Eye Opener

he Rolling Stones were in good spirits when hosting a press conference on board a yacht in New York Harbour, (their sixth in the States), kicked off the following day with a concert at the Manning Bowl in the city of Lynn, Massachusetts. Arrangements were significantly lower-key than later Stones shows: tickets cost between $3 and $5 (compared to about £450 for a standing ticket at their 2018 UK tour – a price that reportedly outraged the band) and the support was a Battle of the Bands between two local groups. Charlie Watts, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones and Bill Wyman () played a short set of 10 songs, including , as rain fell on 9,000 rapt fans. As the downpour intensified the crowd surged towards the stage, the band beat a hasty exit into waiting limos and police fired tear gas. “Things got a little blurry,” recalled Richards recently. “Tear gas, that was the other continuous smell of the 1960s. I can’t say I miss it.”