A NEW book, which charts the success of the Rolling Stones, gives a front row perspective on the group’s early shows.

It includes memories of their performances at the Odeon Theatre, in Penny Street, Blackburn, on March 5, 1964 – The Yardbirds with Eric Clapton were the support band.

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Among the audience was 17-year-old Mick Markham, who got into the theatre, with his two mates, through the coal chute to the boiler house and ended up in the stage wings for the full gig.

And nobody questioned their presence said Mick: “I think the Stones thought we were with the theatre and the management thought we were with the Stones.

“My wife-to-be was in the audience and was amazed to see me pop my head round the curtains. She thought she was seeing things.

“After the concert, with the fans screaming outside the stage door, Mick Jagger pushed me out first, but I was quickly rejected by the fans when they realised I was a nobody.”

Denis Neale was also at the first of the Stones’ two shows at the Odeon and he and his mate were looking forward to hearing the songs they had played for the past year.

“There was an electric atmosphere in the air that night and as the Stones took the stage and launched into their first song, Come On, the screams from the many girls in the audience drowned it out completely.

“The continuous screaming and hysteria escalated and it wasn’t long before there was a surge of girls from the back towards the stage. Bouncers were throwing girls off the stage as the band was trying its best to play.

“At some point during the performance someone opened the emergency exit doors and dozens of screaming girls rushed in from outside the cinema and tried to storm the stage. It was total chaos!”

Peter Forbes, aged 12 and his chum had 25s front row tickets for the concert but got rather peeved when all they could see and hear were jumping girls and their screams, mixed in with a distant rendering of Not Fade Away.

He said: “There was only one thing left to do – we just threw ourselves in among all the girls and started jumping and screaming, too.” An added bonus for Peter was that his own nascent pop group The Rotaters had been joint clapometer winners at the Odeon’s Saturday morning club talent competition, playing Beatles and Stones numbers to 250 kids – on the same stage now occupied by Mick, Brian, Keith, at al.

  • You Had To Be There: The Rolling Stones Live 1962 – 69, written by Richard Houghton and published by Gottahavebooks, contains over 500 eyewitness accounts of the band’s first performances and previously unreleased photos.