It is not entirely clear who was on the drums and under what name the band performed, but one thing is certain: on July 12, 1962, the Rolling Stones played their first concert in London. Back then, neither the audience in the Marquee Club nor the musicians themselves suspected that the Stones would soon become superstars.
Keith Richards has fond memories of July 12, 1962. “I remember feeling like I was playing in a big stadium,” said the Rolling Stones guitarist. “The Marquee was about the biggest club in London at the time. And we had basically only played in garages before.”
It’s been 60 years since the historic appearance at the Marquee Club, where the band first appeared as “The Rollin’ Stones”, allegedly even as “Mick Jagger and The Rollin’ Stones”. That evening in London’s Soho was the starting signal for an incomparable rock ‘n’ roll career that continues to this day.
The Stones just completed two concerts in London’s Hyde Park in front of 65,000 people as part of their “Sixty” anniversary tour. Following the death of drummer Charlie Watts last year, Stones survivors Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, both now 78, and Ronnie Wood, 75, are still energetic in their hometown.
In the summer of 1962, neither Wood nor Watts were there. “We’re cheating a bit,” Jagger said in Rolling Stone magazine’s 50th anniversary in 2012. “Because it’s not the same band, but it’s still the same name. Only Keith and I are still the same people.” The fledgling band consisted of Jagger (vocals), Richards (guitar), Brian Jones (guitar), Ian Stewart (piano) and Dick Taylor (bass).
To this day, there is still debate over who sat on the drums in the marquee. From time to time one reads that it was Tony Chapman who often drummed for the group at that time. According to Keith Richards and Stones biographer Christopher Sandford, it was Mick Avory. Apparently there are no photos that could clarify this. Watts, who was already moving in the orbit of his later colleagues, joined six months later, gave the Rolling Stones their rhythm and from then on played on every album of the group. Wood didn’t follow until 1975.
The Rolling Stones owed their first appearance to their companion and supporter Alexis Korner and his band Blues Incorporated, who performed at the Marquee every Thursday. Because Korner accepted an invitation from the BBC, a replacement was sought for him. Jones is said to have convinced the owner of the marquee – then a jazz club – to let the Stones play. According to legend, he spontaneously came up with the band name, inspired by Muddy Waters’ song “Rollin’ Stone”.
Early Stones hits like “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, “Get Off Of My Cloud” or “Paint It Black” were still in the future. And so Jagger and Co. performed American rhythm and blues classics for almost an hour. In his autobiography Life, Richards recalls Dust My Broom (Elmore James), Got My Mojo Working (Muddy Waters) and Confessin’ The Blues (Jay McShann), which would also be released on the Stones a few years later -EP “Five By Five” landed.
Reportedly, the 100-odd unimpressed marquee guests that night were yet to experience Jagger’s dance moves, which are as iconic today as the band’s “Tongue and Lips” logo, developed in 1970. The only 18-year-old guitarist Richards was not yet considered the personification of rock ‘n’ roll and appeared almost formally in a dark suit. The musicians, who were paid around five pounds each for the performance, are said to have seemed nervous.
No one could have predicted that this inexperienced band would become one of rock’s most famous and successful groups, a pop culture phenomenon and a global brand that, 60 years later, is wowing fans around the world. The Rolling Stones themselves had no idea that July 12, but at least they had a feeling.
“You play and think: Oh yeah!” Keith Richards recalled in his autobiography. “That feeling is worth more than anything else. There’s that certain moment when you realize you’ve left the planet a bit, no one can touch you. It’s like flying without a license.”
