Rolling Stones photo by Rankin showing (left to right) Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts, to mark the 50th anniversary of their first ever live performance at the Marquee Club in London

Rolling Stones pictured 50 years on from first gig at Marquee Club in London

Thursday, July 12, 2012
1:47 PM

Rock veterans The Rolling Stones returned to where it all began as they posed outside a recreation of the venue of their first ever gig, 50 years on.

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood gathered at a mock-up of the old Marquee Club venue in London to mark the 50th anniversary of their debut.

They were captured by renowned photographer Rankin, the first time the members had been pictured together for four years, since the premiere of their Shine A Light movie.

The group played their first show at the club in Oxford Street on July 12, 1962, under the name The Rollin’ Stones, hastily chosen from a song by their blues hero Muddy Waters.

The group landed the gig when the venue’s regular band Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated were booked for a BBC radio show and Marquee owner Harold Pendleton booked them to fill in.

The group, regular visitors to the club, had been rehearsing a set of R&B standards at the nearby Bricklayers Arms pub in Soho’s Broadwick Street.

The Stones are celebrating the anniversary with the release of an official book Rolling Stones 50, published by Thames & Hudson, featuring unseen material from across the band’s career and line-up changes.

An exhibition of photos from the book opens on Friday at London’s Somerset House until August 27.

Meanwhile, Richards has confirmed the Stones have started rehearsing again and have returned to the studio.

While Richards was reluctant to confirm whether or not the band will go on tour to celebrate the milestone, he admitted being back in the studio with his fellow band members has felt “so good”.

He told the BBC: “There’s things in the works - I think it’s definitely happening, But when? I can’t say yet.

“We’re playing around with the idea [of a tour] and had a couple of rehearsals - we’ve got together and it feels so good.”