Fifty years ago today, the Rolling Stones played their first gig.
On July 12, 1962, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, founding guitarist Brian Jones, and two other musicians who later left the band, played at London's Marquee Club.
On Thursday, Jagger and Richards, along with drummer Charlie Watts and guitarist Ron Wood, were set to commemorate the occasion at a photography exhibition at Somerset House in the same city.
Richards and Jagger talked to the BBC at the gallery on Wednesday, surrounded by photos of their historic career.
Richards, who famously abused drugs and alcohol for decades, said looking back at the group's early days was “weird.”
"It's amazing - most of these pictures I think, 'where was the cameraman?'” he said. “I don't remember them being there.”
Jagger said he felt like the same “happy go lucky” kid who borrowed money from his parents so the band could play that first, fateful gig.
Richards also said that while nothing definite had been agree to, plans for a 50th anniversary tour were taking form.
"There's things in the works - I think it's definitely happening," he told the BBC. "But when? I can't say yet.”
The Stones last toured in 1997, making $558 in what was then the most profitable concert tour of all time.
Jagger and Richards are the writing team behind all of the Rolling Stones’ classics, including “Satisfaction,” “Brown Sugar,” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” The band also recorded some of rock’s most popular and influential albums, including “Let It Bleed,” “Sticky Fingers,” and "Exile on Main Street.”
The Rolling Stones started as a blues cover band until their manager, wanting them to keep pace with the Beatles, forced Jagger and Richards in a kitchen until they penned a song of their own. In 1965, the first Jagger/Richards tune to hit No.1 was a little song called “Satisfaction,” and the band never looked back.
Until now.
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