Liam Neeson remembers the moment he met The Rolling Stones

Actor Liam Neeson recalled the time he met The Rolling Stones in the Heathrow airport lounge, the time when the iconic rock band was waiting to board the same flight to New York as Neeson and his late actress wife. Natasha Richardson.

Neeson told NME that he and Richardson, who tragically died in a skiing accident in 2009, were supposed to fly to New York in a Concorde, but some technical problems prevented it from taking off, and the flight was ultimately delayed.

“Keith Richards was there [with] Mick Jagger,” Neeson said. “And Keith obviously drank a couple of sips of wine, let’s just say… And then he came up to me and said: “It’s funny, everyone wants speed, but no one has it! Hurrah-oo-oo-oo.”

Neeson then noted that Richards suddenly recognized the actor and said, “Wait, I know you!” But he quickly moved on to someone else in the waiting room. “It must have been 20 years ago, maybe more,” Neeson added. The Irish actor also recalled seeing them one day outside a concert hall in Northern Ireland.

“I was too young to walk, but I remember being outside,” he said. “That was the first time I saw the barriers on the street where Flamingo was because the Stones were approaching and I remember seeing and actually touching Charlie Watts’ elbow as he walked in. They all had long hair and it was like, ‘Oh my God!'”

Neeson appears to be a big fan of Stones drummer Charlie Watts, who died in August 2021. “He was my favorite,” Neeson added. “Charlie was something of a mystery. He was the best dressed of all, and he had such a wise look. And boy, he could drum!”