The Rolling Stones 'live' in Middlesbrough, 1963

By Paul Delplanque on May 27, 11

Love them or loath them, The Rolling Stones are still rolling and even now attract huge audiences around the world. Next to The Beatles they are without doubt the greatest band to come out of the 1960s, selling millions of records world-wide. Back in 1963 the new band had been going for about a year and were about to embark on their first tour of the United Kingdom. The place they chose to kick-off that tour was none other than Middlesbrough, it was the very first time the band had played outside the London area.





Back in those days the dynamics of the band called The Rolling Stones, was different from how most of us came to know them. Later the group was dominated and led by song writing team Mick Jagger and Keith Richard but in 1963 this had not developed. The band was led then by guitarist Brian Jones, it was Brian who decided what they would play and how the songs would be arranged. The emphasis was on Chicago style Rhythm and Blues played by American artists such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Jimmy Reed. Mick and Keith favoured the music of Chuck Berry, which also appealed to Brian, this style of vibrant beat driven music was virtually unknown in Britain at the time.





The band had taken some months to come together with the personnel who would make up the famous group but by the autumn of 1962 Mick, Keith, Brian, Charlie and Bill were regularly playing the clubs of London together. By the summer of 1963 they had proper management and a recording deal with Decca and the time was ripe to venture outside London to play to a modest crowd of people at the Outlook Club in the industrial North-eastern town of Middlesbrough on Saturday July 13, 1963.





It was a small crowd indeed who crammed into the little club on Corporation Road that summer's night to see not only The Rolling Stones but another new band called The Hollies. So tracking down people who were actually there proved difficult, but thanks to readers Chris Bailey and Stan Laundon we managed to find a couple of eye witnesses.

Images of the band on stage in the North-east in the early 1960s are rare, this one is at
Newcastle City Hall from their tour in 1964. By that time fans tended to be hysterical,
such scenes did not happen at the Stones appearance at the Outlook Club

Mike Gutteridge remembers: "We arrived late and just caught the last number of the Hollies and just before the Stones went on I received a signed copy of 'Come On' from Brian Jones. I distinctly remember looking at this guy with glossy blonde hair as he signed the copy to 'Mike of the Bachelor Boys'. We stood in front of the Stones for the whole of their set. As the stage was no more than a foot high, it was probably the best view anyone has ever had of a Stones gig. When the club had cleared, we all sat on the stage drinking orange juice talking to Jagger and Richards. We asked them about their Chelsea boots and Jagger was very animated in discussing how fashionable they were. I think I had my Clarke's finest on that night! I then asked Richards about the intro to 'Down the Road a Piece' (a Chuck Berry number that was just a knockout). He took me through all the moves on his Epiphone Riviera. It was the Stones first booking out of London and I class myself very lucky to have experienced that special moment of Rock history."

Another shot of the 1964 Newcastle concert with a young lass being carried off stage.
At the Outlook it was all about the music.

Tony O'Connor was also there that night and recalls: "I never forgot it. Why? Because Mick Jagger and The Stones were different then, with their introduction of American style blues, it was exciting to listen to. I've been a blues fan ever since."

Chris Bailey was not there that night but frequently went to the club. Chris remembers, 'The Outlook 'crowd' represented the new 'modernist' face of the early '60's, in a town populated by other young people committed to the Brylcreem jar, or the 'beehive' hairdo of the 1950's.' So apparently the Outlook was where the Teesside 'in-crowd' hung out.

A publicity card for the band given away when they appeared in Stockton in 1964

This was so early in the Rolling Stones career that they had no hits to play because they had only just released their first record 'Come On' a few weeks before on June 7, 1963. So without Jumping Jack Flash, Honky Tonk Women or Satisfaction to play, what was the Rolling Stones repertoire that hot night in Middlesbrough? Fortunately due to the encyclopaedic mind of Bill Wyman we have some idea, he said in his book 'Rolling with the Stones' that they would have played songs such as, 'Cops and Robbers, Jaguar and Thunderbird, Money, Bye-Bye Johnny, Down the Road a Piece, Road Runner, Memphis Tennessee and maybe even 'Come On', which by that time the band hated and would not play unless threatened by their manager.

At the time it was rumoured that the Rolling Stones never washed, but you
could not have hair like that without spending ages washing and blow drying,
how naive we were!

So that was the story of how the 'Greatest Rock and Roll Band In The World' started their very first tour right here on Teesside, although in those days they would not have appreciated being described as a Rock and Roll band, because they considered themselves Rhythm and Blues purists.

'Incidentally,' Chris Bailey adds, 'the Rolling Stones were paid £65 for their appearance at The Outlook, this presently converts to around £950 and the £10/- admission charge, to around £7.50.' Still, great value for Stones fans!





Their wild reputation had not been established then, but it was cleverly, if not brilliantly manufactured by their then manager, Andrew Loog Oldham. So if you consider the Rolling Stones to be unwashed, smelly and scruffy then you are still influenced by an image that was created nearly 50 years ago to hide the fact that Mick, Keith, Brian , Bill and Charlie all came from respectable backgrounds. Unlike a group of wild working class Liverpudlians who had been playing strip joints in Hamburg, but by 1963 were presented as loveable mop tops. You know who we mean!





We thank Chris Bailey, Stan Laundon, Mike Gutteridge and Tony O'Connor for their recollections and help with this feature.

To read more about the Outlook Club visit picturestockton  

Stan Laundon has a great website dedicated to the 1960s Teesside music scene click here to visit Stan Laundon Bands

gazettelive.co.uk


Just a buncha kids playing to a buncha other kids...

Great article Thanks.

This is Rolling Stones history! Thanks lefty, can't believe this has four replies and the Bon Jovi/Pavlov's Dog/Sunny Appreation Thread is now in the fourth page!

Do we need a tour Ronnie?

Great to come back here after a couple of days away and see a thread like this.

Wonderful stuff.

My uncles name is Ian Crawford. But i doubt he was in a band called the Boomerangs.

Michael Wright
05.31.2011

On Tuesday The Birth of the Rolling Stones was a top story. Here is the recap: (Gibson) 48 years ago, the greatest rock-and-roll touring machine ever kicked off their very first jaunt in Middlesbrough, England. The Rolling Stones had been playing in some form or other for about a year when they took the stage at the industrial Northeastern town's Outlook Club on July 13, 1963. The gig may not have seemed notable at the time, but it was the launch of one of rock's great legends. Gazette Live caught up with some of the eyewitnesses to the Hollies/Stones double bill to get their recollections of the historic evening.



"We arrived late and just caught the last number of The Hollies," recalled Mike Gutteridge. "And just before the Stones went on, I received a signed copy of 'Come On' from Brian Jones. I distinctly remember looking at this guy with glossy blonde hair as he signed the copy to 'Mike of the Bachelor Boys.' We stood in front of the Stones for the whole of their set. As the stage was no more than a foot high, it was probably the best view anyone has ever had of a Stones gig."

Gutteridge said the band were quite sociable after their set: "When the club had cleared, we all sat on the stage drinking orange juice talking to Jagger and Richards. We asked them about their Chelsea boots and Jagger was very animated in discussing how fashionable they were. I think I had my Clarke's finest on that night! I then asked Richards about the intro to 'Down the Road a Piece' (a Chuck Berry number that was just a knockout). He took me through all the moves on his Epiphone Riviera. It was the Stones' first booking out of London and I class myself very lucky to have experienced that special moment of rock history."

48 years ago, the greatest rock-and-roll touring machine ever kicked off their very first jaunt in Middlesbrough, England. The Rolling Stones had been playing in some form or other for about a year when they took the stage at the industrial Northeastern town’s Outlook Club on July 13, 1963. The gig may not have seemed notable at the time, but it was the launch of one of rock’s great legends. Gazette Live caught up with some of the eyewitnesses to the Hollies/Stones double bill to get their recollections of the historic evening.

“We arrived late and just caught the last number of The Hollies,” recalled Mike Gutteridge. “And just before the Stones went on, I received a signed copy of 'Come On' from Brian Jones. I distinctly remember looking at this guy with glossy blonde hair as he signed the copy to 'Mike of the Bachelor Boys.' We stood in front of the Stones for the whole of their set. As the stage was no more than a foot high, it was probably the best view anyone has ever had of a Stones gig.”

Gutteridge said the band were quite sociable after their set:

“When the club had cleared, we all sat on the stage drinking orange juice talking to Jagger and Richards. We asked them about their Chelsea boots and Jagger was very animated in discussing how fashionable they were. I think I had my Clarke's finest on that night! I then asked Richards about the intro to 'Down the Road a Piece' (a Chuck Berry number that was just a knockout). He took me through all the moves on his Epiphone Riviera. It was the Stones’ first booking out of London and I class myself very lucky to have experienced that special moment of rock history.”

Tony O'Connor, who was also in attendance that night, added: “Mick Jagger and the Stones were different then, with their introduction of American-style blues. It was exciting to listen to. I've been a blues fan ever since.”

http://rememberwhen.gazettelive.co.uk/2011/06/bill-wyman-remembers-when.html



By Paul Delplanque on Jun 17, 11 06:00 AM

You never know who might be reading Remember When these days, so I was absolutely amazed when I received an email message from none other than Bill Wyman, yes the Bill Wyman who played bass guitar with the Rolling Stones! Bill was responding to an article which we published on the Remember When website back on May 27, 2011 about The Rolling Stones' appearance in Middlesbrough in 1963.


Bill Wyman

Now gentle reader it is time for me to confess, I am a huge fan of the Rolling Stones and have been ever since I bought their third single, Not Fade Away in early 1964. This one purchase led to a 30-year obsession with collecting their music, it was always the music rather than the band themselves. Actually that is not quite true, like many teenagers at the time I was almost transfixed by their attitude and stage persona. The obsession with their music meant that every record had to be purchased and every slightly different version of the same song had to be hunted down and collected, looking back now, it did get a bit silly.



The Rolling Stones live on stage at the Great Pop Prom at the Albert Hall in September 1963 a couple of months after their club gig in Middlesbrough. Bill Wyman pointed out that our original caption was incorrect, this has since been put right. Image courtesy of Mirror.pix


In writing features for Remember When I have always tried to suppress my own enthusiasms but the desire to write about the Rolling Stones first appearance in Middlesbrough in 1963 was overwhelming, and could not wait for the 50th anniversary in 2013. Nevertheless, a lot of research went into the article and with help from my friend Stan Laundon the article took shape when some eye-witnesses were tracked down. The memories of these eye-witnesses of the Rolling Stones performance at the Outlook Club in Corporation Road were crucial to the article.



Bill Wyman playing bass guitar when he was with the Rolling Stones


One problem remained; we had no photographs of the Rolling Stones in Middlesbrough in 1963 rather unsurprisingly for what was then a minor performance at a small club by a relatively unknown band on Saturday July 13, 1963. So after extensive searching around our own archives, those of the Newcastle Chronicle, the Birmingham Evening Mail and the Daily Mirror I found enough pictures between the period of 1963 and 1964 to illustrate the online feature. Pleased with the results I published the article, and was even more pleased when, some kind and interesting comments made by our readers were sent in.



Bill Wyman is the author of many books, here he is at the Metro Centre in Gateshead signing copies of his book 'Treasure Island'.


However, the article soon came to the attention of Bill Wyman. Bill read the article and was interested enough to email his comments on what had been written. It was so fascinating I have reproduced what he had to say here:

Middlesbrough was not a tour date, but our first northern ballroom gig
outside of London.

Also, we supported the Hollies - not the other way around - so that boy's
memory is a bit off key

The first photo you show of the Stones playing with flowers in front of
them is from the Great Pop Prom from the Royal Albert Hall - nothing to
do with Middlesbrough or touring

There are a lot of other errors in this article, but they're all
historical, and I can't get into correcting any more

I made an error here - I thought it was called 'The Alcove Club' -
because that was the name Mick Jagger said this club was called in an
interview for 'Beat Monthly Magazine' that month.

Thanks

Bill Wyman




Now, most Rolling Stones' fans know that Bill has kept diaries and a vast collection of memorabilia about his time with the Rolling Stones, he is of course the definitive authority. If he says it happened or it didn't happen then you can count on it being so. Over the years Bill Wyman's books have gone along way to dispelling some of the myths about the Rolling Stones. So it was with a mixture of elation and desolation that I read his email. Elated that he had written at all, but devastated that there were, quote; 'a lot of other errors in this article.' What could they be?... I thought I had covered everything.



Bill Wyman outside the Hancock Museum with his book 'Treasure Island'.


But as I said, Bill Wyman is the ultimate authority on the Rolling Stones so I will have to be big enough to take his mild admonishment. However, I have to point out that he was gracious enough to admit that he had also made a mistake over the naming of the Outlook Club, which he explains in his email.



Bill quietly left the Rolling Stones over twenty years ago now, but still looks remarkably cool.


Coincidently I found that my obsession with the Rolling Stones waned once Bill had left the group and for me they are not the same band without him. So I was over the moon to receive an email from him, because of all the band members it was always Bill who I wanted to talk to most... but this is probably the closest I will ever get.

Thanks for posting, Voo.

Bill remembers everything.
At least the author got the date right...