It seems hard to believe that the Rolling Stones have been around since the early sixties when you consider that as recently as 2008 they have been rocking audiences’ world wide on their latest concert tour. The two youngest of the band, front man Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, turned sixty-five this year, but show no signs of slowing down, even after a career that has spanned forty-five years. Rock of Ages charts the amazing story of what is arguably the greatest rock band in the world, chronicling their first ever gig at the Marquee Club on the 12th of July, 1962, the line-up changes, the famous “rivalry” between the Stones and the Beatles, the meteoric rise to fame (and notoriety) of the group due to their live shows as well as all the personal drama the band members themselves had to go through. From the earliest beginnings, when manager Andrew Olden was eager to present the Stones to the world as the antithesis of the family-friendly Beatles, trouble followed the band wherever it went, with numerous drug busts, in-fighting within the members of the group and the offstage antics with groupies leading to the newspaper headline: “Would you let your sister go with the Rolling Stones?” Brian Jones, the founder of the group, was feeling displaced as the decision maker and left, the band replacing him with Mick Taylor. Sadly Jones was later found dead in his swimming pool in Sussex on 3rd July 1969. Since then, The Stones, as they are affectionately known by fans around the world, have gone from strength to strength, despite continuing drug busts, the tragedy that was the concert at Altamont Speedway, and the high profile love-life of Mick Jagger. In recent years, however, the Stones have concentrated on their live shows, still giving 100% despite their collective age. Jagger jokes that there aren’t so many pairs of women’s underpants thrown on stage these days; “more Y-fronts” he laughs. But that hasn’t curbed their enthusiasm for touring, and while they enjoy playing live music, the Rolling Stones will keep on rolling, for years to come.
