Stone was told to stop drinking or miss tour

Mick Jagger told Ronnie Wood that he was not fit to play on the Rolling Stones' latest tour because of his heavy drinking, the guitarist has revealed.

Wood, who was notorious for his drinking before giving up alcohol last year, said his fellow Stone was deeply concerned over his deteriorating health. In an interview with Jack magazine, he said: "Mick was saying, 'I'm your mate, I want you to keep your health and I don't think you can do the next tour the way you're carrying on'."

Wood said he was playing on the band's 40 Licks tour only because he had agreed with Jagger's advice. "I'm going, 'Well, I think you're dead right and I don't think I can [do the next tour] either. It would be ridiculous.' Him just saying, 'Well, why don't you just help yourself.' That's all I needed, a little support, and my kids saying 'Please do it, Dad'," said Wood.

The musician, who admits still having a pub in his home, is well known for outlandish behaviour and threw a drink over the DJ Brandon Block at the Brit Awards three years ago.

Wood, who has been married for 25 years, said he felt great satisfaction from being sober during live performances. "I'm taking the music seriously, moving and grooving and not breaking out in an alcohol sweat. I come off as dry as I am now, after working hard," he said.

But he admitted his battle against drink was still a struggle. "I take it day by day and I feel like falling off the wagon a lot," he said. When he was drinking, "I thought I could have a glass of wine which turned out to be a bottle of wine, which turned into two bottles and three bottles, and then two bottles of vodka and I thought I was handling it."

Asked whether sobriety had changed his life, Wood said: "Yeah, I remember things, which is amazing. Well, it's a start. I remember last night really clearly and remember all the songs, all the actual playing, which I never used to. I used to put my head down and bluff it. Just get the right key and go in from there.

"Now I don't feel so exhausted, but I don't feel like clowning around so much. Before, I'd even it out with a drink and just cruise into another state and people were like, 'The state of you last night.' I'd be like, 'What do you mean? I was great!'."