

The band never missed a beat during their two-hour (exactly) greatest-hits set, which featured few surprises, no covers, no tunes from their most recent album, 2016’s “Blue & Lonesome” — no blues at all for sweet home Chicago.

But this was no mere walk down memory lane. Even the most iconic numbers sounded rejuvenated, with adventuresome new arrangements that drew on the talents not only of the four mainstays — Jagger, Richards, drummer Charlie Watts and guitarist Ron Wood — but also on the seven associate members. Although the band hadn’t worked together once in 2019, any ragged edges were barely noticeable.

Kate Scott/For the Sun-Times

Jagger was a whirling dervish on the expansive, no-gimmicks stage, getting in more miles than a marathoner as he took full advantage of an 80-foot-or-so runway leading to a smaller auxiliary stage. If the Guinness people were in the house, they’ll be erasing Cher’s name from the books for costume changes and replacing it with clotheshorse Mick.

Jagger made much of the fact that the Stones have played Chicago 38 times since 1964, including eight gigs at Soldier Field. The Bears’ home field will also host local concert No. 39 on Tuesday, giving Jagger a three-day hiatus to sample the city’s Italian beef for the first time. “How should I order it?” he asked the crowd. “Hot and wet” was the consensus.

Jagger reportedly had cardiologists on standby for opening night, but the health scare obviously didn’t cause him to dial down the energy. Perhaps he has some divine inspiration, which was on display when he ventured onto the runway during “Angie,” looking to the heavens and imploring, “When will these clouds all disappear?” An hourlong sprinkle appeared ready to devolve into a downpour, but the drizzle stopped for the rest of the show immediately after Jagger’s plea.

Jagger’s longtime running mate Richards was at his best as he tore into his guitar on hard rockers such as “Tumbling Dice,” “Start Me Up” and “Brown Sugar.” His gruff, grumbling lead vocals provided a change of pace with “You Got the Silver” and “Before They Make Me Run.”

Rob Grabowski/Invision/AP

Nobody says more with a single chord than Richards, but the guitar duties are more clearly delineated these days. Richards plays mostly rhythm, while “junior partner” Wood, a mere 72, harkens back to some of his finest pre-Stones fretwork with the Faces. Wood’s screaming slide guitar on “Tumbling Dice” offered a perfect counterpoint to Sasha Allen and Bernard Fowler’s backing vocals. Allen also carried the day with her high-intensity take on the vocal that Merry Clayton once perfected for “Gimme Shelter.”

On drums, Watts has always had a jazzman’s improvisational spirit, and with time he has cultivated that sensibility even more. But when the occasion calls for it, as with “Honky Tonk Women,” Watts is still capable of banging like, well, Charlie Watts. In virtuosic bassist Darryl Jones, a Chicago native, Watts has found a rhythmic partner capable of stretching the bottom line to the limit. And keyboardist Chuck Leavell is no longer just the Allman Brothers alum who tours with the band, but a vital contributor to the Stones’ sound.

Rob Grabowski/Invision/AP

For the No Filter road show, now in its third year, the Stones have it right. Other members may chafe at Jagger’s tight leash on the set list, offering far-flung suggestions that make it to the sound check before landing on the cutting-room floor. And the sellout streak would no doubt continue even if the band occasionally skipped over perennial encore “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” or the arena-rock staple “Start Me Up.” But maybe the Stones have it right in thinking fans attend their concerts with expectations of hearing certain songs, and their musicianship makes up for any lack of envelope pushing.

Opening act St. Paul and the Broken Bones gave the late-arriving crowd a ride on the blue-eyed soul train, with lead singer Paul Janeway finally connecting on the set closer, an emotive cover of Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long.” The Birmingham, Ala., octet has some catchy horn arrangements but a few too many filters.

Jeff Johnson is a local freelance writer.

Kate Scott/For the Sun-Times

SET LIST

Street Fighting Man

Let’s Spend the Night Together

Tumbling Dice

Sad Sad Sad

You Got Me Rocking (audience request)

6.You Can’t Always Get What You Want

ON SECONDARY STAGE

Angie

Dead Flowers

BACK ON BIG STAGE

Sympathy for the Devil

Honky Tonk Women

You Got the Silver

Before They Make Me Run

Miss You

Paint It Black

Midnight Rambler

Start Me Up

Jumpin’ Jack Flash

Brown Sugar

ENCORES

Gimme Shelter

(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction