July 12 marks the 60th anniversary of The Rolling Stones’ first-ever concert at the Marquee Club in London’s Oxford Street – their first official billing as ‘The Rolling Stones’

Everyone loves a good origin story; The Beatles meeting atop a Liverpool bus, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger bumping into each other at Dartford rail station. It’s stories such as this that would go on to define the swinging’ sixties and music industry folklore for decades to come.

The tale of The Rolling Stones first gig is no different, it was a fateful warm summer evening in 1962 that would form the bedrock of the group that fans continue to know and love 60 years on.

A regular at the Marquee Club, Jagger would on occasion perform with the band Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated. At the start of July, Korner’s group was offered the opportunity to play a BBC live broadcast and to the disdain of Marquee Club’s manager, Korner accepted, leading to a canceled residency - and a big opportunity for Jagger and co.

However, they still needed a name and a lineup.

On paper the band consisted of; Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones (under the alias of Elmore Lewis), Dick Taylor on bass, and Ian Stewart on piano. Strangely the identity of the drummer is still debated, Charlie Watts was Alexis Korner’s drummer at the time and wouldn’t come into the fold for another six months.

Rolling Stone magazine has declared that the drummer was either Tony Chapman or Mick Avory (later of The Kinks). However, Mick Avory claims to have never been at the gig and some say there was no drummer at all.

Still in need of a name, the story goes a Muddy Waters record entitled ‘Rolling Stone’ caught the eye of Brian Jones and the rest is history.

Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine in 2012 for the 50th anniversary, Jagger said: “It is quite amazing when you think about it, but it was so long ago. Some of us are still here, but it’s a very different group than the one that played 50 years ago.”

BMG is proud to represent the music publishing interests of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. More recently Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and the late great Charlie Watts chose BMG to represent their neighboring rights.

The show’s setlist on that evening in 1962, paying homage to Black American music which would form the Stones’ primary influence, consisted of:

Kansas City – Wilbert Harrison
Honey What’s Wrong – Billy Fury
Confessin’ The Blues – Chuck Berry
Bright Lights, Big City – Jimmy Reed
Dust My Blues – Elmore James
Down The Road Apiece – Chuck Berry
I Want To Love You – Charles Smith
I’m A Hoochie Coochie Man – Muddy Waters
Ride ‘Em On Down – Robert Johnson
Back In The USA – Chuck Berry
I Feel A Kind Of Lonesome – Jimmy Reed
Blues Before Sunrise – Elmore James
Big Boss Man – Jimmy Reed
Don’t Stay Out All Night – Billy Boy Arnold
Tell Me That You Love Me – Fats Domino
Happy Home – Elmore James