Hollywood star Nicholas Hoult embarks on an epic journey in new Rolling Stones video

A bearded Nicholas Hoult on a beach
(Image credit: The Rolling Stones)

The Rolling Stones have released a video for Mess It Up, one of the highlights of this year's Hackney Diamonds album. The video features Hollywood star Nicholas Hoult – famous for his roles in About A Boy and the X-Men franchise – as a man who flees his home to escape a domestic argument, then goes on something of an adventure. There's a surprise at the finish, but we won't spoil it.

Mess It Up features late drummer Charlie Watts behind the kit, and comes from the earliest of sessions that fed into Hackney Diamonds, which were produced by Don Was, while the bulk of the album was recorded with Andrew Watt.  

"We had just started working on those tracks a few years ago, before Covid shut everything down," Keith Richards tells us in the new issue of Classic Rock. "We left Charlie’s tracks as they were and re-did the vocals and everything else with Andy Watt. As soon as you hear that snare, you know it’s him.

"Charlie could swing and he could roll it a little more than most straight rock drummers. Charlie always added a jazz tinge to everything he played, so there was always that slightly different feel about the Stones’ music."

Hackney Diamonds was voted the Best Rock Album of 2023 by staff and writers of Classic Rock magazine. The Rolling Stones will launch their Hackney Diamonds tour of North America in Houston, Texas in April. Full dates below. 

The Rolling Stones: Hackney Diamonds 2024 tour

Apr 28: Houston RG Stadium, TX
May 02: New Orleans Jazz Fest, LA
May 07: Glendale State Farm Stadium, AZ
May 11: Las Vegas Allegiant Stadium, NV
May 15: Seattle Lumen Field, WA
May 23: East Rutherford MetLife Stadium, NJ
May 30: Foxboro Gillette Stadium, MA
Jun 03: Orlando Camping World Stadium, FL
Jun 07: Atlanta Mercedes-Benz Stadium, GA
Jun 11: Philadelphia Lincoln Financial Field, PA
Jun 15: Cleveland Cleveland Browns Stadium, OH
Jun 20: Denver Empower Field at Mile High, CO
Jun 27: Chicago Soldier Field, IL
Jul 05: Vancouver BC Place, Canada
Jul 10: Los Angeles SoFi Stadium, CA
Jul 17: Santa Clara Levi’s Stadium, CA

Tickets are on sale now

Fraser Lewry
Online Editor, Classic Rock

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.