The Rolling Stones rock hard at Metlife Stadium – in their 80s!

How the hell does Mick Jagger still have moves like that?

That’s the question you kept asking yourself – in a state of complete wonder – during the first of two stops on the Rolling Stones’ “Hackney Diamonds” tour at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on Thursday night.

On his first tour as an octogenarian – he turned 80 last July – the man who made Adam Levine look old on Maroon 5’s 2011 hit “Moves Like Jagger” is still outdoing us all.

Father Time is always on his side.

Seeing Jumping Jack Jagger work as hard as ever to give the people what they came for – and pay a tidy sum – was enough to restore even the most cynical New Yorker’s faith in the power of rock ‘n’ roll.

Indeed, 60 years later, following the release of the Stones’ self-titled debut album in 1964, Britain’s perennial bad boys have staged a rock resurrection that the genre desperately needs.

It wasn’t just rock’n’roll, it was a revelation.

And a lot of it was due to Jagger, who seems to have Benjamin Buttoned his energy – and his body.

The man can still wear skinny jeans better than anyone in the stadium.

Jagger was in such perpetual motion from the moment he took the stage to “Start Me Up” – the Stones’ 1981 hit that remains one of the most perfect concert debuts of all time – that it was almost a shock when, four songs in, he struck the perfect still pose at the end of the “Hackney Diamonds” single “Angry”.

Yet if there was a single moment when he appeared out of breath, it wasn’t captured by the giant video screens blasting his famous lips.

And, as if he still had something to prove, he relentlessly sold and strutted to new tracks such as “Mess It Up” from the Stones’ underrated “Hackney Diamonds” album – which, released in October last, was the group’s first album. of original material since 2005’s “A Bigger Bang.”

A force of nature like we may never see again, he remains the best rock frontman of all time.

Although you think he’s going to have a big time — after all, this tour is sponsored by AARP, which originally stood for the American Association of Retired Professionals — he’s rolling back the years.

Take “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” – a personal favorite and highlight. While the lines on his face, which he mostly tried not to hide, revealed the ravages of time, the singer-guitarist still found a way to give the audience exactly what they wanted.

Then there was “Miss You,” the 1978 Stones-go-disco hit that turned MetLife into Studio 54 for an epic, extended rendition, with longtime sideman Bernard Fowler bringing all that bass.

But even though everyone came to the party, Jagger wasn’t afraid to get into politics.

At the end of “Wild Horses,” the ever-wild encouraged viewers to vote in this presidential election year.

And Jagger — who will get two well-deserved days off before Sunday’s upcoming show at MetLife — even mocked a certain candidate, former President Donald Trump, on the day he held a rally in the South from the Bronx.

“I was a little worried about the weather tonight,” he said. “I thought we were going to get a little bit of Stormy Daniels, but it’s all good.”